Notarikon
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A cabalistic method of deriving a phrase from a word, using the letters of the word as initial letters of words in the sentence.
"Rashi explains the second phrase in his commentary to the parallel section in Berakhot 24a, s.v. takhshitin shebifnim: "Kumaz — a defuss of the uterus that they would make for their daughters, and they would pierce the walls of the uterus as one pierces the ears and insert it so that men would not have relations with them". In other words, according to Rashi, kumaz means a "chastity belt", and Rabbah hints at this later on in the sugya in Shabbat, using a notarikon: "KuMaZ — Kan Mekom Zima", here is a place of lewdness"."
- 2 A cabalistic method of creating a word from initial, middle and final letters (in any combination) of words in a phrase.
"The Hebrew word zahav (ZaHaB) is the notarikon (shorthand) for Zan, Ha'aret, and Bonayh Yerushalayim."
Example
More examples"Rashi explains the second phrase in his commentary to the parallel section in Berakhot 24a, s.v. takhshitin shebifnim: "Kumaz — a defuss of the uterus that they would make for their daughters, and they would pierce the walls of the uterus as one pierces the ears and insert it so that men would not have relations with them". In other words, according to Rashi, kumaz means a "chastity belt", and Rabbah hints at this later on in the sugya in Shabbat, using a notarikon: "KuMaZ — Kan Mekom Zima", here is a place of lewdness"."
Etymology
From Hebrew נוטריקון, borrowed from Ancient Greek νοταρικόν (notarikón).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.