Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.019 June 16, 2000 1) Children's ditty (Dan Goodridge) 2) Children's ditty (Yankev Berger) 3) Volhynia dialect (Paul Glasser) 4) orl (Martin Davis) 5) orl (Paul Glasser) 6) orl (Mikhl Herzog) 7) Translations (Louis Fridhandler) 8) Glik un Katcherginski redux (Arre Komar) 9) Who was Leon Blank? (Bob Poe) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 10:19:41 -0400 (EDT) From: "Dan Goodridge" Subject: Children's ditty (Soroka Vorona) The Russian version of the "song" is: Soroka Vorona kashku varila (the Magpie/Crow was making kasha. At this point the palm is tickled as if making kasha) Etomu dala, etomu dala.....(and gave some to this one, and this one...pointing to each of four fingers) A etomu nitchevo ne dala (this one got nothing....I think it is the little finger) There may be more, but I believe that's all I ever got, or else the rest has slipped through my memory. Dan Goodridge 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:38:46 -0400 From: Jack Berger Subject: Children's ditty (Soroka Vorona) I will be pleased to forward a *.jpg image of the original Russian text, transliteration and English translation directly to anyone who requests it. Regards Yankev Berger 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 10:27:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Paul Glasser Subject: Volhynia dialect Paul Ginsburg (10.017) asks which dialect of Yiddish was spoken in Volhynia. In Volhynia, i.e. northern Ukraine, a form of Ukrainian Yiddish is spoken, a subdialect that includes the forms "kimen" 'come'; usually "zugn" 'say' - but there is an small area with "zogn"; and, uniquely, "shtitl" 'town', "libn" 'life', etc. Paul Glasser 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 11:18:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Martin Davis Subject: orl Allan Nadler wrote (10.017) about the use of this term to refer to a non-Jew who is listening and who would understand "goy". The same occurs in Sholem Aleichem's fiction, specifically in "Motl, the Cantor's Son". Motel is in big trouble over some Kvas he is selling that has become mixed with the laundry water and is about to be hauled off to the police station. A bystander refers to the cop as the orl, and advises Motl to make tracks. Martin Davis 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 10:27:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Paul Glasser Subject: orl In Eastern Europe, I suspect it was quite common among all Yiddish speakers, as there were a fair number of non-Jews who understood at least some Yiddish. It appears in Yiddish literature (unfortunately, I don't have a citation handy), usually in the form "der orl iz meyvn kol dover". There are also other expressions in the same vein, deliberately worded to be unintelligible to non-Jews, such as "Daber nisht af dayn okhi!" 'don't tell on your brother!' in Sholem Aleichem's "Motl Peysi." Paul Glasser 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 12:34:22 -0400 (EDT) From: "marvin herzog" Subject: orl The expression that Allan Nadler cites (slightly modified) was part of normal Yiddish (not Hebrew!) speech throughout Eastern Europe. The Yiddish Atlas has recorded it at hundreds of locations. In our records, it is, invariably _der orl iz meyvn kol diber_ (not _davar_). Mikhl Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 12:53:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Translations The discussions about *shok* and the legitimacy of translations bring to mind a couple of thoughts about the responsibilities of translators and of those who comment on the translations. I recall a self-reinforcing *comedy of errors* stemming from disregard of the original. Actually, it's not funny. I draw these lessons: 1) A commentator/critic should never ascribe the translator's words to the original author, at least not without extremely careful checking; and 2) the original's author must be served by the translator at least as well as the reader of the translation. For example: at the beginning of _Shprintse_, Tevye says to Sholem-Aleykhem, *A shok mit yorn az mir hobn zikh nit gezen.* [We have not seen each other for sixty years.] Shok means a group of sixty. Clearly, this exaggeration cannot be taken literally. Tevye himself is not yet sixty. Frances Butwin (in _Tevye's Daughters_) softens the exaggeration by writing, *It's a score of years since we've seen each other.