Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.017 June 15, 2000 1) Volhynia dialect (Paul W. Ginsburg) 2) komerne (Bernard D. Cooperman) 3) yizkor books (Joyce Field) 4) kal'e vern; bulakh (Vulf Plotkin) 5) orl (Allan Nadler) 6) Getsl; pamelekh; shmontses (Mikhl Herzog) 7) Nagan and Hirsh Glik (Paul Glasser) 8) Yiddish children's ditty (Khaye Davis) 9) Yiddish children's ditty (Yankev Berger) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 15:41:53 -0400 (EDT) From: "Ginsburg, Paul" Subject: Volhynia dialect What dialect of Yiddish was spoken in Volhynia? Paul W. Ginsburg Bethesda, Maryland 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 16:13:25 -0400 (EDT) From: BC40@umail.umd.edu (Bernard Cooperman) Subject: komerne Does anyone on this list recognize the term "komerne"? It is used in a context which makes it likely that the word is Yiddish or Polish. The speaker is being driven out of her house in 1840 Brisk and says that she will not take pictures from the wall because she has no need for them in the "komerne". Any thoughts? Thank you in advance. Bernard D. Cooperman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 16:23:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Joyce Field Subject: yizkor books I am delighted with the recent discussions of yizkor books on Mendele as I have more than a passing interest in these remarkable books. I am the JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Manager, known to Leonard Prager (who has contributed some notable translations to our site) but perhaps not to many of the readers of Mendele. At last count we had 215+partial and complete translations of yizkor books online. We add about 10 new books each month and a like number of updates. Most of the projects are "works in progress" as we encourage donors not to wait until the entire book is translated but to put it online chapter by chapter. We shortly will have online a new translation which will be a side by side presentation of the original Yiddish and the English translation. Leonard made an oblique reference to this project a few days ago as the two of us had been discussing the technology of preparing the dual language pages. Our translations are located at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html and the explanation of our procedures is at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/donation/ . We encourage you to visit the web sites and to consider translating a yizkor book to make it accessible to people who cannot read it in the original language(s). Joyce Field 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 04:15:58 -0400 (EDT) From: Vulf Subject: Subject: kal'e vern; bulakh Milt Koosman's attempt to explain "kale (=spoilt) vern" by relating the adjective to "kale"(=bride) is an unforgivable blunder, as the two words never even sounded alike - they are what linguists describe as a minimal pair with a "hard" /l/ and a soft (=palatalized) /l'/. Both are of Hebrew origin, but of distinctly different roots. True, both contain the same three letters [kaf-lamed-hey], but in "bride" the lamed has a dagesh and should therefore be transliterated with doubled LL (KALLA), while its counterpart is KALE (=perishable). In Yiddish the phonetic distinction was preserved in a different contrast. I often heard the disparaging epithet "bulakh" in my childhood spent in a shtetl in Belarus - it is synonymous to "goilem". As for the pogromist with a similar sounding name, the connection is tenuous to say the least. To begin with, "bulakh" was obviously well rooted in common usage, which would not be the case if it was an allusion to some little-known personage; moreover, the first part of the pogromist's name was not "Bulakh" - his name was "Bulak-Bulakhovsky". Vulf Plotkin 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 12:13:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Allan Nadler Subject: Orl I recall an incident about 15 years ago that transpired in the Satmar Bays-Medresh in Montreal. I was in the middle of a heated argument, in Yiddish, about Zionism with one of the yeshiva-bokhrim, when he noticed an elderly janitor working nearby. The bokher signalled to me to cease the conversation and said, in loshn-koydesh: "Orl mayvn kol dover" (In modern Hebrew, "Arel mayvin kol davar." In English, "the uncircumcised one understands everything." That is, this particular French-Canadian janitor, having worked in the Satmar environment for many years understood Yiddish, and the bokher had the rare sensitivity to feel that an argument about Jewish matters was something he should not hear. Of course, he did not say "Goy, or sheygetz, mayvn kol dover" since those terms for a gentile are well known, unlike orl. I wonder how common this expression was in the non-haredi Yiddish world? Allan Nadler 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 13:50:54 -0400 (EDT) From: "marvin herzog" Subject: Getsl; pamelekh; shmontses 1. Getsl is the Yiddish derivative of Gotschalc 'God's servant'. NO relation to Gershon. 2. Pamelekh is a Yiddish "blend" of Slavic-origin _pomalu_ and German _allmaelich_. 3. _shmontses_ 'rumors' is ultimately derived from Ashkenazic Hebrew _shmuoys_ through the nasalization of _ayin_ (as in _maynse/maanse_, _resha(y)nte_, etc. Mikhl Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 14:04:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Paul Glasser Subject: Nagan and Hirsh Glik Hershl Hartman (10.015) writes: Paul Glasser [...] should be aware that the sources are Ruth Rubin, quoting her informant Shmerke Katcherginsky. I have two words to say: Oops, sorry! (I guess I shouldn't have shot from the hip...) Paul Glasser 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 18:28:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Joe Kurland and Peggy Davis Subject: Yiddish children's ditty? Dawn Ash (10.016) asked about the ditty: Saku navu ranu Kachkih navu drilla Dimetele (x5 or so). (Generally followed by the Yiddish "kitzl kitzl") A friend of mine says something like this: (Pretend to spit three times in the palm of the child's hand, then brush it away, then draw circles on the palm with the speaker's forefinger, saying:) Siroka varana titumkasha navarila stanovila napopitchka (Pull on each of the five fingers of the hand, saying): Mizele mayzele mizele mayzele kitz kitz kitz... (Run hand up to chin, tickling.) My interpretation of the words is something like (someone) put kasha on the stove and cooked it. Perl Sapoznik had a similar version of this, too. This has a captivating effect on small children. Khaye Davis Colrain, MA 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 19:52:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Jack Berger Subject: Yiddish children's ditty The Yiddish 'ditty' is 'Soroka Vorona.' It is from Russian, and is a rough equivalent to 'this little piggy went to market,' except it uses birds, like the magpie (soroka) ands the raven (vorona) in the rhyme. I have all the Russian words and their translation and transliteration, if you like. Regards Yankev Berger ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.017 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