Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.094 December 6, 1998 1) klal-yidish tsvishn di frume (Refoyl Finkl) 2) yidish lebt nokh (Itsik Goldenberg) 3) Yiddish and the Haredi Community (Hershl Goodman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 21:55:07 -0500 (EST) From: Raphael Finkel Subject: klal-yidish tsvishn di frume lestns hob ikh adurkhgeleyent numer 3:2 fun "mayles", a zhurnal vos kumt aroys ale khoydesh fun der frume kehile in monsi, nyu-york. bay di shraybers fun dem-o zhurnal iz zikher a klal-yidish, ober zikher nit dem klal yidish vos bay vaynraykh un bay shekhter. ot gib ikh moshlem fun dem klal loyt "mayles", unter rubrikn vos vayzn mayn eygn tsutrit tsu di khilukem tsvishn klaln. (di oysleyg in "mayles" iz oykh nit loyt di takones vos mir hitn zey op, ober nit in dem bin ikh oysn.) I have been receiving the Yiddish monthly magazine "Maalos" and have been intrigued by the Yiddish there, which seems to conform to a standard, but not to the standard Yiddish of Weinreich or Schaechter. Many usages seem to me to be Germanisms or Englishisms. There is also a laxness in gender usage, and the dative of feminine nouns and adjectives is -e. Here are the examples I have culled from a recent issue, arranged according to my own instincts. (I don't bother with purely spelling or pronunciation differences.) Refoyl Finkl ----------- "mayles" shraybt ikh volt geshribn English 1. daytshmerizmen ales alts all als vi a as a alzo [verb in onheyb] so, aynfakh poshet simple baerdign mekaber zayn bury (person) banemung banem grasp (intellectual) baobakhtungen bamerkungen observations barotn haltn an eytse consult bite zayt azoy gut please dagegn tsurik geredt on the other hand dahi biz itst heretofore dan demolt then erfarung genitshaft experience erfilt mekuyem fulfilled erfinden oystrakhtn invent erfolg hatslokhe success ergentsn dergantsn complete erhaltn bakument received erhobn gehoybn exalted erhoylung refue cure erklern derklern to explain erloybn derloybn allow ershaynt dershaynt appears ershinen gedrukt published ershtoynt dershtoynt, nishtoymem astounded ertsiung dertsiung education ervartet aroysgekukt expected etvos epes somewhat farnakhlesign farvorlozn neglect farurzakhndig firndik tsu causing fil mol oft often fil, file a sakh many flikhtn khiyuvem duties fule gantsene entire gebroykhn baderfenishn needs gedankengang bavustzayn conscious thought geflosn geshtromen flowed gegnvart gegnt, svive neighborhood geheyme soydesdike secret gelungene gerotene successful gentslikh in gantsn completely gern gern-vilik eagerly geshvister brider-shevester siblings glaykhgevikht glaykhgiltikayt calm demeanor grintsayg grinsn leafy vegetables herlikh prakhtful, oysgetsaykhnt excellent heyligtum heylikayt holiness krig milkhome war kumen bazukhn kumen tsu gast come for a visit layder tsum badoyern unfortunately lezn farentfern solve (problem) nakhtmol vetshere supper onfang onheyb start oyfzikht oyfze, hashgokhe supervision oyser akhuts in addition to shetsung opshatsung high regard shpezn hoystoyes expenses shtunden shoen hours trots nit gekukt oyf in spite of (a thing) tsum bayshpil lemoshl for instance umervartet nit opgerikht unexpected umgehoyere umgeveyntlekhe unusual varshaynlikh a svore az likely verdful verdik worthy virtshaft balebotishkayt housekeeping yednfals say-vi-say in any case 2. englishizmen bazis yesod basis beybi eyfele baby bos-drayver oytobus firer bus driver geshpendet batsolt spent ofis byuro, amt office 3. hebreizmen kishroynes talantn talents 4. gramatik hot mageyn hot mageyn geven protected [prep.] di [loshn nekeyve] [prep.] der [loshn nekeyve] zey farshteyen mir zey farshteyen mikh they understand me zi hot ir inzinen zi hot zi inzinen she was thinking of her zi hot ir lib zi hot zi lib she loves her du redst tsu dir aleyn du redst tsu zikh aleyn you talk to yourself di blut dos blut blood epes tsu trinkn epes trinkn something to drink di fleysh [dativ] dem fleysh [dativ] meat [prepositional] di vayn [suby.] der vayn [suby.] wine [nominative] far moshiyekh vet kumen eyder moshiyekh vet before the Messiah comes fun ir gelibt kind fun ir gelibtn kind from her beloved child mit groys dveykes mit groyser dveykes with great attachment di seyfer toyre der seyfer toyre the scoll of law fun eyn shtot tsu di tsveyte from one town to the next fun eyn shtot in der tsveyter 5. vort oysnits dem andern tog dem tsveytn tog next day far iber 150 yor tsurik mit iber 150 yor tusrik over 150 years ago er volt zey geven geshribn er volt zey gehat geshribn he would have written them opgeteylt durkh a forhang opgeteylt mit a forhang separated by a curtain do dertsu what's