* This, unfortunately, can be taken literally. And so it was by Gittleman (_From Shtetl to Suburbia_ p. 78-79, paperback). He comments (based on Butwin's translation): *Tevye greets Sholem Aleichem with _It's a score of years since we have seen each other..._ ...Sholem Aleichem had not written a Tevye story for nearly ten years, not the twenty which Tevye alleges in his greeting.* Tevye alleged no such thing. Besides it was about a year, not *nearly ten,* since writing Khave, the previous Tevye story. Sholem Aleichem was completely ignored, and so errors were compounded. Not fair to Sholem Aleichem. Taking a step back for a broader perspective: Are English (or any other) translations worthwhile? I can only comment about English which has increasingly become an important language, perhaps _the_ most important. Yiddish has its wonderful expressive qualities, and English has its own wonderful, though different, qualities. Sholem Aleichem in the original Yiddish is the only way to fully appreciate his genius. I say (along with many others) to any who will listen _Learn Yiddish and about the culture in which it developed. It's tough, but you will count it well worth the effort_. However, in English, much can be conveyed, and we do the best we can to transmit, to translport Sholem Aleichem's qualities, his realism and his comic and ironic intricacies of thought and feeling and his genius in narrative construction and even in expression. _The best we can_ is not quite enough, but it is worthwhile. No doubt, this applies to other Yiddish authors and their translators. The translation transport system offers a bumpy ride which may shake up a few fragile elements, but something of value gets through if proper attention is paid to both author and reader. Maxim Gorki was rather completely captivated by Motl Peyse dem Khazns in Russian. Louis Fridhandler 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 13:30:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Arthur Komar Subject: Glik un Katcherginski redux With regard to the very interesting report (10.011) that Glik's use of three different words for gun in the same song (Zog Nisht Keynmol) had a specific political intention, the anecdote suffers from a small difficulty: In that song only the word "naganis" is used. The Glik song that uses 3 different words for gun is "Shtil, Di Nakht Iz Oysgeshternt." I hope that apart from this detail the essence of the story is reliable. Arre Komar 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:17:56 -0400 (EDT) From: poe@ekbos.com (Bob Poe) Subject: Who was Leon Blank? Who was Leon Blank? My wife and I were poking around in our cellar last month and discovered a cubbyhole in the foundation that held some pieces of wadded-up paper. We retrieved them and spread them out and discovered, much to our surprise, fragments of an old flyer or handbill printed in Yiddish! (We bought this house 20 years ago. For 63 years before that, it belonged to a working-class family in an almost 100% Irish neighborhood here in Boston.) The flyer is dated 1928 and is an announcement for an appearance by one Leon Blank. (I can make out the first 4 oysyes of the name, and "NK" appears on the same line on the English side. But possibly the name was longer.) I don't find a complete date or a venue. The Yiddish is in the older (non-YIVO) spelling. What I can make out reads (with guesses in brackets): izidor hol... [holts?] ...bakst men...telefon kepitol 5450 vilkomen unz... [undzer?] ...der liber gast! der grester libling fun boston kumt tsu unz oyf yontev der velt barimter kinstler, der grester kharakter sh[u]shpiler oyf der yidishe bihne der alter - imer yunger leon blank ...freyt....mateni un ave.... ....1928.... (I have tried to suggest the original spelling in this transcription.) There are also a few Hebrew words that I can't make out (not knowing Hebrew). So I have some questions: Who was Leon Blank? What kind of event or performance would this have been? What would "libling" mean in this context? What is the word I've written as "sh[u]shpiler"? There's a tear in the paper, but I can make out two shins with (I think) a letter in between; I'm just guessing that it's a vov. It's a bit of archaeology, a bit of cultural history, and a bit of a mystery. How did someone in an Irish household think of leaving a time capsule in 1928 with the idea that it would be found some day by a Jew who has some familiarity with Yiddish? Any comments would be appreciated! Bob Poe ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.019 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