Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.341 February 26, 1995 1) Yiddish, thousand year old language (Shimen Kass) 2) Gikh (Yude Rozof) 3) Welcome (Yude Rozof) 4) Kibitz/Doktoyrim/Shem-Hitl (Paul Pascal) 5) Malka Heifetz Tussman (Kathryn Hellerstein) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 23:22:46 EDT From: kass@umbsky.cc.umb.edu Subject: Yiddish, thousand year old language Dovid Katz says Yiddish is a 1000 year old language. Does any of the original vocabulary survive? How has the sentence structure changed? shimen kass 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 21:14:05 -0500 (EST) From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Gikh While on the subject of gikh, another nice expression with this word which I did not see mentioned is "af der gikh." It means quickly, "on the double." What is the gramatical history of this phrase? Is there a Germanic basis for it, or is this a Slavic formulation? Does modern German have a comprable formulation? Another Yiddish synonym for quick is /flink/. What other expressions of speed and associated shprikhverter are there? For slow, I can think of pameylekh and pavolye, as well as the daytshmerizm langzam. Are pameylekh and pavolye differentiated? Yude Rozof 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 21:21:45 -0500 (EST) From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu (Jeremy S Rosof) Subject: Welcome According to Uriel Weinreich's dictionary, the English welcome! may be expressed two ways: "Borkhabo/Brukhabu" and Skotsl kumt. I once spoke with YIVO librarian Zachary Baker about the latter expression. He informed me that /skotsl/ was in fact a contraction of something like "vos Got zol..." and this form of greeting was generally used by a man when welcoming a lady. I don't think that I have ever actually come across Skotsl kumt in reading or speech. Has the form died out in practice? Is it gender neutral? Is it reserved for the singular or can it be used in the plural? Is it formal or informal? I welcome any information on this unique Yiddish expression. Yude Rozof 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 26 Feb 95 00:01:24 EST From: 75332.2735@compuserve.com Subject: Kibitz/Doktoyrim/Shem-Hitl Berel Leiser wonders about the origin of "kibitz", after a discussion of "kibbutz" and "kabtsn". Klein's Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English (sic) Language has the following entry: kibitzer, n. 1) looker-on at a card game; 2) a meddlesome person. >From the German _Kiebitzer_(slang), 'a looker-on (at cards)', fr. _kiebitzen_, 'to look on', fr. _Kiebitz_, 'pewit, plover', whence arose the meaning (used only in slang) 'a meddlesome looker on'. The birdname _Kiebitz_ derives fr. MHG _gibiz_, _giwiz_, which is of imitative origin. Further to the thread on the plural of dokter: I am now wondering the origin of the 'oy' in doktoyrim? (Go ahead, take a cheap shot!) I imagine the pattern might be along the lines of kodesh-->kdoyshim, but why dafke that pattern instead of, say, redakter-->redaktorn? Lastly, regarding Kalman Weiser's inquiry about the origin of the expression "zikh oyston dem shem-hitl", my guess is that it comes from the old Yiddish (folk?) story about the ganef who was hiding in a crowd when his wily pursuer shouted: "Afn ganef brent dos hitl!" The ganef, in a panic, grabbed at the hat on his head, thereby revealing his identity. Paul Pascal Toronto 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 03:33:12 -0500 (EST) From: khellers@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Malka Heifetz Tussman To add to Jasha Kessler's moving tribute to Malka Heifetz Tussman, I'd like to say that there has been and is being more attention paid to Malka than he mentioned. I had the privilege of being Malka's student (or "pupil" as she liked to say) and friend from 1976 until h her death in 1987. During my years as a doctoral candidate at Stanford University, I worked with her every Friday, reading, translating, shmuesing, eating, laughing, crying -- all centered around Malka's great love, Yiddish poetry. During those years, I should mention, Malka showed me Jasha's translations of her poems with pride and spoke of him with affection. Since then, though, a number of other people, including myself, have published translations of Malka's poems and have written about her: My translations of her poems were published in Benjamin and Barbara Harshav (eds) _American Yiddish Poetry : A Bilingual Anthology_ (U. California Press, 1986); also in _Yiddish_ (No. 7, 1988, Queens College), and other journals and books. I also have dealt closely with a number of her poems in scholarly/critical articles which appeared in in *Der pakn-treger* (Fall, 1987), _Handbook of Jewish-American Literature_ (ed. L. Fried, Greenwood Press, 1988), _Parable and Story as Sources of Jewish and Christian Theology_ (eds. Clemens Thoma and Michael Wyschogrod, Paulist Press, 1989), in _Studies in Jewish-AMerican Literature_ (Fall, 1990), in _Gender and Text in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish LIterature_ (eds. N. Sokoloff, Ann L. Lerner, Anita Norich, 1992), in _Encyclopiedia of Jewish American History and Culture_ (eds. Jack Fischel and Sanford Pinsker, Garland Press, 1992), in _Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States_ (1994). Am currently writing on Malka, as well. One must note Marcia Falk's important book of translations of Malka's poems, _With Teeth in the Earth_ (Wayne State U. Press, 1993). Marcia Falk also has published articles on Malka in Lilith (I think), translations in American Poetry Review, article in _Shofar_, and her translations were included in Irving Howe, Ruth Wisse, and Chone Shmeruk's _The Penguin Book of Modern YIddish Verse_ (1987). The late Yiddish translator of French poetry and critic, M. Litvine, wrote a beautiful essay on Malka in Di Goldene Keyt; and I think that A. Sutzkever wrote a strong essay of appreciation after Malka died (in Di Goldene Keyt, which he edits). Another friend and student of Malka's Daniel Marlin, of Berkley, has published some of his translations of Malka's poems, too. And I have recently been in touch with a grad. student at Ohio State University (Lisa Jenschke) who happens to be my _feder-fraynd_ who told me that she intends to write her MA thesis on Malka's poetry in comparison with Elsa Lasker Schuller's poetry. This list is an informal (off-the -top-of-=my-head) list, not a complete or scholarly list of works on Malka Heifetz Tussman. Please pardon the typos. And thanks to Jasha Kessler for bringing up Malka's name and work. zayt mir gezunt, Kathryn Hellerstein Tel Aviv ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.341 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 subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu