Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.340 February 26, 1995 1) Yiddish influence on French? (Pierre Lewis) 2) Looking for Barbara Pomerants (Yankl Salant) 3) Mainstream? Puddle? (Louis Fridhandler) 4) Vaybertaytsh (Marion Aptroot) 5) Book of Fables (Marion Aptroot) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 12:44:00 -0500 From: lew@bnr.ca Subject: Yiddish influence on French? I've read on Yiddish's influence on English (as well as on German), but not on French (which I guess is perhaps less likely). Anybody know of anything significant? Esp. beyond vocabulary? What brought this up is "go figure" which is said to come from "gey vays" [alt-usage-english-faq]. French has "allez savoir" (infinitive, not imperative, but still quite similar). Pierre Lewis Montreal, Canada 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 09:47:14 -0500 From: yankl191@aol.com Subject: Looking for Barbara Pomerants I received this letter at YIVO recently. If anyone can help this person, please get in touch with them. I included their address. if not, e-mail me directly. a sheynem dank, yankl salant I am looking for a former Yiddish teacher at Berkeley in the 1970's called Barbara Pomerantz. She also worked at the Magnus Museum there. If you know if she is still working in Yiddish studies and how I might get in touch with her, I would greatly appreciate knowing it. Dr. S. Spitz. 4450 S. Park Ave. #916, Chevy Chase, MD 20815-3639 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 25 Feb 95 14:22:32 EST From: 74064.1661@compuserve.com Subject: Mainstream? Puddle? I never heard of Shtentsl until I read Leonard Prager's lecture. A sheynem dank Mendelen. Un tsu Prager, yasher koyekh. Since Prager launched his lecture from Cynthia Ozick's metaphors, "Mainstream or Puddles" I have these metaphors buzzing in my head. I know that my own personal focus (lots of my time, but part time) on Yiddish language and literature does not locate me in the mainstream. Maybe that's a good thing. A dive into the gushing mainstream may get you washed into the ocean and be hopelessly diluted. Is that too great an extension of the metaphor? Next. The notion of puddles conjures stagnation in my mind. I hope neither Mendele's endeavors nor mine fit that metaphor. Nu, oyb nisht "mainstream" un nisht "puddles" vos den? Vu zenen mir? Efsher in a gortn, a kleyner ober a bliendiker. Me hit op di shprotsn, di blumen fun Yidisher shaferishkeyt un mentshlekhkeyt. Sholem-Aleykhem himself longed to be translated into Russian, the mainstream of his milieu. He realized his wish. I understand that he is thought to be a Russian writer in Russia. The Yiddish originals are not widely known except among the cognoscenti. Louis Fridhandler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 19:15:11 -0500 (EST) From: aptroot@husc.harvard.edu Subject: Vaybertaytsh To Lisa-leah Jenschke: _Vaybertaytsh_ is the type family used for most Yiddish texts (and some-non Yiddish texts) until the late 18th century. After that time, its use became more and more restricted. It is known under the names Yiddish Type, _vaybertaytsh_, _tkhine-ksav_, _tsur_ or _Tsene-rene-ksav_, _mashet_ or Ashkenazic Rabbinic Type. The oldest surviving printed book in Yiddish, or at least with much Yiddish in it, is _Mirkeves hamishne_ or _Seyfer shel reb anshl_, a glossary to Tanakh printed in Cracow in 1534 or 1535. The Yiddish part is printed in yiddish type. Printing with moveable type was invented around 1450-1455; soon after that, Jews in Italy and the Iberian peninsula started printing Hebrew. Printers in the 15th century designed typefaces based on local manuscript hands. The success of the mediterranean printers and the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal led to the homogenization of a - Sephardic - basic square type and basic rabbinic/cursive type ( also known as Rashi script) that have become normative. Printers north of the Alps based their typefonts on the Sephardic types which were already normative when Hebrew and Yiddish printing took off in Central and Northern Europe in the 16th century, but also on Ashekenazic script, both square and rabbinic/cursive. The Ashkenazic rabbinic/cursive type is what we now call Yiddish type or _vaybertaytsh_. It was mainly, but not exclusively used for Yiddish texts. If you are interested in knowing more on the topic, would I recommend two articles by Herbert C. Zafren: "Variety in the Typography of Yiddish: 1535-1635." _Hebrew Union College Annual_ 53 (1982): 137-163. "Yiddish Type ("Vaybertaytsh"): Typography in the First Century of Yiddish Printing." _The Field of Yiddish 4_. Marion Aptroot 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 19:19:57 -0500 (EST) From: aptroot@husc.harvard.edu Subject: Book of Fables I would like to draw attention to the _Book of Fables. The Yiddish Fable collection of Reb Moshe Wallich. Frankfurt am Main, 1697_ edited and translated by Eli Katz (Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1994). This is a facsimile edition of _Seyfer mesholim_ with a translation, introduction, and a complete scholarly apparatus at the end. The _Book of Fables_ or _Sefer Mesholim_ is a Yiddish collection of thirty-four fables and an important work in the history of premodern Yiddish literature. Moshe Wallich did not compile this collection of fables himself, but published a reissue of _Ku-bukh_ (Verona 1595, published in facsimile in 1984 by M.N. Rosenfeld). The fables are based on Hebrew and German sources, well told, and interspersed with references to Jewish life. In the fable of the stork and the fox (nr. I), for example, the stork invites the fox for "_kreplekh_ and almond rice and all sorts of Purim delicacies." When the fox coaxes the crow to demonstrate its fine singing voice in order to make it drop the piece of cheese in its beak, the crow chants the blessing for the new moon (II); the dog tries to persuade the cow to marry him by boasting of his lineage which goes back to the dogs who refrained from barking the night the Israelites left Egypt, promises his prospective bride a valuable marriage contract, and reminds her that she will have to visit the _mikve_ regularly after she is married (XXVIII). There are more elements which reflect the daily life of Ashkenazic Jews of the period. Katz provides us with a lucid and concise introduction on Yiddish literature and the fable, the original rhymed text in facsimile (with lovely woodcuts!) side by side with an English prose translation, and a critical apparatus. This is a book not only scholars will enjoy, but the charming woodcuts and Katz's lively translation ensure that anybody with an interest in Yiddish will also cherish this beautifully published book. Marion Aptroot ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.340 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. 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