ניטל

ניטל / נִטַּל • (nitál) (nif'al construction)

1. to be taken away (from)

ניטל / נִטֵּל • (nitél) (pi'el construction)

1. (archaic, transitive) to lift, raise
   • Tanach, Isaiah 63:9, with Young's Literal Translation:

     בְּאַהֲבָתוֹ וּבְחֶמְלָתוֹ הוּא גְאָלָם וַיְנַטְּלֵם וַיְנַשְּׂאֵם כָּל־יְמֵי עוֹלָם

     b'ahavató uvchemlató hú g'alám vay'nat'lém vay'nas'ém kol-y'mé olám

     In His love and in His pity He redeemed them, And He doth lift them up, And beareth them all the days of old

Ultimately from Latin nātālis (“birthday [of Christ”), probably via an older form of a Romance language rather than a direct borrowing. Compare בענטשן (bentshn); the semantics and likely dates of several such relatively essential terms being descended from Romance over Germanic suggests Yiddish may have a distant root in Jewish Vulgar Latin dialects, among other sources.

ניטל • (nitl) m, plural ניטלען (nitlen)

1. Christmas, Nittel

• ניטלבוים (nitlboym)
• ערבֿ־ניטל (erev-nitl, “Christmas Eve”)
• ניטל נאַכט (nitl nakht)