ריס

Hebrew

Etymology

A Middle Iranian borrowing within the relatives of Old Armenian երէզ (erēz, “band, bandage”), with the sports meaning in Old Armenian ասպարէզ (asparēz, “racecourse, stadium; stadion”), Jewish Literary Aramaic בֵית רֵיסָא (bēṯ rēsā, “racecourse, stadium”), deformed Classical Syriac ܒܝܬ ܪܗܛܐ (bēṯ rehṭā, “racecourse, stadium”). The development of the meaning of an eyelash may be recognized further in Arabic رِمْش (rimš, “eyelash”), and typologically Old Armenian կոպ (kop, “eyelid”) compares against Georgian კოპი (ḳoṗi, “leather-thong; satin-embroidered headband on which the veil of a woman is attached”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

רִיס • (ris) m (plural indefinite רִיסִים, singular construct רִיס־, plural construct רִיסֵי־) (from Mishnaic Hebrew)

1. (anatomy, dermatology) eyelash
2. (obsolete) eyelid (then particularly together with eyelashes)
3. (obsolete) stadium, racecourse
4. (historical) stadion (a Greek unit of distance based on standardized footraces, equivalent to about 185.4 metres)

Descendants

• → Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Jewish Literary Aramaic: רֽיסָא (rīsā), רֵיסָא (rēsā)

References

• “ריס” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language
• Jastrow, Marcus (1903) A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, London, New York: Luzac & Co., G.P. Putnam's Sons, page 1475
• “rys²”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, the eyelid borrowing according to CAL from Hebrew in Aramaic
• “byt**rys”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, racetrack in JLA
• “byt**rhṭˀ”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, racetrack in Syriac

Further reading

• ריס on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^he

Yiddish

Etymology

From Middle High German riss, from Old High German riz, from Proto-Germanic *writiz.

Noun

ריס • (ris) m

1. rip, tear