yahrzeit

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dh₂ítis“part; time”
2. Old High German · derived fromzīt“time”
3. Middle High German · derived fromzīt“time”
4. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*yéh₁-r/n-“year”
5. Old High German · derived fromjār“year”
6. Middle High German · derived fromjār“year”
7. Middle High German · derived fromjārzīt“anniversary; Christian commemoration of a person’s death”
8. Yiddish · borrowed fromיאָרצײַט
9. English todayyahrzeit

PIE word *yóh₁r̥ Borrowed from Yiddish יאָרצײַט (yortsayt), from Middle High German jārzīt (“anniversary; Christian commemoration of a person’s death”); from Middle High German jār (“year”) (from Old High German jār (“year”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *yéh₁-r/n- (“year”)) + Middle High German zīt (“time”) (from Old High German zīt (“time”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂ítis (“part; time”), from the root *deh₂-, *deh₂-y- (“to chop up, divide; to distribute (pieces)”), whence also time and, via Ancient Greek, daemon). The Yiddish word is cognate with German Jahreszeit (“season”), which heavily influenced the spelling and pronunciation once the word was borrowed into English. Piecewise doublet of yeartide.