Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 3.323
April 20, 1994

1) Retonde (Elyet Hersh Gertl)
2) Introduction (Ruvn-Moyshe Shapiro)
3) Introduction (Stephen Cohen)
4) Yekke (Kathleen Rose Noe)
5) Ton/tin (Ralf Arnemann)
6) Zhibe (Moshe Taube)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Apr 20 03:55:07 1994
From: EGERTEL@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU
Subject: Retonde

Ikh shtel ot di kashe letoyves Refuel Finkl vos 'riz atsind in maleyzie:
"Ikh halt in leyenen...,,Motl Peysi dem Khazns."  Motls meshpokhe iz in
antverpn, vu zeyere mekhetonim kumen ahin fun rusland.  Beshas yene hobm
geganvet di grenets, hot man bay zey geganvet der mamens prakht, a
,,retonde."  Di frage iz, mit vos est men a retonde?  Ikh ken nit gefinen
in keyn verterbukh.  Fun kontext, muz zayn epes tayer, vos men ken
aynpakn in a pekl, ober vos geveyntlekh firt men nit fun ort tsu ort."
Ver ken aroyshelfn?  Leybl?  Az emetster hot epes klore moshln, zayt azoy
gut, un lozt hern fun aykh oder do in di elektronishe shpaltn fun MENDELE
oder direkt tsu mir: EGERTEL@FULLERTON.EDU  Refuel hot bashum oyfn nisht
gevolt az me zol im direkt kontaktirn kol zman 'r gefint zikh in
maleyzisher medine.  A hartsikn dank aykh ale un a zisinke nakht.

Elyet Hersh Gertl

Taytsh: Raphael Finkel's looking for the gloss for a word he saw in
Sholem- Aleykhem's MOTL PEYSI DEM KHAZNS: "retonde."  It apparently
refers to something of great value.  Rafi asked me to ask on MENDELE for
help deciphering this term.  He would like a reponse on MENDELE or direct
to me, please (not to him). Any help would be appreciated.

Elliot Hersch Gertel

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Apr 20 09:14:01 1994
From: shapiror@yu1.yu.edu
Subject: Introduction

I'm very new to the Internet and Mendele. I'm a specialist in the history
of Polish Jewry in the 20th century and teach at Yeshiva University. My
interest in Yiddish goes back to infancy when Yiddish was literally
mame-loshn for me. I've participated in the Uriel Weinreich Summer
Yiddish Program at Columbia/YIVO and in Oxford's Summer Yiddish Program.
Two of the best Yiddish teachers I've ever known are Dr. Mordkhe
Schaechter and Dr. Yitskhok Niborski, khotsh zey trogn nisht keyn
akhrayes far mayne shgiyes, tausim un grayzn. I've taught Yiddish at the
Baltimore Hebrew College and at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva
University. This summer, I will again teach Yiddish to the interns
laboring at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA.

My most recent completed projects include a translation of Pinkhes Minc,
Lodzh in mayn zikorn (Buenos Aires, 1958), a book of memoirs by a native
of Lodz, Poland, who lovingly and skillfully portrays Lodz during the two
decades before the outbreak of the First World War. In many ways, Minc's
memoir is an important complement to the image of Lodz in I.J. Singer's
Brother's Ashkenazi. Minc came from a Gerer Hasidic household, but grew
to become a socialist, initially in the Bund, then in the Polish
Communist Party's Jewish section. By the early 1930s, Minc had broken
with Stalin's Communist Party and began a return to the fold of the Bund
in Paris. During the Second World War, Minc was active in the Jewish
resistance in France and edited a clandestine Yiddish newspaper. Minc
spent his last years active in the Bund and Jewish cultural life in
Buenos Aires.

Mit groys derekh-erets,

Ruvn-moyshe Shapiro

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Apr 20 09:48:08 1994
From: smc5@Lehigh.EDU
Subject: Introduction
Dear Mendeleniks:

I am a new subscriber, a postdoctoral chemist at Lehigh University, who
is a non-native speaker of Yiddish. I took 2 years of Yiddish at Penn
under Khane Kliger, and since then have been a member of Yugntruf, and am
a subscriber to the Forverts. Amazingly just as I found out about
Mendele, an article in the Forverts on this users group appeared.

My own particular "practical" (if they can be called that) interests in
Yiddish are genealogy (reading backs of old photos,e.g.) and science. If
anyone knows of scientific works in Yiddsih, let me know. Right now I
have a 1930s book of biology from Eastern Europe, and most of Sol
Finestone's "Khemye: Tsu Leyzen un Tsu Lernen" (1920), both as
photocopies.

Stephen Cohen

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Apr 20 10:02:58 1994
From: Kathleen_NOE@umail.umd.edu
Subject: Yekke

i thought to put 2 more cents in on "yekke" connections. it is true that
der geck(e) - in cologne or platt dialects "yecke" or "yeck" - is a
carneval jester, but it can also be used to describe a man who thinks he
is hot stuff and shows it by dress and behavior. similar to english
'dandy', the way i understand that word.

another possibility that come to mind is a derivation from
['Yakl'/'Yokl']: in the south, this is a diminutive form of Jakob.

so as an afterthought: does yekke refer only to men? or can german jewish
women also be called yekke?

kathleen rose noe

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Apr 20 10:35:25 1994
From: rarnemann@attmail.com
Subject: Ton/tin

Oi, Yankel Ekhoyz got me with some sad blunders - stemming mostly from my
vague knowledge of transliteration (especially ch/k etc...).

I didn't check as thoroughly one ought to because I only wanted to
demonstrate, that "tun"+verb is possible and used in jargon/dialect, such
similarities are easy to overlook when using only a standard grammar
("Ausgelernt" also is jargon).

BTW, I always thought "lernen" could mean both, "teach" and "learn". Is
that wrong? Think I have to scan some old Mendeles.

Thanks for correcting me.

Ralf Arnemann

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Apr 20 11:58:01 1994
From: taube@HUM.HUJI.AC.IL
Subject: Zhibe

Cf. Polish grzyba 'crest'.

Moshe Taube

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 3.323

A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly
updates.

Anonymous ftp archives available on:
          ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu
          in the directory pub/mendele/files

Archives available via gopher on:
        gopher.cic.net

Mendele has 2 rules:

	1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line.
	2. Sign your article.

To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to:

                   LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU

Send submissions/responses to:
        mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu

Other business:
        nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu