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As a little kid, I was always told that a Hamantasch is representative of Haman's three cornered hat. Is there an actual source that says Haman wore a three cornered hat or is it just Folklore?

msh210
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Bochur613
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2 Answers2

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I was told the following by a Rebbe of mine (My Yiddish is sorely lacking, so can't verify it to be true, but why would he make this up?):

In Europe, they made "hamantaschen" out of poppy, which in Yiddish is Mon. A pocket in Yiddish is a Tasch. Mon-Tasch, or plural Mon-taschen, (poppy pockets) were a popular purim snack. The similarity of Mon to Haman caused people to start calling it that, and afterwards the "explanation" came along.

Y     e     z
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    The problem I have with this explanation is where does the hat come in? How do you get from poppy pockets to Haman's hat? – Bochur613 Feb 27 '14 at 00:12
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    @Bochur613: It sounds like the pastry was known as "montaschen" and enjoyed all year round. At some point, perhaps as a Purim joke, it got the name "hamantashcen". Later on, the original name was forgotten. – Ephraim Feb 27 '14 at 16:18
  • Perhaps it's a corruption of Mohn-Törtchen? (Search for it online. Also see Mohn-Tartelettes) – Ephraim Feb 27 '14 at 16:24
  • @Bochur613 Because pockets aren't 3 cornered, and hats can be. Folklore often develops this way - when you are trying to fit the explanation to the facts. – Y     e     z Feb 27 '14 at 19:33
  • @Ephraim As I said, I do not claim to know the Yiddish enough to comment. – Y     e     z Feb 27 '14 at 19:34
  • If you do an image search on "Tasche" you'll see that it means handbag too. Now the exact etymology is unclear, but there may be a connection between "pouch" (related to "pocket") and "tasche" which may be derived from "task" which when completed, the compensation would be paid with a "pouch" of coins. See here: http://www.tasche.biz/Etymologisches-zur-Tasche.html . (Note the reference to the Latin "tacere"=keep quite. Perhaps this is related to סתר- hidden and hence we have אסתר? Or is this Purim torah?) The point is that the pastry is a pocket since it contains a filling. – Ephraim Feb 27 '14 at 20:03
  • @Ephraim That's where I was starting from - a poppy pocket. – Y     e     z Feb 27 '14 at 20:05
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A possible connection with Haman's hat is that the Ibn Ezra Writes that Haman had affixed his idol to his hat. When people bowed to Haman they also bowed to the idol on the hat.

Eating something with a connection maybe symbolizes destroying the idol on the hat. This is just a theory.

Harel13
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The Targum
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