brifka

English

Etymology

Yiddish בריווקע‎ (brivke, “little letter”), a diminutive of Yiddish בריוו‎ (briv), meaning a (postal) letter. Brifka is thus a "little letter". In turn derived from Old High German briaf, which is borrowed from Latin breve, a neuter form of Latin brevis (“short”). Cognates include Middle Dutch, Middle High German brief, and Dutch brief, Old Norse bréf, Old Saxon brēf (all of them borrowed from Latin)[1][2] and English brief.

Noun

brifka (countable and uncountable, plural brifkas)

  1. a small folding envelope used for keeping diamonds or other gemstones in
    • 2014, Echo Freer, Diamond Geezers:
      With a pair of tweezers, he removed a dazzling rose-coloured crystal from the brifka
  2. by extension a gem envelope including its contents

References
  1. Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Brief”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN
  2. brief; in: J. de Vries & F. de Tollenaere, "Etymologisch Woordenboek", Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, Utrecht, 1986 (14de druk)
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