Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.014 June 13, 2000 1) Oy vey (Peter Gutmann) 2) farshidens (Itsik Shteyn) 3) Sholem Aleichem's funeral (Mike Bass) 4) The state of Yiddish (Jack Berger) 5) gevir (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 6) gevir (Michael Shimshoni) 7) amolik(Perl Hoberman) 8) Words for "pistol" (Ronald Florence) 9) farreysht (Feygl Infeld Glezer) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 12:47:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Peter Gutmann Subject: Re: oy veh Tayere Khaverim, In Mendele 10.0004, Paul Ilie asks about the etymology of 'oy veh'. Here is the etymology which I have always had in mind: Yiddish 'oy weh' derives from German 'oweh!' (which is also suggested by the present transliteration 'weh' instead of the probably more common 'vey' or 'vay'). 'oweh' is as an interjection a contraction of "o! + weh", "o" being roughly the Yiddish 'oy' and "weh" (derived from the noun 'Weh' - woe, pain, grief), being roughly the English "alas!". An etymological relationship between 'oy vey' and 'oweh' is also strongly suggested by the Yiddish phrase '(oy,) vey iz mir', where 'vey' exactly parallels the High German 'weh' in 'es ist mir weh ums Herz' (more or less literally: "there is WEH around my heart", "my heart is aching/grieving for/about something or someone"). Although I could not find an etymology for 'oy' or even the whole phrase, here is at least what I have got on my shelves about 'veh/vey': Wolf gives: 'wei' =3D int. wehe (> middle high German 'we' =3D woe, pain,= grief) (Siegmund A. Wolf. Jiddisches W=F6rterbuch. Wortschatz des deutschen Grundbestandes der jiddischen (j=FCdischdeutschen) Sprache. Hamburg: Buske, 2, 1991 (1st ed: Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut 1962). DUDEN has: "wej!' =3D Interj. 'wehe!"; 'wej is mir!" =3D 'o weh!". (Jiddisches W=F6rterbuch. Mannheim: Duden, 2, 1992). Peter Gutmann 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 13:38:48 -0400 (EDT) From: shteyn@juno.com Subject: farshidens khosheve mendelyaner, 1)in vol10#4 fregt men zikh nokh oyf der etimology fun"oy vey", vi se zet oys kumt es fun daytshn"oh weh"mit der zelbiger badaytung; 2)pamelekh fun ivrit "paamey melekh" (dem keyser's shpan) - is shver optsufreygn, ober genoy azoy shver tsu bavayzn. se leygt sikh gikhersht oyfn seykhl az es kumt fun slavishn "pomalu", gesungen fun slavishe dinsten tsu yiddishe kinder, baym lernen zey geyn. unzer Frozina, geven in unzer shtub ariber 20 yor un oysgekhovet - on a gutoyg - a kargen minyen kinder, fleygt zogn: "pomeylekhl, pomeylekhl" (po un nit pa); 3)"farrreysht mit mel un grivn" kumt mistam fun daytshn "roesten", russish "zharit". In bukovina zogt men "makhn an aynbren"; Vol.10#5 4)di yidishe "greynits' kumt mistam fun der daytsher Grenze, az in di slavishe shpraxn heyst es "granitsa" is a tsugublekher bavayz; Vol.10#6 5)harkavi oyf zayt 485 taytsht ayn "shok" = 60 un brengt vi a bavayz a "shok eyer"= 60 eyer; 6)ver iz getsl kakaruze? a yiddish vertl zogt"yede shtot hot zikh ir meshugenem". getsl iz a diminutiv fun gershon, efsher oykh a pejorativ, kakaruze is dos slavishe kukuruza=korn, nit rye, oyf moldavish papshoy, un getsl kakaruze is mistam nit kayn kompliment; 7)amulik set oys tsu kumen fun daytshn "ayn mal" un "aynmalig"; 8)harkavi sayt 508 fartaytsht "shmontse=shmokhte=puste reyd"; 9)pistol, nagan, shpayer =oysdrukn far a hand-vvofn, far a revolver, nagan is dos eygene oyf russish, un in partizaner lid singt zikh "mit naganes in di hend", shpayer iz befeyresh an oysdruk fun untervelt, vayl der pistoyl "shpayt" (mit koyln); Vol10#7 10)"nit geshtoygn nit gefloygn" meynt a pushitn lign, vos hot in zikh kayn brekl emes, geshtoygn kumt fun shtaygn=aroyf geyn, azoyvi gefloygn fun flien, di raym "oygn" is a sgule tsum zikuron, un beyde handlungen zaynen enlekh un meynen dem drang aroyf ; 11)orl meynt nit davke a goy, orl meynt nit gemolt, nit bashnitn, vos kon zayn a yid oykh; Vol10#8 12) ver is "bulakh" tsu vemen men hot farglaykht stalinen? efsher is es bulok ben tsipor fun khumash, der kenig fun moav, velkher hot gehat a mapolo fun unzere ovoys, un fun im kumt der idyom "lernen bulok"?; 13)shmoktulyakes is der superlativ fun shmok=shoyte(loyt harkavi sayt 582); 14)ikh hob dikh in lovitsh = ikh hob dikh ergets andersh, a farmaskirte klole; 15)kalye gevorn = fardorbn, toyg nit mer,harkavi 440; 16)s'is mir kalamutne=s'is mir nit gut, ikh bin troyrig. Itsik Shteyn 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 