Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 131 December 30, 1992 1) Dem milners trern/pozharne (Raphael Finkel) 2) Reflexives/Dem milners trern (Shleyme Axelrod) 0 3) Reflexives (Khaim Bochner) 4) Beginnings (David Neal Miller) 5) Emet/emes (Arn Abramson) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 11:48:20 EST From: Raphael Finkel Subject: Dem milners trern/pozharne Zikher veln a sakh leyeners kenen entfern af dem freg. Der rikhtiker strof iz: di reder dreyen zikh di yorn geyen zikh vu 'zikh' meynt 'fun zikh aleyn' oder 'on keynems gehilf'. nokh a moshl: esn est zikh, trinken trinkt zikh vos zol men ton az se davnt zikh nit? Af poylish, meynt 'pozarny' 'sreyfedik', un 'pozorny' meynt 'afn ershtn blik, ober b'emes nit'. A 'pozar' iz0 a sreyfe (fun a hoyz, tsufelik (nit bemeyzid)). Raphael Finkel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 Dec 1992 15:41:52 -0500 (EST) From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: Reflexives/Dem milners trern Yankel Lantz (Mendele 2:130): Jan Bart's pronunciation of *yorn/yurn* ("years") may have thrown you off. In the song *Dem milners trern*, the recurrent lines are Di reder dreyen zikh, Di yorn geyen zikh, Ikh bin shoyn alt un grayz un gro. So it's not Jews who go, or pass, it's years. The song is by Mark M. Warshawsky (*Afn pripetshik* is also his), and is included in *Mir trogn a gezang* ("The new book of Yiddish songs"), edited by E.G. Mlotek and published by the Workmen's Circle. But the use of reflexives in Yiddish IS interesting, so interesting that there is no doubt a scholarly literature on the topic. My own favorite: Nu, vos hert zikh? Shleyme Axelrod 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 18:04:37 -0500 From: bochner@das.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: reflexives Yankel Lantz writes: > song, but it has a line which goes "Die raeder drehen sich; > die Juden gehen sich/Ich bin schoin alt un greis un gru." > I think it's called "The Miller's Sorrow," or something > like that. > At any rate, I'm intrigued by the reflexive verb "to go." > The wheels turn themselves. Ok, no problem. But "die > Juden (he really says Juden, not Jiden) "go themselves" seems > a little strange. First, listen again: I bet he's saying "yurn" (for klal-shprakh "yorn", 'years'). At least that's the way it goes in the versions of "Dem milners trern" that I've seen. As for the "reflexive": it's a fairly common colloquial construction. It isn't a normal reflexive, of course. My understanding is that in some cases it contributes a sense of casualness: compare the line "Gey zikh nokh a por mol iber" in "Reyzele". But I don't really understand what it contributes in "di yorn geyen zikh". It sounds funny to me without the "zikh", but that might just be because of familiarity with the song. I'd appreciate other peoples opinion on this: does it sound alright to say "di yorn geyen" instead of "di yorn geyen zikh". Does it mean something different? -- Khaim Bochner 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Dec 92 7:05:17 EST From: David Neal Miller Subject: Beginnings Beginnings To mark the beginning of the/their new year, and in response to the high earnestness of the conference season, I'd like to propose a diversion of the sort some of us once played as graduate students. Specifically, I'd like to suggest that as many of us as find the idea appealing post their favorite--or, alternatively, least favorite--beginnings of Yiddish literary works, sans attribution. Others could cite the sources, post counter-candidates for canonization on MENDELE, or complain about the waste of bandwith. David Neal Miller (at the MLA) miller.3@osu.edu 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Dec 92 11:36:24 EST From: Arn Abramson Subject: Re: emet/emes To Sigrid Peterson: Perhaps a better Hebraist than I will answer your question. In the meantime let me try. In spite of its superficial appearance with the Massoretic pointing, 'emet is apparently not a segolate noun. The segol under the 'alef is a so-called khatef segol ("fleeting segol") that, were 'alef not a letter representing one of the "guttural" consonants,would be a schewa. This spelling, then, stands for a normal noun with the stress on the last syllable, and so we hear it even in modern Israeli Hebrew. As for the stress on the first syllable in the haftara bnlessing mentioned by Peterson, I wonder whether it is not something dictated by the customary chant, at least in some Jewish traditions. That is, it is governed by the rhythm. Arn Abramson ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2. If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu or mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu If your node is Bitnet-only and is not connected to the Internet, please send your message to: mendele@trincc or mendele@yalevm If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu or nmiller@trincc Please sign your articles.