more pedant pedantish exacting zi zol hobn genug gelt far ir un ire kinder zi zol hobn genug gelt far zikh un far di kinder a gutn tog (bagrisung) gutn tog hello mayn mame di mame my mother biz a kurtse tsayt in a kurtser tsayt in a short time biz a sho in nit mer vi a sho within an hour emesdig? af an emes? really? teylt nash teylt iberbaysn distributes snacks der instinkt ... es ken der instinkt ... er ken instinct ... it can afile yeder zogt khotsh yeder zogt although everyone says redn zikh op taynen to complain 6. andere bal batem bale-batem householders beser ... vi eyder beser ... eyder better ... than eksterer bazunderer separate flegn zikh farnemen mit be occupied with forgebreyt bashert destined gerokhtn aroysgekukt expected kegnzayntike antkegndike reciprocal kokh kikh kitchen lekherlikh tsu lakhn laughable nekhtign ibernekhtikn spend the night ongefitert di kinder gekoremt di kinder fed the children shtign treplekh stairs tsamgeleygt ? washed and folded zaytn virkung zaytike virkung side effect 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 22:22:46 -0500 (EST) From: "Robert Goldenberg" Subject: yidish lebt nokh During the three days my wife and I had arumtsuloyfn in New York last week, we managed to squeeze in Elis Ayland, di Statue fun Frayhayt, etlekhe andere metsiyes, di rusishe gegnt in Brayton Bitsh, Khineshtot, un Boro Park. Mir hobn zikh arumgedreyt efsher a shtunde af Lee Evenyu, un s'iz geven a mekhaye tsu zeyen azoy fil notitsn un shildn af yidish. In yeder vinkl gefint men a shtibl oder a besmedresh. Me hot gehert in gas un in krom in merstns yidish. Ven ikh hob gezen un gehert in gas grupes yunge meydelekh redn eyner tsum anderns af yidish, hob ikh zikh derfreyt. Ales dortn iz yidish - di shprakh un di gantse atmosfer. Di mendelyaner vos zorgn zikh vegn di tsukunft fun yidish darfn dortn geyen un zeyen mit zeyere eygene oygn vos tut zikh, un avade veln zey zayn a bisl mer optimistish. Itsik Goldenberg 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 19:24:09 -0500 (EST) From: harold goodman Subject: Yiddish and the Haredi Community Nokh a po' verter vegn dos inyin. In my reading of Mendele postings relating to the use of Yiddish in the Hasidic and Misnagdish communities I have noted more than one or two references to differences in the way Yiddish is spoken and written. One of the latest is from a posting (Nov. 27, 1998) from Hershl Hartman, a devoted contributor to Mendele and a true friend of Yiddish and secular Jewish culture. He wrote (in part): " The survival strength and power of Yiddish comes not from the ungrammatical, highly anglicized argot babbled in Borough Park (and around Fairfax Ave. here in lotusland)...." There is a long tradition of Jews criticizing the way other Jews communicate, dress, act which only leads to more division among klal yisroel. Bashevis Zinger, olov hasholem, was quoted in one piece I read, to have ridiculed someone who spoke with a heavy Galitsyaner accent and vocabulary. Many more examples can be cited but to what avail. My point is that such put downs prove nothing and, in the case of a language under siege, only serve to further fragment us. Yes, many of the Haredim speak and write Yiddish very differently than other Yiddish speakers. They mix in English, Hebrew and any other commonly used language. Our people in Europe did the same. My father's family regularly used the verb "kontshen" to express "to end, to stop". When I similarly used it I was told "this is not good Yiddish." A sheynem dank aykh! For me, this translates to " your standard is not my standard. Therefore, your standard is no good." The masses of Yiddish speakers of Europe never heard of YIVO or of the commendable efforts of many other Yiddishists. Like the Haredim they simply spoke,read and wrote this language, their mame loshn. I am willing to bet the mortgage that after all of the Mendelyaner are long gone these poor, ignorant (not "educated" like us) people will still be "babbling" their "ungrammatical, highly anglicized argot" wherever they may be on God's good earth (including BORO Park). Yiddish doesn't need or require "friends" or "sympathizers". It doesn't require "chairs" at fancy goyishe universities. Yiddish is not an "ism" like communism, zionism or any of the many other creations of "ismenisten". It is a language, a means of expression that continues to thrive though in communities that most secular Jews are totally ignorant of. Pardon our ignorance. Hershl Goodman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.094 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://metalab.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html