18:38:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Embass@aol.com Subject: Sholem Aleichem's funeral Sholem Aleichem's burial. On the occassion of Sholem Aleichem's tenth yahrzeit, (1926), Ernestine Berkovitz compiled "Dos Sholem Aleichem Buch". In this book are photos from the funeral and of the grave of Sholem Aleichem. It indicates that Sholem Aleichem was buried in the Har Carmel Cemetary in the Arbeter Ring Section in Brooklyn, N.Y.. One side of the matzevah is in Yiddish and one side is in Hebrew. Mike Bass 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 19:21:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Jack Berger Subject: The state of Yiddish I found Leonard Prager's message on "Original and Translated Texts" [TMR 4.009] very sad, coming on the heels of Ben Fogel's message [Mendele 10.006] on "Translating a Yizkor Book." I wonder if khaver Prager would have written it the same way, had he read khaver Fogel's message (which I think he could not have had the time to do). Several issues are interwoven in this message, and each is of sufficient importance that they be allowed to stand alone for serious examination. I will try to separate them out, and offer at least one man's opinion on them. 1. Access to our collective Eastern European history and literature in Yiddish. I am sure that there is no dispute concerning the need to make the rich and precious body of writing in Yiddish, created during the last couple of centuries, accessible and tractable to future generations. While I am an unqualified supporter of education in the Yiddish language, I am not an optimist in terms of seeing this as a solution to the access problem. I believe that what khaver Fogel has portrayed is the stark reality that we face. Khaver Prager articulates this very well, but he also clings to what I believe is an illusion: that we have the capacity to 'prevent this as much as possible.' I don't think we can prevent this. For example, where is the replacement for the late Dina Abramowicz? The brutal fact is that the entire Eastern European Jewish cultural and linguistic matrix was uprooted and cauterized. There simply is neither a critical mass, continuity, nor the same need for a lingua franca such as mameloshn, as we move into the new millennium. Khaver Prager himself recognizes this when he casts totally justifiable doubt on the efficacy of the Russian Onkelos program in its purported attempt to train Yiddish translators in a matter of two years. He is more than right when he speaks of 'years, perhaps a lifetime,' to bring the right skills to fruition. 2. The 'Uniqueness' of Yiddish I believe that khaver Prager's remarks are generally, but not absolutely, true for literary works in the language they were originally written. In this regard, I don't see Yiddish as 'unique.' From a purely _personal_ point of view, I find that Yiddish possesses certain terms of both endearment and of emotional anguish that are ‘very special' to me, and possibly to other Yiddish speakers. But surely the same must be true of certain turns of speech in most languages of the world that have given rise to a literature. I can remember how moved I was listening to Yevgeny Yevtushenko recite his poem 'Babi Yar' in the original Russian. No translation of Yehuda Halevy's "Yerushalayim" can ever sound as good as the original Hebrew. And, yes, many pieces in Yiddish qualify as well, but _linguistically_ it doesn't make Yiddish 'unique.' But language is so complex a phenomenon, that even this thesis may not be generally true. Having just completed the Shavuot holiday, I am struck by the difference in quality I attribute to Ruth's entreaty to Naomi. The Hebrew is terse and pithy, but the English 'Whither thou goest...' has a haunting poetic quality that puts it in a different class of listening experience. I have also found, over a lifetime, that the English translations of Sholem Asch's works, and the works of I.B. Singer represented profoundly satisfying reading. In part, that is because in mid-20th century America, you could get the English works with relative ease. Just recently, I came across a Yiddish edition of I.B. Singer's 'Der Knekht.' I intend to read it, precisely for the experience of reading the Yiddish. Accordingly, I find the effort to search for some 'uniqueness' in Yiddish as not helpful. 