Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 2 no. 52
August 3, 1992
 
1) Kop (Mikhl Herzog)
2) Loshn Koydesh (Bob Werman)
3) Margaritkelekh (Itzhak Finger)
4) Lachoudisch (Mark H. David)
5) Introduction (Neil Schier)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 92  08:40 EDT
From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.Columbia.edu
Subject: Kop (Mikhl Herzog)

Seymour Axelrod: In much of Northeastern (i.e., "Litvish")
Yiddish, the word "kop" is, indeed, feminine: di kop. A
"bizarre" Litvish expression: "s'iz mir tut vey di kop".
What do you make of that? On the other hand, occurrence of
"goyishe kop" in an English context may just be a "mistake
I've heard (in England, as a matter of fact) "He's a
Yidishe boy".

Mikhl Herzog.

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun,  2 Aug 92 19:58 +0300
From: RWERMAN%HUJIVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.51

1] Sam Feldman writes:

> I believe that Loshn Koydesh refers to Biblical
>Hebrew/Aramaic, not to spoken Hebrew, nor to Yiddish.  In
>my home, loshn koydesh was also used to indicate "the
>official word."

In the world of the black coats, loshn koydosh definitely
means spoken Hebrew, something extremists will avoid
speaking at all cost.  Most Israel born or raised haredim
[dosim] can and will speak loshn koydesh to communicate
with outsiders and sometimes among themselves.


2] Mikhl Herzog takes me to task about Dzhigan and
Shumakher.

I will never learn not to open my mouth widely about
subjects that I am ignorant of; I am afraid that I am one
of those stereotypers Mikhl speaks of.  As partial penance,
I have looked it up.

Shimon Dzigan was indeed born in Lodz in 1905; he played
the quick witted boor with Israel Schumacher in Lodz before
they fled Hitler, travelling to Russia and eventually
settling in Israel in the early 50's.  Dzigan played the
quick witted boor while Schumacher was the slow, sedate
fellow and was a perfect counterfoil.  Am I closer to the
ignoramus or the slow witted fellow?  A bit of both,
probably.


__Bob Werman       rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il      Jerusalem

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Aug 92 09:52:42 MDT
From: jfinger@mv.us.adobe.COM
Subject: Margaritkelekh

Eight verses of "Margaritkelekh" appear on page 39 of "Mir
Trogn a Gezang - Favorite Yiddish Songs", compiled by
Eleanor Gordon Mlotek, published in 1972 by Adama Books,
306 West 38 Street, New York, 10018. ISBN 0-915361-39-6.

According to the above book, Margaritkelekh was written in
1909 by Zalman Shneour (1887-1959) and was originally
titled "Tra-la-lo-lo".

I know this melody as the Hebrew song "Rakefet" (Cyclamen),
often sung by Esther Ofarim.

-- Itzhak "Jeff" Finger --

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 92 15:03:18 EDT
From: gensym!mhd@harvard.harvard.edu
Subject: Lachoudisch

[Saam Feldman writes:]

    I believe that Loshn Koydesh refers to Biblical
   Hebrew/Aramaic, not to spoken Hebrew, nor to Yiddish.  In
   my home, loshn koydesh was also used to indicate "the
   official word."

I still could buy Loshn Koydesh.  I think my mother told me
that my father's father and associates (German Jews, mostly
cattle dealers not far from Cologne, pre-Shoah) referred to
the Hebraicisms they sprinkled into their German as Loshn
Koydesh.  Why must the term have the same meaning in their
language as in Yiddish?  (They didn't, kholile, speak what
we or they would call Yiddish, but they knew plenty of
Hebrew.)

Mark H. David (Meyer)

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 17:05:54 -0400
From: schin@pub2.bu.edu
Subject: Introduction

My mother's last name is Peretz. While I know that I am not
related to I.L. Peretz (I believe those are the proper
initials), the Peretz "name" supposedly goes back quite a
ways. Is this so?

Incidentally, I am trying like mad to get ahold of Sarah
Roff (Hunter College High '86 and Yale '90) and Vanessa
Southern (HCHS'86 and Stanford '90) Anyone out there know
them?

Neil Schier

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