Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 2 no. 150
February 2, 1993
 
1) Kest and kapores (Mikhl Herzog)
2) Philologus af kest (Yitzhak Kertesz)
3) Tish-un-nayntsik (David Sherman)
4) YIVO's e-mail or fax address (Robert D. Hoberman)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 93  01:53 EST
From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.Columbia.edu
Subject: Kest and kapores

Seymour Axelrod: it seems to be a play on "nayn un nayntsik
(99) kapores". Tish-un-nayntsik (i.e. Heb tisho '9'). Isn't
there a Slavic parallel "sim sot (or something)".

"Leyg zikh nisht keyn feygelekh in buzim". Don't count your
chickens. No?
 
Mikhl Herzog

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon,  1 Feb 93 19:41:11 PST
From: Yitzhak Kertesz <BM.LBH%RLG.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>
Subject: Philologos af kest

Concerning Philologos (Philologika?) my opinion worth 2
kopikes is that if respectful newspapers do not print
unsigned letters, then self-respecting readers shouldn't
bother reading the articles of such an author, who doesn't
have the guts to sign them.

Kest is from German Kost, which is translated in my
dictionary as food, board. And no, dr. Rwerman, it was not
limited to rich father-in-laws, a year of support was
expected from all f-i-ls. Witness the following joke (even
made it into Freud's "Jokes" p. 112. in the ppb. ed):

A shnorrer is invited for lunch to a rich man's house. He
shows up with a young man, and when asked who that was, the
shnorrer says: "This is my son-in-law and I've promised him
his board for the first year."

The stipend that was not understood by the person in Mea
she'arim was called "teg essen" (Teg with tsere pl. of Tag
= day), because the poor students of the yeshiva rotated
among various members of the community, thus ate at
different homes every day. Of course, they used to
"exchange notes" about the peculiarities of the various
hosts.

Yitzhak Kertesz
bm.lbh@rlg.bitnet

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 13:43:43 -0500
From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.CA
Subject: Tish-un-nayntsik

[Seymour Axelrod, Vol2.149, cites a review in Afn Shvel:]

> 2.  Later, the reviewer criticizes the transcription:  "Di
> transkriptsie?  Zi toyg af 'tish-un-nayntsik' (oder:
> [tof-shin-ayin-hey]-nayntsik)..."  From the context, it's
> clearly no compliment--but what does it mean?  There
> appears to be a pun on "tish" and "[tof-shin-ayin-hey]",

Well, here's the easy part: tof-shin-ayin-hey is "tish'ah"
in Hebrew, meaning 9, so tisha-un-nayntsik is 99.  What the
connection is to ninetytable, I'll leave to others...

David Sherman

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: 02 Feb 1993 14:14:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert D Hoberman <RHOBERMAN@ccmail.sunysb.edu>
Subject: YIVO's e-mail or fax address


SUBJECT: YIVO's e-mail or fax address                                 

The following query was posted on the Linguist e-mail list.
I am taking the liberty of copying it here.  If you have
the answer, please send it to Dr. Dingeldein directly.

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Date:         Mon, 01 Feb 93 08:21:40 CET
From: "H. J. Dingeldein" <DINGELDE@DMRHRZ11.HRZ.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject:      YIVO e-mail/fax address

Does anyone have the current e-mail address or fax number
of YIVO (yidisher visenshaftliher institut) in New York?
Please reply directly to me as soon as possible. Thank you
for assistance.

Dr. Heinrich J. Dingeldein
University of Marburg
(dingelde@dmrhrz11.hrz.uni-marburg.de

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End of Mendele Vol 2.150