To me, this discussion is fascinating. I know "maven" as a Yiddish word. In Yiddish it means expert (or connoisseur, if you prefer), but this discussion hasn't been about the meaning of the word in Yiddish. The discussion has been about the meaning of the word now that it has come into English. I didn't know it had. Since it came into English so recently, I'm sure that there is no maven on the English meaning of "maven".

The maven on the subject of Yiddish words that are used by English speakers is Leo Rosten. His book "The Joys Of Yiddish" is subtitled "A Book About English". I don't have my copy handy, but I'm sure that many of the connotations people mentioned were not in his entry for the word. Since it's adoption into English, the word must be changing. Discussions such as these are the source material that language mavens of the future will use to trace the evolution of the word.

If I can find an email address for Leo Rosten, I'll send him a link to this thread. I'm sure he'd love it.

Jacob