Tir - טיר \TIR\ Noun \ Feminine \ Pl. Tirn:
1. A door, doorway.
2. A wild animal, particularly a bison. (I will not be dealing with this meaning at all in this e-mail, since it is so rare.)
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
German equivalent: die Tür.
Etymology: The word derives from Middle High German “tür,” from Old High German “turi,” both of which ultimately derive from Proto-Germanic *durz- and the Indo-European roots*dʰur, *dʰwer- (door, gate) before it. Because the root goes back so far, tir has many cognates, both in Slavic and Germanic languages. Cognates include: Albanian “der,” Ancient Greek thura,Armenian duṙ, Czech “dveře,” Danish “dør,” Dutch “deur,” Faroese “dyr,” Gothic daur,Hindustani dvār, Icelandic “dyr,” Irish “doras,” Kurdish “derge,” Latin “foris,” Latvian “dùrvis, duris,” Lithuanian “dùrys,” Luxembourgish “Dier,” Middle Dutch “dore,” Middle English “dore, dor,” Modern English “door,” Modern Greek thýra, Norwegian “dør,” Old Church Slavonic dvĭri,Old Dutch “duri,” Old English “duru,” Old Frisian “dure, dore,” Old Irish “dorus,” Old Norse “dyrr,” Old Saxon “duru,” Persian dar, Polish “drzwi,” Russian dver’, Sanskrit dvā́r, Slovak “dvere,” Swedish “dörr,” and Welsh “drws.”
It should also be noted that this root, going all the way back to the Proto-Indo-European, is related to the word for “gate” in many Germanic languages (toyer [טויער] in Yiddish, “das Tor” in German, etc.).
Derivatives of tir: tirgezims (טירגעזימס) - the top of a doorpost; tirglekl (טירגלעקל) - a doorbell;tirklaper (טירקלאפער) - a door knocker; dreytir (דרייטיר) - a revolving door; droysntir (דרויסנטיר) - a door to the outside (of a house); fodershte tir (פאדערשטע טיר) - a front door; gasntir (גאסנטיר) orparadtir (פאראדטיר) - a door to the street; gvaldtir (גוואלדטיר) or zapastir (זאפאסטיר) - an emergency door; hintertir (הינטערטיר) - a back door; khaptirl (כאפטירל) - a trap door; kupetir(קופעטיר) - a train compartment door; shpigltir (שפיגלטיר) - a door with a full-length mirror on it; Avrom-Ovinus tirn (אברהם-אבינוס טירן) - (describes a house with) many doors (lit., Our Father Abraham’s doors; based on the famous midrash which explains that Abraham’s tent had many openings in order to allow guests in from all sides).
Phrases with tir: brekhn zikh in an ofener tir (ברעכן זיך אין אן אפענער טיר) - to belabor the obvious (lit., to break open an open door); klapn in tir (קלאפן אין טיר) - to knock on the door; lign mit di fis tsu der tir (ליגן מיט די פיס צו דער טיר) - to be dead (lit., to lie with one’s feet to the door; based on the Jewish practice of laying the body of someone who has just past away with his/her feet facing the door [I wasn’t able to find a source for this practice in classical halakhic literature, so if someone can point me to one, I would much appreciate it]); lozn an ofene tir(לאזן אן אפענע טיר) - to leave open a loophole (lit., to leave an open door); opshlogn emetsn di tirn (אפשלאגן עמעצן די טירן) - to be in great demand, be very popular with (lit., to break down someone’s doors [for a highly valued item]); shtekn di finger tsvishn der tir (שטעקן זי פינגער צווישן דער טיר) - to intervene (lit., to stick one’s finger in between the door [and the doorpost]);shteyn vi an oreman bay der tir (שטיין ווי אן ארעמאן ביי דער טיר) - to stand like a pauper by the door; varfn dem get far der tir (ווארפן דעם גט פאר דער טיר) - to resign (lit., to throw the get[Jewish writ of divorce] in front of the door [of one’s boss]; presumably based on imagery found in the Mishnah in bGittin 77a); visn vu a tir efnt zikh (וויסן ווו א טיר עפנט זיך) - to know one’s way around, know the ropes (lit., to know where a door opens); zayn vi a kliamke on a tir (זיין ווי א קליאמקע אן א טיר) - to be useless (lit., to be like a doorknob without a door);di andere tir (די אנדערע טיר) or mit a tir vayter fun (מיט א טיר ווייטער פון) or a tir lebn a tir (א טיר לעבן א טיר) - next door to; fun tir tsu tir (פון טיר צו טיר) - from door to door; ofn vi di tirn bay Avrom-Ovinu (אפן ווי די טירן ביי אברהם-אבינו) - as open as the doors of Our Father Abraham (see above).
