Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 59 September 2, 1992 1) Grammar questions (Itzhak Finger) 2) Who wrote this? (Fishl Kutner) 3) Yiddish folksongs (Bob Berk) 4) Three openings (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 13:23:10 MDT From: jfinger@mv.us.adobe.COM Subject: RE: Grammar Questions I can take a stab at answering my own question (after consultation with a native speaker, Rabbi Yosef Levin in Palo Alto, who immediately said, "When you are moyhl, you are being moyhl on someone else!") >> Why is "Ikh bin moykhl" in the past tense "Ikh hob >> moyhkl geven" instead of "Ikh bin moykhl geven"? "Moyhkl zayn" is acting as a transitive verb here, in which case it makes some sense to say "Ikh hob dir moykhl geven". The aberration is in taking a Hebrew and using it as a predicate adjective in the present tense, but using "moyhkl geven" as the past participle in the past tense. It is interesting that both with "moyhkl zayn" and "moyre hobn", Yiddish chose bombastic verbs from Hebrew instead of the the more everyday possibilities "soyleakh zayn" and "pakhed hobn". -- Itzhak "Jeff" Finger -- 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:01:59 -0700 From: Philip Kutner Subject: Who wrote this song? This portion of a little song is a remnant of my childhood memory of my mother. Any one know the title or the rest of it? Ikh vill tsurik aheym in stetele in deym Avu ikh hob gehat zikh ruyik un bekvem Ikh vil nit mer zeyn do Avu kayn fraynshaft iz nito Philip "Fishl" Kutner 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 18:06 EDT From: BERK@zodiac.rutgers.edu Subject: Yiddish folksongs regarding mischa van vlaardingen's query: at one time, the volumes could be ordered directly from magnes press in jerusalem, using the address found in the book. it might be worth writing to them to see if this is still so. bob berk 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1992 From: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Subject: Three openings Here are the opening lines of three stories: ********** Nokhn vayb's toyt zenen dem Professor Vladislav Eybeshuts geblibn bloyz di bikher un di feygl. Fun dem Historishen Fakultet in dem Varshever Universitet hot er gehot rezignirt iber di antisemitishe shtudentn, vos zenen gekumen oyf di lektsies mit grobe shtekns, in gold-geleyshte korporatsie-hitelekh, greyt yedn frimorgen oyf naye provokatsies un shterungen. Tsulib epes vos Dr. Eybeshuts hot keynmol nisht gekannt rikhtik festshteln, hobn zey k'mat alle gehat royte peynimer, geshtupelte nakns, farissene neyz, firekige kinnen, a shteyger vi di sinne tsum Yid volt zey farvandelt in eyn familie. Afile di koyles zeyere, ven zey hobn geshrign az di Yidishe shtudenten zoln sitzen oyf geto-benk, zenen geven di eygene. ********** In a heykhl vu s'vartn neshomes ongebreyte arop- tsunidern in Sheol, oder vi andere rufen es: Erd, hot gehoyert a neshome fun vaybershen min, Yechida. Yechida hot gehot gezindikt in dem oylem vuhin zi iz aropgekumen fun kisey akovoyd. Neshomes fargessen dem shoyresh. Pura, der malekh fun shikcha, geveltikt umetum oysern eyn-sof. Pura iz tsimtsum, aseyser ponim. Yechida hot gemakht skandaln, khoyshed geveyn yedn malekhta az zi hot eysekim mit ir gelibtn, Yachid, gelestert Got, afile geleyknt in im. 'S iz oysgekumen loyt ir grayziker ashoge, az di neshomes vern nisht bashofn mit a takhlis, nor kumen oyf fun zikh aleyn, on a zinen un a tsvek, un 's iz les din veles dayen. ********** 'S iz geveyn in zumer 1946. In der Mrs. Kapitsky's living-rum, oyf Tsentral-Park-Vest, hot geglimert an eyntsik royt lempel hinter an abazhur bamolt mit Mrs. Kapitsky's oytomatishe tsaykhenungen: kaylekher mit oygn, blumen mit mayler, bekhers mit finger. Der gantser zal iz geveyn bahangen mit Lotte Kapitsky's bilder -- alle gemolt in trans, beys Lotte Kapitsky's kerper vert bahersht fun ir "control", Bhagavad Krish- na, an Indisher khokhem, vos zol hob gelebt in fertn yarhundert. ********** It remains only to be said (though most of you have already guessed it) that these are by the same author (Isaac Bashevis) and that they appear in a single collection (Maynses fun Hintern Oyvn). I have two excuses for this exercise. First, to kvel and marvel at the astounding range of vocabularies from which Singer makes a deliberate and self-conscious choice. I don't know of another Western literature (counter-examples earnestly solicited) in which writers have that sort of option. Second and on a rueful note to suggest that Yiddish writers can't do it anymore. ??? And maybe a third: what would it hurt if those who've never gotten around to reading Yiddish gave it a try? Noyekh ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.59 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.