[‘ An expert, a connoisseur; a knowledgeable enthusiast, an aficionado.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈmeɪvn/, U.S. /ˈmeɪv(ə)n/
Inflections: Plural *mavens*, *mavins*, *mayvinim*.
Forms: 19– *maven*, 19– *mavin*, 19– *mayven*, 19– *mayvin*, 19– *mevin*.
Etymology: < Yiddish /meyvn/ (plural mevinim) expert, connoisseur < Hebrew /mēḇīn/ person with understanding, teacher, participle of hēḇīn understand, attend to, teach.
The currency of the word is said to have been boosted by the advertising campaign for Vita Herring, launched in the United States in 1964 (see quot. 1965).
chiefly N. Amer.
An expert, a connoisseur; a knowledgeable enthusiast, an aficionado.
1907 /Maccabæan/ June 236/2 ‘You will admit, will you not, that I am a good judge of a cantor.’ ‘Yes, we admit that you are a mavin.’
1950 /Jewish Standard (Toronto)/ June 36 (advt.) Both of these epicures aptly describe the ‘pareve’, easy-to-fix dish that wins the applause of every ‘mayvin’.
1952 /N.Y. Times Mag./ 21 Sept. 58 The most trying type [of customer] of all..is the ‘mayvin’. The word is of Yiddish origin, has entered the language.
1965 /Hadassah News Let./ Apr. 30 (advt.) Get Vita at your favorite supermarket, grocery or delicatessen. Tell them the beloved Maven sent you. It won’t save you any money: but you’ll get the best herring.
1969 /Time/ 12 Sept. 78 Much of the credit for the Cinderella publishing story goes to Robert Gottlieb, then the editorial genie in residence at Simon & Schuster, now the mavin at Alfred Knopf.
1985 /Maledicta/ *8* 125, I don’t think your project is exactly the answer to a dictionary mayven’s prayer.
1991 /Eng. Today/ Oct. 57/2, I have in mind such English language mavens as William Safire and Robert MacNeil.