Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.164 March 8, 1998 1) David's Violin by Joseph Lateiner (Gerben Zaagsma) 2) Moishe Pinchevsky (Simkhe Drayer) 3) moyshe dluzhnovski (Bess Katz) 4) more of my mother's and father's argot/patois (Mel Poretz) 5) derivation of word _greiz_ (Sasha Englard) 6) translating Yiddish expressions (Aridoso Parshandoso) 7) Article on Forward and YIVO spelling (Lee Dembart) 8) a disgrace (Irving Korr) 9) nayn teg inter lemberg (Walter (Velvl) Golman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 10:25:11 GMT From: gerbn@worldaccess.nl (Gerben Zaagsma) Subject: David's Violin I'm looking for David's Violin / Dovids Fidele by Joseph Lateiner; I know it has been published in Mark Slobin's 'Retuning Culture' but that is not available in any Dutch library; does anyone know another book or collection where it was published? (yiddish or english) Thanks, Gerben Zaagsma 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 21:11:30 -0300 From: "Saul" Subject: vegn Moishe Pinchevsky Tayere mendelianer: Ikh hob far aikh a bakoshe. Ikh vil tzugreitn a shrift vegn Moishe Pinchevsky, gueboyrn in Teleneshti, Besarabie dem 1tn mertz 1894. Er iz guekumen kayn Arguentine in 1912 un dort guevoynt biz 1920. Anderhalbn yor guevandert mit zain khaver, der shrayber Aba Kliguer in farshidene zidamerikanishe lender, shpeter guevoint in Daitshland un tzum letztns onguekumen tzum Ratnfarband. Gueshribn poezye un proze mit a tifn lirishn farnem. Ikh vil epes mer visn vegn zain lebn un shafn (un zain shtarbn) bifrat in dem Ratnfarband period. In dem "Lexikon fun der yidisher literatur" ken men, in a kurtzer mos, guevoyr vern vegn zayn shafn in Rusland. Zain toyt iz gueshen (loyt dem tzitirtn kval) in 1955 in a laguer vu er iz farshikt guevorn in 1948. In a tzveiter moker (I. Gutkovich "Oyf ale teg fun a gantz yor", farlag Yidish bukh, Varshe 1966) leynt men az er iz gueshtorbn in Kiev (nisht in a laguer).??? Efsher kent ir mir tzuhelfn. A hartzikn dank aikh alemen. Simkhe Drayer 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 08:11:52 EST From: BESSK Subject: moyshe dluzhnovski I am seeking information on he writer MOYSHE DLUZHNOVSKI. We just read his story DER BIBLIOTEKER FUN KOYIMBRO, which appeared in DI GOLDENE KEYT in the '70s, I believe. Ah groysen dank. Bess Katz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 10:55:23 EST From: EMPE Subject: more of my mother's and father's argot/patois(?) In the old films and mystery novels of my 30's childhood, police searching for a body in a lake fired off canons to cause victims to rise to the surface. That's been the effect on me of some of the Mendele postings I've been reading that have dealt with the idioms and delicious expressions that have resonated throughout my life, and especially in the last decade since both of my parents have departed. I offer the following in the hope that readers might know a bit more about them than I do: 1) We worked hard to avoid being leftback in school for fear of being termed "leck lukh." My mother also used it to describe "being late" or missing out, such as missing the boat, bus, etc. 2) Describing someone who was really scared of something, my mother would say:" Ze chittert vee a huhnt in nine teg." I know it has something to do with Tisha B'Av and the famine and wonder how widespread was this expression's use and did it apply to other events or circumstances. 3) "Tsebetsky's yurren" is a sump of an expression with too many applications to list here. I'd be interested in what Mendelyaners recall about it. It connotated a long period of time, that's for sure. 4) My clothes, my bed, my hygiene and my eating habits were frequently described by my parents as "ehkloft." My inadequate dictionary shows "ehkl" as a noun meaning "disgust." This undoubtedly makes my folks' expression of love an adjective. Rikhtik? Is it a Yiddish word or is it derived from Russian or Polish? which is how it sounds to my old ears. 5) When I got too big for my britches, Pop would curdle me by calling me a "shmerkotch." Coming from him it was worse than snot-nose and here, too, it sounds Slavic more than Yiddish. I know that when he called me a "shvinyah" he was using the Russian word for pig/swine, but shmerkotch always stung a bit more. MEL PORETZ 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 11:45:13 -0500 