Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.016 June 14, 2000 1) Getsl Kakaruze (Mendy Fliegler) 2) shok (Mendy Fliegler) 3) Yiddish children's ditty? (Dawn Ash) 4) Abelson's 1915 English to Yiddish dictionary (Charles Siegel) 5) lovitch (Paul Glasser) 6) lovitch (Perl Teitelbaum) 7) amol (Paul Glasser) 8) Weather forecast (Yankev Lewis) 9) Weather forecast (elye palevsky) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 16:23:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Mendy Fliegler Subject: Getsl Kakaruze Regarding 'Itsik Shpitsik's query (10.006): Kukuridzhes are ears of corn. take. eyner iz a kukuridzhe. And to add to the confusion, many names we remember from the old country like Getsl, etc., are nicknames, like Moyshe der Royter, Brane di shtinkern, Motl der shnayder, u.a.v... Mendy Fliegler 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 16:23:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Mendy Fliegler Subject: shok Regarding posts by Seth Wolitz and Jan Jonk (10.006): vi azoy men pakt eyer. ven men pakt eyer, iz du in gantsn, 30 tutsn ('dozen)' in a 'kestl'. Dos heyst, 15 tutsn oyf a zayt. [Yeder zayt hot finf varshtn (layers) fun itlekhe zeks un draysik eyer...(dray tutsn, itlekhe)]. Men hot di kestlekh amul gemakht fun holts, un in de letste teyg, fun papen-dekl. Ikh gedenk, vayl ikh hob gehodevet file hiner!(un Yidish hobn zey nisht geredt..) Mendy Fliegler 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 19:06:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Dawn M Ash Subject: Yiddish children's ditty? I am a liguistics student at MIT. There is a ditty in my family, that mothers have told to children at least as far back as my grandmother's grandmother, back in Milejczyce (pronounced Mileychich), Russia, a shtetl near Bialystok. I was wondering if any of you know of the ditty, and perhaps know what language it is in (it may be garbled Yiddish that children misheard and repeated, or perhaps something else entirely). The ditty is said almost in a singing fashion, and is accompanied by a certain way of tickling the child's hand. If anyone can help me identify the language/history, I would appreciate it greatly. Saku navu ranu Kachkih navu drilla Dimetele (x5 or so). (Generally followed by the Yiddish "kitzl kitzl") Thanks, Dawn Ash 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 21:21:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Siegel Subject: Abelson's 1915 English to Yiddish dictionary A copy of Abelson's 1915 English to Yiddish dictionary is available used, but it costs $150. Go to http://www.bookfinder.com and do a search on Author: Abelson and Title: Yiddish. Charles Siegel 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 11:33:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Paul Glasser Subject: lovitch Jack Berger answers (10.013) Ann Szedlecki's queries: A 'lovitch' is some kind of an animal trap, and I suspect that this has the same general connotation as 'Ich hob dich in bod,' where 'bod' is a 'bath,' but the sense is exactly the same. The phrase is "Ikh hob dikh in LOYVITSH". Loyvitsh, Polish Lowicz, is a town west of Warsaw. Every part of Eastern Europe appears to have an phrase meaning "Get lost, go to hell," and in addition to the well-known "Ikh hob dikh in dr'erd/in bod," there is often an equivalent with the name of a (presumably not well thought-of) place. In the Warsaw region, if I'm not mistaken, usage is "Ikh hob dikh in Loyvitsh." Paul Glasser 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 14:40:14 -0400 (EDT) From: PTAW85@aol.com Subject: lovitch Jack Berger (10.013) writes: [see identical quote in post above] Der oysdruk meynt Ikh hob dikh in dr'erd! Mayn mames mishpokhe shtamt fun Loyvitsh/Lowicz in Poyln un ire kroyvim flegn ale mol oystaytshn dem oysdruk azoy. In Loyvitsh iz geven a riziker beys oylem, derfar zogt men Ikh hob dikh in Loyvitsh! un dermit meynt men Drop dead! Perl Teitelbaum Queens, NY 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 11:35:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Paul Glasser Subject: amol Jan Jonk (10.013) writes: The word 'almol'(almolt) comes from mhd 'alle mal' means always. Is this meant to mean "ale mol" 'always'? The word 'amol' comes from 'ein mal' and means: formerly, once, once upon a time. The word 'ein' has changed to 'a', what is not unusual in german dialects p.e. ein tish/a tish, ein bisl/abisl, ein mal/amol. "Ein" has not changed to "a" - it is derived from a dialect that always had "a". Dialects do not derive from the standard language. On the contrary, the standard language derives from dialects. It just happens that standard German derives its indefinite article from a dialect with the form "ein" and standard Yiddish - from a dialect with the form "a". Incidentally, another standard language that derives from a dialect with "a" is English. Paul Glasser 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 15:18:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Enkin * Lewis Subject: Weather forecast Re: Leybl Botwinik's post (10.013) about writing a Yiddish weather forecast: _Der Yid_, an excellent and thick weekly Yiddish newspaper published under Satmar auspices, has recently begun running a weather forecast, mostly in Yiddish, usually on page 4. The title is "veter-oyskuk oyf di kumendige teg"; in the body of the text a different term for forecast is used: "7 tog veter barikht far Bruklin, Nyu York". (I'm obviously using the YIVO transliteration system which does not reflect Satmar pronunciation...) Yankev Lewis 9)---------------------------------------------------- From mendele@lists.yale.edu Tue Jun 13 16:15:15 2000 From: EPalevsky1@aol.com Subject: Weather forcast If a weather person is a veter novi then the forecast would be a veter-nevue(s). elye palevsky ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.016 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