Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 4.300
January 30, 1995

1) Inscriptions (Mikhl Herzog)
2) Kenen/konen (David Sherman)
3) Distribution and meaning of _konen_ (Mikhl Herzog)
4) Xmas eve (Mikhl Herzog)
5) Help with a yiddish word (Adam Weisberger)
6) Wooden synagogues (Al Madansky)
7) Curses (Al Madansky)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 95  01:44 EST
From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu
Subject: Inscriptions

Moises Kijak inquires about _ufshriftn af sforim vos men git vi a
matone_.

Fraynd Kijak, mistome iz aykh bakant der same ershter, bakanter fal fun
aza ufshrift. Ikh hob in zinen dem ksav-yad funem Vormser makhzer fun yor
1272. Oyb ikh hob nit keyn toes, hot eyner dem seyfer geshonken vi a
matone zayn feter. Der yidisher ufshrift, vos der soyfer hot
arayngeshribn in di groyse oysyes funem hebreyishn vort "bedaato" leyent
zikh mer/veyniker azoy:

_gut tak im betaghe sver dis makhzer in beyth-hakneseth traghe_.

Farvos gor "betaghe" un "traghe" un nit "betage" un "trage", un farvos
"beth/hakneseth"? Vayl inem gantsn makhzer kumen for di oysyes "b, g, d,
k(of), p, t(of)", say inem hebreyishn tekst, say inem yidishn, oder mit
dogesh oder mit rafe. Iz a svore az "g" mit rafe is nit [g] nor [+/- der
grikhisher gamma], un [tof] mit rafe is nit [t] nor gikher [th] (vos iz
ersht shpeter gevorn undzer hayntiker ashkenazisher [s].

Mikhl Herzog

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 95 9:29:00 EST
From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca
Subject: Kenen/konen

Mikhl Herzog writes:

> Dave Sherman, if _you_ use _konen_, it's time for me to go back to the
> drawing board. I know the word from my Litvish _tsad_.

Well, of course, it's not whether *I* use it, but whether my wife, and
more importantly my in-laws, use it.  But to my ear they do.

David Sherman

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 95  01:44 EST
From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu
Subject: Distribution and meaning of _konen_

I seriously underestimated the geographic extent of _konen_. At least in
the meaning 'to know how/to be able', it is almost universal, very often
alongside of _kenen_, in Southeastern Yiddish in Podolia, Bessarabia,
Rumania, in much of Galicia (East and West), in northwestern Poland, and
in central Belorus.

It appears to be unknown in northeastern Poland and in the neighboring
part of Belorus and Volhynia, in much of Latvia, and in northern and
eastern Belorus.

I have yet to systematically plot the distribution of _konen_ as 'to
know/to be acquainted with'. At first glance I see several instances in
which it occurs with this meaning alone, (perhaps alongside of _kenen_)
and several instances in which it occurs with both meanings. More anon.

Mikhl Herzog

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 95  02:16 EST
from: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu
Subject: Xmas eve

Eli Katz's posting concerning his father's designation for 'church' as
"al di blinde kloyster" is revealing. Was he a native of Vilna or did he
migrate there from the Ukraine? The almost universal designation for
Christmas eve in the Ukraine is _blinde nakht_, surely the result of the
same process of distortion that Eli describes. Slavists, please help.

If, as seems likely, "all saints" is the underlying model, how does it
get to Christmas eve. Doesn't _Alle Heiligen/Touts saints (sp?)
correspond to our Halloween?

Mikhl Herzog

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 95 10:50:32 -0500
From: amweisbe@colby.edu
Subject: Help with a yiddish word

I received the following letter today and wish to prevail upon my
fellow Mendelniks for a bisl hilf:

    "Dear Professor Weisberger,

     I had the pleasure of hearing you on Maine public radio this morning
     and immediately thought that perhaps you might be able to help me
     identify a certain Yiddish word that I've been searching for for
     some years.

     The word is used to describe an absolutely perfect and devastating
     retort to an insult or put down, but one which unfortunately comes
     to mind too late to be used (say a half hour after the insulter has
     left); the sort of thing that "I should have said..." Do you know
     this word?

Does anyone out there know what this refers to?

Adam Weisberger

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 11:18:34 -0600
From: fac_albert@gsbvxc.uchicago.edu
Subject: Wooden synagogues

I too am interested in the preservation of the memory of synagogues, and
pursue this interest by collecting picture postcards of synagogues.  to
date i have over 500 synagogues depicted in postcards in my collection.
as an adjunct to this hobby, i research the history of these synagogues.
perhaps when i retire i'll try to codify this mass of synagogue lore into
a book.

the reason for this overlong personal prologue is twofold.  (1) i'd like
to hear from any other mendelniks with this (or a related) hobby, (2) to
inform those interested in wooden synagogues about a book entitled, oddly
enough, Wooden Synagogues, published by Image Publishing House (Z.
Yargina is listed as the author, and it may be a Russian publication), as
Volume 5 of their series, Masterpieces of Jewish Art  ISBN 5-86044-021-9

al madansky

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 11:18:34 -0600
From: fac_albert@gsbvxc.uchicago.edu
Subject: Curses

With respect to jewish curses, let me add to the bibliography the
following:

Blessings, Curses, Hopes and Fears: Psycho-Ostensive Expressions in
Yiddish, by James A. Matisoff, published in 1979 by the Institute for the
Study of Human Issues, Inc.  3401 Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104
ISBN 0-915980-94-0

He refers to a few interesting items:

Joe Singer, How to Curse in Yiddish: Entertain Your Friends! Terrify Your
Enemies!  published in 1977 by Ballantine Books, New York

G. Weltman and M. Zuckerman, Yiddish Sayings Mama Never Taught You,
published in 1975 by Perivale Press, Van Nuys CA  (a translation of
Ignacy Bernstein's Judische Sprichworter und Redensarten)

Sh. Bastomski, Baym Kval: Yidishe shprikhverter, vertlekh,
glaykhvertlech, rednsarten, farglaykhenishn, brokhes, vintshenishn,
kloles, kharomes, simonim, sgules, zabobones, published by the Naye
Yidishe Folksshul of Vilna in 1920.

by the way, any mendelniks out there who know what "kharomes" and/or
"zabbones" are, please chime in with translation/derivation.

al madansky

______________________________________________________
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