From: "Dr. Sasha Englard" Subject: Inquiry regarding derivation of yiddish word I wonder whether someone can help in ascertaining the origin or derivation of the word greiz spelled as gimmel-reish- yud-yud-zayin meaning mistake, error,etc. I have consulted two of the most popular yiddish-english dictionaries with no indication of this word's origin. Thanks for your help in this matter. Sasha Englard 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 14:44:00 -0500 (EST) From: aridoso_parshandoso@technologist.com Subject: translating Yiddish expressions I've gotten so much help from just that previous brief query, I thought I'd bother everyone some more. The beginning and middle of Adar (in Yiddish, if I remember correctly, "oder," which according to Weinreich means "or"; is that because the month either is, or is not, doubled, depending on whether it's a leap year? Linguists, please help!) flood my mind with memories. In particular, my great-granduncle used to grace the ears of our family with what I'm sure were touching Yiddish witticisms--unforunately, since no one speaks the language anymore since George Burns died, I don't know what they mean, and my letters to Ruth Weiss go unanswered. Can you help? Around the dinner table at Shabes gatherings he used to throw down his fork, and with a twinkle in his eye, say, "Kh'ken beshum ofen nisht aropshlingen dem farshtunkenem opfal. Fun zint kh'bin aroys fun geto hob ikh nisht geshmekt aza khaloshesdikn reyekh." My great-grandniece, overcome with joy, would always leave the dining room in tears. Why was this? Then there were the warm, "heimische" Friday evenings in shul, when he would always say, "Vos gorglt zikh der khazn--kh'vil shoyn esn. Zayn liber nomen vet farshteyn oyb m'vet iberhipern a por tfiles." I knew he was saying something to God in "His" language, but I didn't know what! And, lastly, when I left the house to study linguistics (I had stayed with him for most of my adolescence after an unfortunate hamantashn-baking accident which incapacitated my family), he said, again with that famous twinkle, "Der vos darf nor eyn etimologye, darf nor eyn froy." Could someone favor me with the translations? A dank foroys, Aridoso Parshandoso 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 16:01:18 EST From: Dembart Subject: Article on Forward and YIVO spelling I invite your attention to an article I wrote recently in Salon, the online magazine, on The Forward's decision to adopt YIVO spelling. You can find it at http://www2.salonmagazine.com/media/1998/02/24media.html. Lee Dembart in San Francisco 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 17:29:38 -0800 From: korr Subject: a disgrace I remembered a remark that was made when a person did something disgraceful or shameful. Now I ask all the experts if they can explain the meaning of the two phrases. Man mus zikh khapenen and khabene busheh. A shehnem dank khaverin. Irving Korr 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 09:21:06 -0500 (EST) From: walter golman Subject: "nayn teg inter lemberg" vegn di frage arayngeshikt fun miriam isaacs: lemberg iz nit fun mayn gegnt, un ikh ken ir nit helfn. ober, az mayn mishpokhe hot gevoynt in der tsofndiker teyl nu-york vos ruft zikh "di bronks," flegn mir zogn az a gor-vayter plats gefint zikh "azh in kanarsi." kanarsi (Canarsie) iz a gegnt in mizrakh brooklyn. in yene tsaynt -- dakht zikh mir -- hot di untererdishe ban nokh nit dergreykht azoi vayt. forn kayn kanarsi hot gemeynt az men nemt tsvey banen, batsolndik finf sent yedes mol, un dernokh oftmol forn oif an otobus (nokh finf sent). dos oz take geven a mahalakh. Concerning the question raised by Miriam Isaacs: I cannot shed any light because Lemberg was not part of my environment. But I do remember that, at a time when my family lived in the northern part of New York City known as The Bronx, we would describe a very distant place as "even as far as Canarsie." Canarsie is a neighborhood in Brooklyn to which, as I recall, the subway line did not quite reach. To get there from The Bronx required two trains, with a five-cent fare each time. After that, it was often necessary to take a bus (another five cents). It was quite a trip. Walter (Velvl) Golman Silver Spring, Maryland ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.164 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html