George Eliot’s Use of Hebrew Names in Daniel Deronda

Abstract

In giving names to her various characters in Daniel Deronda George Eliot used for the most part well established first and last names. An exception to this can be seen in the name of the musician Herr Klesmer. The name is neither English nor German, and on further inquiry it suggests very strongly a derivation from the Hebrew expression kli-zemer ’musical instrument' or more probably from the Yiddish klezmer 'folk musician'. The paper traces the historical development of the word itself, from Biblican Hebrew onwards to its use in Yiddish, and raises the question of how George Eliot might have heard the word and decided to use it as a name.

In conclusion, the paper proposes that in this particular case George Eliot coined a new name from an existing Hebrew-Yiddish word.