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Dr. Ida Selavan Schwarcz asked (#2003-23) for the etymological root of the slang word "branja" in Hebrew. I can only speculate about its origin. Today this Hebrew slang word refers to an inner selected group of people with extra power, be it political, financial or to an extremely well connected group [to power circles], or to an exclusive, close-knit group. The Hebrew slang dictionary _Milon Olami leIvrit Meduberet_ Dan Ben-Amotz & Netiva Ben-Yehuda, Jerusalem, 1972, p. 43, brings that word as referring to an unsuccessful television personality, and its source as Arabic. But that was the meaning of this word some 30 years ago, by now what is left of the original meaning is the "fame" [originally of the television personality] transformed into "well connected" and a bit of the negative connotation. In English the term "mafia," when it does not refers to the gangsters but rather to a well connected group, a group that takes care of it members, has the similar meaning as the Hebrew branja. As to the suggestion in the Jerusalem Post that it is "a Yiddishism meaning clique." I checked both the Weinreich and Harkavy Yiddish dictionaries and they do not have such a word, and I suspect that Yiddish is not the source of the term. Since we are speculating here, there is another possibility unrelated to the old "branja" slang, and that is that the new slang developed from the English word "branch" connoting the selectivity of the group and its uniqueness. Gilad J. Gevaryahu
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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