Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.162 November 2, 1994 1) Introduction (Roland Millman) 2) Transliteration (David Sherman) 3) Yeke; Scrabble (Bob Hoberman) 4) Yiddish Scrabble (Sarah Moskowitz) 5) Yiddish Scrabble (David Sherman) 6) Shtot fun Palatsn (Michael Grunberger) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 02 Nov 1994 03:17:39 GMT From: roland.millman@weiser.com Subject: Introduction New "lister" on Mendele, Ruvn (Roland) Millman is a film-maker who has been working primarily in the corporate arena for the past ten years with film, videotape and television. Roland is a graduate New York University's Film and Television Department. He is now making a documentary film with his wife Beverly (Brurieh) Miriam Post named "Double Heritage". Double Heritage is about the post-war adoption of Holocaust orphans by American Jewish families. Ruvn and Brurieh are filming people, chronicling how the adoptees fared in their new lives after the war. How they came from various European countries and learned a new language, changed cultures, took-on a new family, new name, new relatives...and locked away their lives from before the war. Ruvn has been learning Yiddish at YIVO evening classes since 1993. He is a member of Yugntruf and Workmen's Circle's Yiddish speaking youth branch #105. Ruvn will be at Yugntruf's "Yidish Vokh" (god willing) this coming summer. Roland Millman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Nov 94 3:20:27 EST From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Transliteration [Raphael Finkel writes:] > mayne programen kenen di oysleg-klalim (ven tsu nitsn a shlos-mem, a > shtume alef, un kedoyme azelkhe), un mit a rshime loshn-koydeshkike > verter, kenen zey zey oykh akurat oysleygn. Ikh hob genumen raphael's ide'e un geshribn a program oyf HyperTalk far HyperCard oyfn mekintash. me ken shraybn oyf YIVO-transliteratsie un es kumt aroys oyf yidish. ikh hob es genutst tsu shraybn an artikl far yugntruf mit a por yor tsurik. daniel moishe sherman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 01 Nov 1994 14:27:47 -0500 (EST) From: rhoberman@ccmail.sunysb.edu Subject: Yeke; Scrabble About yeke: Mikhl Herzog has cited for us the suggestion that it is from German Geck, pronounced in some dialects as Jeck [yek], meaning something like 'dandy' -- which strikes me as more plausible than some of the more picturesque etymologies, which are just as much part of the folklore about Yekes as the stereotypical character is. But I wonder how plausible it is that a dialectal German word would enter the general non-Yeke vocabulary. What was the mechanism by which a word that German-speakers might have used among themselves (on fairly rare occasions) got into the vocabulary of non-German speakers in a parodic sort of way? About Yiddish Scrabble: There is Hebrew Scrabble, which you can buy in Israel and probably in some Jewish bookstores in the US. You might have to buy 2 sets to get enough alefs and ayins, etc. for one Yiddish set. And of course there wouldn't be single tiles for tsvey-vovn, tsvey-yudn, vov-yud, etc., but I'm not sure you would want those. Bob Hoberman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 19:36:20 +0800 (PST) From: hcedu012@huey.csun.edu Subject: Yiddish scrabble My granddaughter Ariella has an idea for you. She owns a Hebrew scrabble set and suggests that you try using it to learn what is missing and how many of each letter and how many points would be desireable to make each letter. Sarah Moskovitz 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Nov 94 3:42:43 EST From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman) Subject: Yiddish Scrabble Let me dredge up an old posting of mine to mail.yiddish... We had a terrific time at the Yugntruf Yidish-Vokh in Copake NY, from Aug 31 to Sept 6. (Dos vet zein nokh a briev, ven ikh vel hobn tseit tsu shreibn fun dem.) Among the unplanned activities, we found ourselves in a game of Scrabble in Yiddish with Josh Waletsky and his family. They have a Scrabble set which has been done over in Yiddish. Josh told me the value and breakdowns of the letters were done by someone else about 50 years ago. I think some of them need adjusting. Josh's set had only 90 letters instead of 100: Letter Value How Many Tiles ====== ===== ============== aleph 1 12 beis/veis 3 4 gimel 3 4 daled 2 3 heh 3 3 vov (vowel) 1 5 vov-vov (cons.) 2 2 zayin 1 1 ches 10 1 tes 2 5 yud 1 4 yud-yud ("ey") 2 3 caph/khaph 4 2 lamed 2 3 mem 2 4 nun 2 4 samekh 1 3 ayin 1 6 pey 3 2 fey 3 2 tsadik 8 2 kuph 4 3 resh 1 4 shin 2 4 tof/sof 10 1 0 3 A computer-based analysis of word frequencies in something like a dictionary (not just written text) would be helpful, but I'm pretty sure the above numbers need some adjustment. Clearly there should be more zayins, for example. Anyway, it was a great way to improve our vocabulary. (Did you know that "mi", mem-yud, means "effort"? Or that "mesh", mem-ayin-shin, means "brass"?) David Sherman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 17:05:16 -0500 (EST) From: mgru@loc.gov Subject: Shtot Fun Palatsn To Bob Freedman: The Library of Congress' union catalog lists four holding libraries for Y. Berliner's Shtot Fun Palatsn (Mexico, 1936): Yivo, New York Public Library, Yale, and Library of Congress. According to RLIN, it is also held by Cornell. Michael Grunberger ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.162 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) 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 Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu