סְטֵפָה (stefa) — a fat wad of money; a pile

Etymology

The word סְטֵפָה entered Israeli Hebrew from Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), the language of Sephardic Jews descended from those expelled from Spain in 1492. Ladino borrowed the word from Greek stíva (στίβα), meaning "heap" or "pile," and carried it into the Hebrew-speaking environment of mandatory Palestine and early Israel, where it came to mean specifically a thick wad or stack — most commonly of banknotes.

The context of this word's history is the broader Sephardic Jewish diaspora. When Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile expelled the Jews of Spain in 1492, tens of thousands emigrated, many settling in the Ottoman Empire, which welcomed them under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Large Ladino-speaking communities formed in the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey — especially in Thessaloniki (Salonika), where Jews were the largest ethnic group (about 40% of the population) in the early 20th century and Ladino was the most widely spoken language in the city. The Thessaloniki community, along with most other Ladino-speaking communities, was destroyed in the Holocaust; the survivors who emigrated to Israel largely adopted Hebrew.

The contribution of Ladino to Israeli Hebrew is significant, though difficult to measure precisely. Its phonological and syntactic influence overlaps with Yiddish (which was probably more dominant). The clearest evidence lies in the lexicon: a cluster of colloquial Israeli words trace back to Ladino. Besides סְטֵפָה from Greek, these include: דֶמִיקוּלוֹ ("worthless, of low quality," from Ladino de mi culo, "from my backside," itself from Latin cūlus); פַּלַבְּרָה ("empty talk, bluster," from Ladino palabra, "word," from Latin parabola via "comparison"); פוּסְטֵמָה ("a stupid or contemptible woman," from Ladino fustema, a curse, from Greek apostema meaning "abscess"); and צַ'פַּצ'וּלָה ("a coarse or flashy woman," from Ladino chapachula, from Turkish çapçul, ultimately from Persian chapan, "worn garment").

Key Quotes

"כך, המילה היוונית לערימה סְטִיבָה אומצה בלדינו כסְטֵפָה שמשמשת אותנו בעברית במשמעות 'ערימה של שטרות'" — אילון גלעד, מהשפה פנימה

Timeline

• Ancient Greek: stíva (στίβα) means "heap, pile"
• 1492: Jews expelled from Spain; Ladino-speaking communities form across Ottoman Empire
• 15th–20th century: Ladino absorbs Greek vocabulary in Ottoman Balkans and Greece; stefa adopted from Greek stíva
• Early–mid 20th century: Ladino speakers immigrate to Palestine and early Israel; bring Ladino vocabulary with them
• Modern: סְטֵפָה established in Israeli colloquial Hebrew meaning "a fat wad (especially of money)"

Related Words

• פַּלַבְּרָה — empty talk (from Ladino palabra ← Latin parabola; same Ladino influence)
• דֶמִיקוּלוֹ — worthless, inferior (from Ladino de mi culo ← Latin cūlus; same Ladino influence)
• פוּסְטֵמָה — contemptible woman (from Ladino fustema ← Greek apostema; same Ladino influence)
• צַ'פַּצ'וּלָה — coarse/flashy woman (from Ladino chapachula ← Turkish ← Persian; same Ladino influence)
• סְפּוֹנְגָ'ה — mop and bucket floor-washing (from Ladino esponjado ← esponja, "sponge" ← Latin ← Greek spongos)
• לָדִינוֹ — Judeo-Spanish, the source language (from Latin latinus, "Latin")