Expressions with tir:
1. Az es geyt, geyt es durkh tir un toyer (אז עס גייט, גייט עס דורך טיר און טויער) - Nothing succeeds like success. When it rains, it pours (lit., When things are going, they go through door and gate; i.e., they overcome all obstacles). As Wex explains, durkh tir un toyer is a phrase which can denote both exceedingly good fortune and the opposite. Another meaning of the phrase is found in the expression: Bay im iz ofn tir un toyer (ביי אים איז אפן ווי טיר און טויער) - He is extremely hospitable (lit., Both door and gate are open at [his house]).
2. Der shenster shpatsir iz far zayn eygener tir (דער שענסטער שפאציר איז פאר זיין אייגענער טיר) -The nicest stroll is in front of your own house (the attitude of a typical lazy person).
3. Arayngeyn geyt men arayn durkh a breyter tir; aroysgeyn geyt men aroys durkh a shmoler(אריינגיין גייט מען אריין דורך א ברייטער טיר; ארויסגיין גייט מען ארויס דורך א שמאלער) - Entrances are wide, exits narrow (lit., When entering, you go through a wide door; when exiting, you go through a narrow door). This expression is particularly applicable in the context of repentance: it’s much easier to get into a bad habit than to extract oneself from it.
4. A mentsh mit gute manirn shlogt zikh durkh ale tirn (א מענטש מיט גוטע מאנירן שלאגט זיך דורך אלע טירן) - All doors open to a person of good breeding (lit., A person with good manners breaks down all doors).
5. Az di tir iz ofn, darf men nisht krikhn durkhn fentster (אז די טיר איז אפן, דארף מען נישט קריכן דורכן פענצטער) - Always choose the easier of the two paths (all else being equal; lit., If the door is open, you don’t need to climb through the window).
6. Oyb di tir efnt zikh nisht farn oreman, vet zi zikh efenen farn dokter (אויב די טיר עפנט זיך נישט פארן ארעמאן, וועט זי זיך עפענען פארן דאקטער) - If you don’t open the door to the pauper, it will open itself to the doctor (i.e., God will punish you for not having been charitable by sending sickness to your home).
7. Eyner hot hanoe fun hartn kez, a tsveyter fun lang “vehu rakhem,” un a driter fun a tir tsu der gas (איינער האט הנאה פון הארטן קעז, א צווייטער פון לאנג “והוא רחום,” און א דריטער פון א טיר צו דער גאס) - To each his own [and to all a good night] (lit., One person enjoys hard cheese, a second enjoys the long [penitential prayer] “Ve-Hu Rahum” [“And He Who is Merciful;” recited in one’s prayers on Mondays and Thursdays], and a third enjoys a door to the street).
8. Itlekher hot zikh zayn bergl mist far der tir (איטלעכער האט זיך זיין בערגל מיסט פאר דער טיר) - Everyone has skeletons in his closet (lit., Everyone has his own little mound of refuse by the door).
9. A shokhn in shtub iz vi a glekl bay der tir (א שכן אין שטוב איז ווי א גלעקל ביי דער טיר) - A neighbor in one’s house is like a doorbell by the door (i.e., he/she makes a lot of noise, spreading all the gossip he/she hears to everyone else).
10. Tsvishn a shviger un a shnur gehert an ayzene tir (צווישן א שוויגער און א שנור געהערט אן אייזענע טיר) - Between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law there is an iron wall (shnur here being pronounced with a Galician inflection as shnir in order to rhyme with tir).
11. Ven es flit arayn der hunger durkh der tir, flit aroys di libe durkhn fentster (ווען עס פליט אריין דער הונגער דורך דער טיר, פליט ארויס די ליבע דורכן פענצטער) - When poverty (lit., hunger) flies in at the door, love flies out of the window.
12. A kind on a mamke iz vi a tir on a kliamke (א קינד אן א מאמקע איז ווי א טיר אן א קליאמקע) - A child without a mother is like a door without a doorknob.
13. Der toyt/malekhamoves klapt nisht bay der tir (דער טויט/מלאך המוות קלאפט נישט ביי דער טיר) - Death/the Angel of Death doesn’t knock at the door (instead, it comes suddenly, without warning).
14. Mikh glaykht men: mikh trogt men oyf di hent - biz tsu der tir (מיך גלייכט מען: מיך טראגט מען אויף די הענט - ביז צו דער טיר) - I am well liked: people carry me on their shoulders (lit., hands) - right out the door. This expression is ironic because the phrase trogn oyf di hent means to lionize, but here it is used literally, in the sense of carrying (someone) on one’s hands - right out the door.
For more expressions involving the word tir, see the YWOTW editions of kern and shlisn.
Tir in a sentence: Bloyz zen di tir funem oygn dokter iz mir a shrek un a pakhed (בלויז זען די טיר פונעם אויגן דאקטער איז מיר א שרעק און א פחד) - Simply seeing the door of the optometrist gives me a fright.
Use tir in your own sentence today!
