Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 1 no. 186
March 2, 1992
 
1) "Bundist" schools (Mark H. David)
2) Yiddish in Lotusland (Ellen Prince)
3) Introduction (Lisa Leah Darginsky)
4) Rabonishe etymologyes (Yude-Leyb Proger)
5) A bakoshe (Dovid Braun)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 92 13:26:38 EST
From: gensym!mhd@harvard.harvard.edu
Subject: (Generically) "Bundist" Schools

The Arbeter Ring (i.e., Workmen's Circle) schools in
America were patterned after the Bund schools of Europe.
Joseph Mlotek, who belongs to the Bund, went to Bund
schools in Europe, and was Educational Director of the
Workmen's Circle for many years, told me this in an
interview.  Many of us here, I believe, did indeed attend
Arbeter Ring schools.  So, I could accept the logic of
calling both the European Bundist schools and the American
Arbeter Ring schools generically "Bundist".  Doesn't seem
like too big a deal.

Mark H. David

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 92 17:52:05 EST
From: "Ellen F. Prince" <ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu>
Subject: fyi

just in case mendele's readers from abroad didn't 
believe me that 'Enjoy!' is all over the country, 
here's a datum from the Linguist bulletin board
today:

------- Forwarded Message
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 92 10:33:04 -0800
From: tshannon@garnet.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: 3.137 Queries: Like, Swahili/Yoruba, ESL

...

As they say out here (and elsewhere???):  "Enjoy!"

------- End of Forwarded Message

see? it's so well entrenched in berkeley that he's not
even sure it's used *elsewhere*. (and berkeley is
definitely not in the yinglish zone...)

Ellen Prince

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 92 02:10:21 EST
From: lldar@mvax.cc.conncoll.edu
Subject: Introduction

Dear Noyekh,

        Shalom colanu!

        I am a sophomore here at Connecticut College double
majoring in Psychology and Judaic & Israeli Studies.  As a
Jew, a student, and a curious individual, I am interested
in hearing about the views of others concerning Judaism,
Zionism, Israel, American Jews, Jewish Americans, etc.

Sincerely,

Lisa Leah Darginsky

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 92 00:57:19 IST
From: yude-leyb <RHLE302@HAIFAUVM.BITNET>
Subject: rabonishe etimologyes

Meylekh V.: You splendidly illustrate what has long been
known in the Yiddish linguistic literature as _rabonishe
etimologyes_.  These ingenious construction s are of purely
homiletic value. If what is regarded as a religious truth
can be elicited from word-play, then for the believer an
occult "source" has been uncovered (or better, created).
But this is different from ordinary folk or "naive"
etymologizing.  A good instance of the latter is Israeli
Hebrew _frayer_ (from Y. _frayer_ < Polish _frajer_
'gull').  The meaning in IH is 'gull', but some Israelis
believe it is from Y. _frayer_ 'irreligious'. Rafael Sapan,
in his _Milon slang hayisraeli_ (Y-m: Kiryat-sefer, 1966,
p. 57) even gives 'porek ol' as a second sense besides the
primary one of 'tam'. He then adds regarding this second
sense that it arose due to a misunder- standing of the
Yiddish word.  In ordinary usage folk etymology means naive
or mistaken etymology, although there are surely
traditional "folk" explanation s of origins of names and
words which merit serious attention.

Yude-Leyb Proger

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 92 14:32:51 EST
From: David Braun <braund@linc.cis.upenn.edu>
Subject: e-mail

Readers of Mendele (outside of English-speaking countries),
Would you please send me (or Mendele) the names for
_e-mail_ and _answering machine_ in your respective
countries/languages?  Much appreciated.

Dovid Braun (braund@linc.cis.upenn.edu)
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End of Mendele Vol 1.186