Need Hebrew speaker help

[valarltd]

Okay, so I have an Israeli character.

At one crucial juncture, he reveals his feelings for his lover by calling him some Hebrew endearment

As it stands, I have "yedidi."

I don't expect "Ani ohev otcha" (I love you, m/m form).

Is there one that doesn't sound as odd? as reminescent of diddle and yeti and Dee Dee and all sorts of other things?


yakiri? (darling)
ahuvi? (my love)
or even achi? (my brother
Would these work better? Do they have connotations I should know about?

Comments

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

You might want to ask an LJ friend of mine, Roger (aadroma). He's Jewish by heritage and a HUGE polyglot & language geek. He tries to put up a post every Monday or so discussing various language weirdnesses. Just let him know what's going on (that this is for a m/m romance/sex piece) and I bet he'd be glad to help.

[megleigh.livejournal.com]

ohh if you find out, can you post to let us know? I have a vested interest in knowing the best term to use. ;)

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

I've used sheli (mine) before...

(It's just the posessive pronoun - but, when used in context of an explicit conversation it works)

Yedidi or yakiri also work... Though both are very romantic terms - I'm not sure what your context specifically is to know if you're looking for something with a bit more sexuality to it... achi is wrong here since it is not used to denote romantic love...

You might also be thinking of dodi - which means my beloved.. (yedidi is a form of the same root...)

[hotchikk.livejournal.com]

A lot of Israeli slang is borrowed from Arabic. "Habibi" is a good option here.

You might also try "motek", which is a bit more sugary-sweet, but depending on the context could work, especially if it's slightly ironic.

[(Anonymous)]

Yedidi ,achi and habibi are all completely platonic.

From your description, I'm not sure whether he reveals his attraction to a so far platonic friend, or his love to a guy he sleeps with.

If it's the latter, yakiri and ahuvi could work, just keep in mind that they are both pretty serious words. It really would sound like 'My Love'/'My Darling' in English, and not something that would slip out in regular conversation. I actually think ahuvi is better on that score, because yakiri between two young guys feels a bit dated, so it might be taken as a joke or even sarcasm, depending on how it was said.

If your characters are still just friends, motek (literally: 'sweetie', but feels more like the all-purpose 'baby') is a pretty good option in my opinion. It seems to me to be the most likely to slip out: not too heavy, plausably on the tip of your tongue, but with a clearly romantic conotation.

btw, 'dodi' means 'my uncle' in modern hebrew. Definitely not an option:)

[(Anonymous)]

Oops, posted too soon.
Above is me: samj.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

It is VERY serious.
And they aren't really young. One is mid 30s. The other is over 4000, but looks thirty-ish.

the story is...complicated.

I went with ahuvi since that sounds the best to my English/Spanish/French/German/Gaelic speaking ears