Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 6.207
January 24, 1997

1) Nartlen (Jota Piasecki)
2) Nartlen (Al Grand)
3) Nartlen (Andrej Bredshtein)
4) Plural of "shpiliter" (Morrie Feller)
5) "Halevay" (Dovid Braun)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 02:14:04 +0100
From: jpi@it.lth.se
Subject: Nartlen

Al Grand asks [6.203] for a gloss about _nartlen_.  Plausibly Polish.
In Polish there is narta, plur. narty (the physical object), narciarz
(the person), narciarski (related to) and narciarstwo (the sport of
sking). To ski is 'jezdzic na _nartach_'.

I have no idea about its ethymology, let alone about its being Slavic or
not. Nothing very Slavic about 'narta'.

Jota Piasecki

2)----------------------------------------------------
From Savoyid@aol.com Fri Jan 24 15:12:19 1997
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 16:17:12 -0500 (EST)
From: savoyid@aol.com
Subject: Nartlen zikh

I'm extremely grateful to Andrej Bretshtein and Hugh Denman (6.205) for
their splendid explanations of _narltlen zikh_.  To anyone who may be
compiling a Yiddish etymological dictionary - please take note.  These
glosses by Bretshtein and Denman are two superb entries for such a work.

At the conclusion of his post, Hugh Denman wrote: "Oh, for a Yiddish
rhyming dictionary!  Stutshkov is supposed to have written one, but has
anybody ever seen it?"

Yes, I've seen it and, in fact, I own a copy of it.  The Yiddish title
page reads: _yidisher gramen-leksikon_ .  Underneath the the Yiddish
title, and in parentheses, it says: (35,000 _verter_).  Further down it
reads: _tsuzamengeshtelt fun n.stutchkov_.  At the bottom appears:
_farlag "leksik"_ and finally, _nyu york_ , 1931.  The English title
page simply reads: "Yiddish Rhyming Dictionary", Copyright, 1931 By N.
Stutchkoff.

It has 330 pages and is very logically arranged and easy to use.  The
binding is a sort of imitation leather (dark brown) with an intricately
embossed design around heavily raised Yiddish lettering.  If this is
indeed a rarity, and if the copyright has expired, I'd be happy to lend
this treasure to a publisher who may be interested in reprinting for
others who may find it useful.

Al Grand

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 23:47:19 +0300
From: anbredstein@glas.apc.org
Subject: Nokhamol nartes?

Khoshever Dovid Braun fun kembridzsh git undz tsu visn [6.206] zeyer
interesante un klingevdike naye yidishe verter - "lizhves" un "luzhbes".
A mol-a mol, efsher veln zey take beemes vern koshere yidishe verter,
dervayl ober zaynen zey neologizmen mit eyn khisorn, dos heyst "nit
geshtoygn, nit gefloygn", vayl s'iz nokh nito af der velt aza shprakh
vos farmogt di dozike verter. Ver es hot ba zikh far di oygn dem
rusish-yidishn verterbukh fun Shapiro u"a, kon yener zen az untern dakh
fun di leksikografn iz gor genug plats; es gefint zikh dortn nor eyn
zakh un nisht keyn tsu fil - bloyz a vort "lizshes". Dos vort ekzistirt
in ukrainisher shprakh oykh un heyst "ski" ("shlitn-shikh). Vos shayekh
dem eynglishn vort "ice skates", zogt men loyt mayn meynung af yidish
prost un poshet "glitshers". "Lizhes" in rusish iz oyser yedn sofek
"ski" - benemones, vi ikh bin a rusish-reydndiker yid!

Agev, ikh hob a kuk getun in ukrainish-rusishn verterbukh - nito keyn
"bigaty na nartakh" (Hugh Denman, 6.205:5). Un mayn bakante vos ir
muter-shprakh iz ukrainish hot oykh gezogt az "nartes" af ukrainish
heyst "shlitns".

Andrej Bredshtein
moskve, rusland

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 14:23:00 -1000
From: feller@indirect.com
Subject: Plural of "shpiliter"

The word "shpiliter" is not defined in either Weinreich or Harkavy, but
I got the answer from Mordkhe Schaechter: A shpiliter is a buyer or
purchasing agent.  The original word occurs in a piece I found in the
Na'amat magazine entited: "vos vet zayn oyb moshiakh vet kumen in mitn a
moltsayt".  The sentence where this word occurs refers to "tzvey
shilitern", thus making the word "shpilitern" a plural.  In discussing
this word with Joachim Neugroschel, he pointed out that as far as he
knew, no word ending in "-er" has a plural ending in "-ern".  The plural
would normally be either a null "-er" or an "-ers".  Can any Mendelyaner
shed a little light on this apparent anomaly?

Morrie Feller
Phoenix

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 14:30:38 EST
From: dovid@mit.edu
Subject: "Halevay" (song sung by the Barry Sisters)

I am looking for information about the song sung by the Barry Sisters
with Moyshe Oysher called "Halevay."  (The first stanza:  "halevay volt
ikh geven a floymenboym (2x), vayl ven ikh volt geven a floymenboym,
volt ikh dir gegebn yedn floym".)  Aside from the first stanza in
Yiddish, the rest of the song is sung in English by Oysher and the
Sisters on the "Gala Concert" album on which the three appear together.
Am I right that this is a rendition of a completely Yiddish song (that
the Barry Sisters may have recorded separately, without Moyshe Oysher)?
Any information about the song (lyrics, recordings other than the "Gala
Concert", etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

Dovid Braun
Cambridge, MA

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End of Mendele Vol. 6.207