3. Writing About the Holocaust in Different Languages One only has to listen to Elie Wiesel speak in English to realize that neither Yiddish, nor any other language, holds any special cachet for trying to communicate about this calamitous event. In fact, when Wiesel is asked about how to articulate one's feelings about the Holocaust, he will pause and say: "with silence." 4. Simultaneous access to Yiddish and other languages (i.e. English) I prefer to see this issue in terms of convenience of information delivery. In this respect, there is a profound difference between an internet website and a conventional hard copy library. When a website is available, storage capacity is really not an issue. Thus the idea of co-locating the original Yiddish text with the translation is probably a good thing to do. However, in creating hard copy, one must keep in mind the need to keep the physical volume from becoming unwieldy. In the case of hard copy, I believe that separate volumes are probably a better solution. This, in fact, is the practice I have adopted with my own initiatives. **************** I am a member of a diminishing minority. There is little we can do to reverse an historical tide we would have preferred never was set in motion. Look at the character of the (Jewish Daily) Forward as a periodical, and one can see why khaver Fogel wrote the way he did. But I also agree that we need to foster an interest in Yiddish, promote its study and assure that it maintains a position of respect and affection within the ambit of our traditions. If in two thousand years, Yiddish obtains a place similar to that enjoyed by Aramaic today, I think that will be a good outcome. Not the one I would have liked, but a good outcome. Regards Jack Berger 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 21:35:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: gevir Sidney Bloch (v9n10) asks for the etymology of 'gevir.' 'Gevir' is a Biblical Hebrew word (Gen 27:29; 27:37) and it means master, governor, commander. The meaning of a (very) wealthy individual developed later according to Gur dictionary. According to Even Shoshan in Eben Ezra's time it was the title of an important person, and so it was in the time of Yehuda Halevi. In the time of the (Shmuel) HaNagid it is already ref. of a rich person, and so it is being used by Mendele and Bialik. (1983 edition, p. 155 ). Gilad J. Gevaryahu 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 02:08:25 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael Shimshoni Subject: gevir Sidney Bloch [10.010] raises many questions about the origin and use of "gevir". I can answer just one aspect. The word gevir is found in the Tora in Breshit (Gen) 27,29 and there it means master or ruler. Michael Shimshoni 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 18:18:29 -0400 (EDT) From: "Pearl Hoberman" Subject: amolik Ikh hub gelezen etliche briven vegen dem vort "amolik" un veil ikh kenisht zugen fun velkher shprach es shtamt, ich gedenk vie in mein mishpokhe flegt men rayden fun die "amolike tzeiten." In Yiddish nutzt men dem vort "amol" tzu maynen die englishe verter "ago" uder "times past," und der "ke" makht es an adjective. "Amolike tzeiten" zeinen die alte tzeiten, die tzeit vus is amol geven. Ikh hub kaynmol nisht gehert dem vort "amolik" azoi genutzt. Perl Hoberman 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 10:36:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Ronald Florence Subject: Words for "pistol" Paul Glasser writes regarding the use of shpayer, pistoyl & nagan: It seems much more likely to me that Glik, like any good writer, used the three synonyms for variety [...] Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one. Perhaps. But an author in English who uses royal, regal, and kingly may be quite deliberate in his choice of the subtle nuances that synonyms of French, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon origin convey. Glik may have had reasons beyond `variety' in his use of three different Yiddish terms for pistol/revolver. Occam's Rule isn't always right in analyzing a text. Ronald Florence 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 13:01:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Fela Glaser Subject: reyshekhts, gereysht, farreysht Khosheve Mendelyner/kes: In Lodz hot men gerufn reyshekhts - di broyne gepreglte din-tseshnitene tsibele vos me hot arayngeton un ibergekokht in der zup (kartofl-zup, grinsnzup a"a). Nu, is di zup gerufn gevorn tsugerayshte oder farreyshte zup. Beste grusn, Feygl Infeld Glezer ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.014 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