Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.242 February 5, 1996 1) Der letster Mohicaner (Anno Siegel) 2) Der letster Mohicaner (Mikhl Herzog) 3) Der letster Mohicaner (Zachary Baker) 4) Parent-to-child Yiddish (Mendy Fliegler) 5) Ver glaykht 'glaykhn?' (Miki Safadi) 6) Tumbalalaika (Yankev Lewis) 7) The anomalous spelling of the suffixes -heyt, -keyt (Mikhl Herzog) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 96 10:12:44 +0100 From: anno4000@w172zrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de Subject: Der letster Mohicaner In 5.240 Andrew Cassel wrote: "..did this bit of U.S. slang make its way back across the ocean in time to be incorporated into 20th century Litvish Yiddish vernacular? Ver veyst?" James Fenimore Cooper's novels were immensely popular among German youths before the much inferior writings of Karl May took their place. The title of one of Cooper's works was translated as (from memory) _Der letzte der Mohikaner_. This phrase has entered the German vernacular and is still in use as a jocular expletive when referring to the last instance of anything, not necessarily restricted to people. Anno Siegel Berlin 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 20:16:31 +0100 From: neumann@ids-mannheim.de Subject: Der letster Mohicaner Can you really call the expression „The Last of the Mohicans“ slang? In any event, I would simply assume that it was not the expression but the book that first made its way among Yiddish speakers in Europe, along with numerous other English and other European language works titles. As a teen-ager in pre World War I Poland, my mother read Dumas’ _Count of Monte Cristo and _ Victor Hugo’s _ Der mentsh vos lakht_ in Yiddish). _Tom Jones_ was a Yiddish favorite, too. Why not _Der letster Mohikaner?_ Still, I must admit that I don’t know this for a fact. Zachary? Mikhl Herzog 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 96 10:57:53 PST From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Der letster Mohikaner An abridged translation of The Last of the Mohicans was published in Warsaw, 1921. Here is the full citation: Der letster Mohikaner. Yidish: R-vitsh. Varshe: B. Shimin, 1921. 127 p. (Yugnt-biblyotek; [no. 16]) The author's name, at head of title, is given as F. Kuper. According to the Library of Congress catalog card, R-vitsh is actually a pseudonym for David Kassel [Dovid Kasel] (1881-1935). This is probably the only translation of this work into Yiddish. It is possible that the Yiddish expression "Der letster Mohikaner" predates this publication, since Cooper's work was translated into other languages and may have been accessible to Eastern European Jews in those languages. The expression might also have been found in Yiddish journalism before 1921. Zachary Baker 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 08:13:45 -0500 (EST) From: efliegle@CapAccess.org Subject: Parent-to-child Yiddish In Volume 5.238, Yankev Lewis asked for Yiddish info re: Yiddish for children. Ikh bin geven in Toronto mit a yur tsurik tzum Tsveytn Kunferentz for Yidish Klubn, un dortn hot men unz genemen oyf a rayze tzu a groyser sinagoge in Toronto. Dortn hob ikh zikh derfreyt tsu zeyn a muzeum take in der sinagoge. Un in der doziker muzeum hob ikh gezen avekgeleygt unter a gluz, etlekhe maynselekh far kinder--zeyr alte! Efsher kent ir tsugeyn dortn (ikh hob fargesn dem nomen fun dem sinagoge--ober s'iz a groyse) un gefinen di dozike zakhn... Oyb ir gefint zey, sayt azoy gut un lost mir visn, vayl Ikh gedenk nokh, als kind, fun a maynsele vegn: 'A bobeshkale iz gegangen in vald arayn tsu kloybn shpendelakh..... " un ikh vet zeyr gevolt visn vi azoy es endikt zikh! Zayt azoy gut un lost mir visn, tomer ir kent dos oysgefinen. A dank furoys.. Mendy Fliegler 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 06:19:58 -0800 From: msafadi@ucla.edu Subject: Ver glaykht 'glaykhn?' In Amerika un Kanada, me nitzt 'glaykhn' anstot 'gefeln' az me meynt 'to like'. Nitz men 'glaykhn' oykh in England un Australia? Miki Safadi 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 15:13:36 -0500 From: justin_lewis@stubbs.woodsworth.utoronto.ca Subject: Tumbalalaika Re: Serge Rogosin's query some time back about the origins of Tumbalalaika: some months ago Yoyne-Brayne and I were surprised to hear the song on Max Ferguson's program of folk songs on CBC radio, identified as "a Ukrainian folk song". I don't remember if it had Ukrainian lyrics or was an instrumental piece; it was not in Yiddish, anyway, but the tune was clearly recognizable. Did any other Canadian khaveyrim hear that program? Can anyone follow up on this clue? "Iker shokhakhti!" A groysn dank tsu di khaveyrim vos hobn rekomandirt Mordkhe Shekhter's verterbukh vos derklert vi azoy me redt mit kinderlekh oyf yidish. Mir veln es koyfn. Mir zenen alts nokh farinteresirt in perzenlekhe zikhroynes un gedanken fun Mendelyaner vegn dem inyen. Vi azoy hobn ayere tate-mames oder bobes un zeydes mit aykh geredt yidish, unvos far yidishe oysdrikn banitst ir mit ayere kinderlekh? Derekh-agev, khaveyrim hobn undz gerufn "the Lewises", vayl mayn misphokhe-nomen iz azoy. Mayn froy Yoyne-Brayne hot ober gehaltn ir meydlshn nomen, Enkin. (Mendelyaner in Ontario kenen efsher di mispokhe Enkin; Yoyne-Brayne's zeyde iz geven Max Enkin olev hasholem un ir tate iz Dr. Murray Enkin.) Zent gezunt! Yankev Lewis 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 20:16:31 +0100 From: neumann@ids-mannheim.de Subject: The anomalous spelling of the suffixes -heyt, -keyt The normal dialect correspondences --Northeastern and Southeastern Yiddish [ey]--Central Yiddish [ay], represented in Standard Yiddish spelling by _tsvey yudn,_ does _not_ apply to the the suffixes -heyt and -keyt which, while also spelled with _tsvey yudn_ are rendered with [ey] _only_ in Southeastern Yiddish. In Central Yiddish, as expected, they are realized with [ay].In the Northeast, however, (Litvish!!!), they are anomalously [ay]. The most accomodating spelling is, thus, _tsvey yudn_ alone. The worst it can lead to is the Litvak reading it as [ey]. The suggested alternative, writing these suffixes with [ay] instead would be OK for Litvish version but, the normal dialectal correspondences would yield Southeastern [a] and Central Yiddish long [a:]. Hence . . . . Mikhl Herzog ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.242