Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.404 May 1, 1995 1) Yidish-Vokh (Ruvn Millman) 2) Cat's cradle (Dan Leeson) 3) Noyfes tsufim (Irving D. Goldfein) 4) (Hugh Denman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 1995 16:12:28 -0400 From: ruvn@aol.com Subject: Yidish-Vokh **************Yidish-Vokh************** S'iz greyt, di date iz bashtetikt far hantiks-yor Yidish-Vokh. A gantse vokh ful mit opshpanung un redn (un hern) Yidish. Notir es af ire kalendarn... Dem 30tn Oygust - Dem 6tn September, 1995 Fun Nor $180 Farn Gantse Vokh! Kum tsu der Yidish-redndik vakatsie-ort in di prekhtige Berkshire bargn mit undze internatsionale, Yidish-redndik kehile yungelayt un ire mishpokhes. Yidish Studentn: Der bester oyfen me volt lernen a shprakh me zol es lebn...umformele arumredn mit barimte Yidishistn un denkers, est, shwimt, spilt netsbol, shiflt ------ Alts af Yidish!! Dos esn glat kosher. Kindt-hiters b'nimtse. Notir's af ir kalendar! Der noenste zakh tsu a Yidish-redndik Kibuts - Ober on der arbet!! ******************************************* Sayt azoy gut, farshpreyt di informatsies tsu ale ire Yidish-redndik fraynd. Far informatsies: Yugntruf, 200 West 72nd St., #40, New York, NY 10023-2824 (212) 787-6675 ....email: Ruvn@aol.com **************Yidish-Vokh************** That's it, the date is set for this year's Yidish-Vokh. A full week of relaxation and speaking (and hearing) Yiddish. Mark your calendars... August 30th - September 6th, 1995 From Only $180 For the Entire Week Come to the Yiddish-speaking resort in the scenic Berkshire mountains with the international community of young Yiddish speakers and thier families. Students of Yiddish: The best way to learn a language is by living it...informal disscussions with foremost Yiddishists and scholars, eat, swim, play volleyball, go boating --- All In Yiddish! Food is glatt kosher. Babysitting is available. Mark your calendar! The Closest You'll Ever Come to a Yiddish-Speaking Kibbutz - But Without the Labor!! ******************************************* Please circulate this news to all your Yiddish-speaking friends. Far informatsies: Yugntruf, 200 West 72nd St., #40, New York, NY 10023-2824 (212) 787-6675 ....email: Ruvn@aol.com Ruvn Millman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 1995 09:50:47 EDT From: leeson@aspen.fhda.edu Subject: Cat's cradle Aha!! Have I found a weak spot in Yiddish???! Two weeks ago I posted a question about the Yiddish name for the string game, cat's cradle. I said that I knew the game only by the name "ettel bettel" and would some kind soul tell me the origin of this name or if these words were simply nonsense syllables? The silence is deafening! Does this mean that with all the resources at the disposal of the members of this list, no one knows where the name of the game came from? I did receive a private note from a man whose family came from the Ukraine who told me that Ettel Bettel was exactly what his family called the same game so from this I learned that the term may be universal and not geographic to Poland (which is where my family came from), but it is really too early to make that generalization. From the absence of any response to my question will Philologos take this to mean (and write an article in Forward) on how none of the Mendleniks ever played cat's cradle = ettel bettel? This would show that our youths were very affluent for it was a game of the poor. After all, to a poor child, a piece of string was an hour's worth of entertainment. Dan Leeson 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 1995 19:15:07 -0700 From: goldfein@ix.netcom.com Subject: Noyfes tsufim I don't recall seeing any definitive responses to Paul Pascal's query re Noyfes tsufim. The following from the _Encyclopaedia Judaica_ indicates that it is likely a version of the Ze'enah u-Re'enah: "a miscellany of tales, homilies, Midrashim, and exegetical comments woven around a Yiddish rendering and paraphrasing of the Pentateuch, the haftarot and the megillot, written in a lively, simple, and flowing style. The commentaries and Midrashim from different sources supplementing and expounding the selected biblical passages were well known and popular. "The various early editions show few linguistic differences, but in the 18th-century editions these became so numerous that Ze'enah u-Re'enah became a kind of laboratory for the Yiddish language. The 19th-century editions also contain textual variations, _which sometimes bear the imprint of a particualr ideological trend in Judaism (mainly of Haskalah and Hasidism_)." Irving D. Goldfein 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 May 1995 11:23:03 +0100 From: uclhhfd@ucl.ac.uk Subject: eks-laks I could imagine more savory subjects with which to make one's debut on mendele, however, since I happen, quite serendipitously, to have the desired information immediately to hand, here it is: Eks-laks Tsigele-migele kotinke - Eks-laks iz a maykhl! Est men oyf a shtikele Tut nit vey in baykhl Tsigele-migele kotinke - Fun eks-laks filt men munter Est men oyf a shtikele Filt men bald gezunter in ale drog stors. This ad appeared in every (monthly) issue of the Kinder zhurnal (New York: Sholem aleykhem folks-institut) in the bottom left hand corner of the back cover from (at least - all to hand) April 1928 to March 1929. I would expect the firm to have employed other poetasters to extol their salutary product in alternative formulations on other occasions. Hugh Denman London ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.404 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