Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.048 March 16, 2001 1) shifke shiva shifkes (Meyer Wolf) 2) Oif Kapores (Jonathan Levine) 3) Menasha Skulnick (Mel Poretz) 4) timtum (Micheh Bazant) 5) Funiculi, Funicola (Naomi Cohen) 6) Yiddish in Israel (Marvin Herzog) 7) Kantonisten (Carl Goldberg) 8) bukh vegn mishkol (Sholem Berger) 9) Ida Kaminska (Laura Mincer) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 19:05:35 -0500 (EST) From: Meyer Wolf Subject: shifke shiva shifkes In response to the "shifke shiva shifkes" question [vol 10.044]: I am not familiar with the expression "shifke shiva shifkes", but it appears to be Aramaic, meaning literally "forgive (me] seven forgivenesses". In the given context, it appears to function like meshteyns gezogt. The root shin-veyz-kuf is found, for instance, in the "shvikin" of Kol-nidre. Meyer Wolf 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 13:40:35 -0500 (EST) From: "Jonathan Levine" Subject: "Oif Kapores" I'm trying to understand the connection between the meaning of "kapores" as "something worthless," or "a pox on it!" and the original Hebrew meaning of kaparot, "atonements." I can imagine three routes of connection: 1. Something that you'll just have to atone for later would hardly be worth its trouble. Hence it's worthless, or "kapores." 2. It's something as valueless as the "kapores" chicken. 3. In Sepharadi usage, a minor misfortune happening to me might be dismissed as "kapara," meaning, rougly, a relatively trivial downpayment on future atonements that I undoubtedly will have to end up making. In other words, while I didn't not enjoy the misfortune, in the greater scheme of things, I probably got away with a bargain. Any thoughts as to which of these explanations -- or any others -- is the link between the two meanings? Jonathan Levine Ann Arbor, Michigan 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 21:35:15 -0500 (EST) From: EMPE@aol.com Subject: Menasha Skulnick The other day, a friend and I were trading stories and wallowing in our affection for our favorite actors, actresses and composers of the fabled Yiddish Theater which we traveled to see, not only to Second Avenue but to Brighton Beach, Brownsville, The Bronx and wherever else we could find something Yiddish on a stage. When our rondelay stopped at Menasha Skulnick, my all-time, forever favorite, I discovered that my friend could match me in doing the Menasha shuffle, wherein Menasha would enter the stage wearing that adorable porkpie hat, short jacket and mismatched trousers, and do his famous "Menasha Dip." Then he'd intone in a nasal twang that only he could deliver, "Heh-heh-hello, du kenst mir? Dus bin ikh, Menasha." Who needed writers? That line exploded the house even though the audience probably heard it dozens of times. But where my friend was mekhulah in Menasha-dom was when Menasha delivered his (to me, at least) most famous short routine. This is where he would challenge an actor, usually playing a protagonist, to spell his stage name. I can hear him now, delivering the answer after the actor phumphered and phumphered for minutes, trying to unravel the spelling of Menasha's name which was always the same, "Schnitzelputzel." The grand denouement came when Menasha, and, invariably half or more of the audience, shrieking the answer in sync, and in time with Menasha, delivered the answer which was "Schnee-eye-itzel-pee-u-utzel...Schnitzelputzel." Ta-da! Mel Poretz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 01:41:40 -0500 (EST) From: micah rebel prince Subject: timtum Shalom Aleichem- My name is Micah- I am a new subscriber from Portland, OR. I am only a beginning Yiddish student, and I am working on a poster with Yiddish text. I am looking for some words which I can't find in my dictionaries, possibly because they are of a more private, casual, or anatomical nature. If any of the much more fluent individuals on this list would graciously donate a few minutes, I would send you the small list of words I cannot find. Also, I am looking for information about the word 'timtum'. I have seen it used in a derogatory way to mean 'stupid', and also read that it originally referred to someone of ambiguous gender. A sheynem dank- Micheh Bazant 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 17:09:05 -0500 (EST) From: Naomi Cohen Subject: Funiculi, Funicola Tsi ken emetser di yidishe verter funem italyenishn lid "Funiculi, Funicola" fun Luigi Denza? Can anybody provide the Yiddish version of the Italian aria "Funiculi, Funicola" by Luigi Denza? Please copy reply to ABotwinik@aol.com. Naomi Cohen Philadelphia, PA 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 00:43:41 -0500 (EST) From: "marvin herzog" Subject: Yiddish in Israel 1. I can clearly identify only one of the words about which Nakhum Goldwasser of Kibbutz Gesher Haziv (friend of my youth--and his) inquires: _barve_ 'nap', i.e. 'a soft or fuzzy surface on fabric or leather'. As for the other words, I might venture a guess about 1 or 2 of them if I could see them in some context. Any help Nocky? That's what we called him way back when. 2. And, even before that, when I lived in Jerusalem (in 1963), I encountered Arabs in Meah Shearim who spoke Yiddish and, even more surprising, the tall, handsome, Yiddish-speaking, black chauffeur of the Belgian ambassador. His family was apparently part of Haile Sellasie's entourage that went into exile in the mid thirties and found refuge in Jerusalem, where he grew up. Those of you who are familiar with the maps of the Yiddish Language and Culture Atlas, will find that both Safed and Jerusalem are included among the native Yiddish-speaking communities. In Jerusalem, the Litvish (breyt mit puter) dialect prevailed, in Safed, the Ukrainian (tote-mome) dialect. Marvin Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 23:57:18 -0500 (EST) From: "Carl Goldberg" Subject: Kantonisten Mikhoyel Basherives asks about the origin of "kantonisten", the word used to designate the Jewish children who were kidnapped and forced to serve 25 years in Tsar Nicholas's army. According to the Soviet Dictionary Encyclopedia, the word comes from the German "Kantonist" which designated those Prussian recruits who were required to serve in the Prussian army from a Prussian district (Kanton). In Russia, during the period 1805-1856, the word referred not only to the young Jews who were kidnapped into the Russian army, but also to sons of Russian soldiers who, from the date of their birth, were registered with the Russian military. Carl Goldberg Tempe, Arizona 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 16:58:51 -0500 (EST) From: "Sholem Berger" Subject: Gezukht -- bukh vegn mishkol / Book on prosody sought Ikh volt gevolt visn vegn bikher af yidish mekoyekh mishkol, d"h di kunst fun gramen un meter in poezye. Ikh volt aykh shtark gedankt far a referents. I would like to know about books in Yiddish on prosody, i.e., the use of meter and rhyme in poetry. I would be grateful for any references. Sholem Berger 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 09:46:32 -0500 (EST) From: "Laura" Subject: who remembers Ida Kaminska? Tayere khaverim! I am writing a paper on the actress Ida Kaminska, for a congress on Yiddish theatre that will take place in Rome on March 4th-5th. I have gathered enough materials in Polish, but, except from her biography (My Life, My Theatre) and some references in "Vagabond Stars" by Nahma Sandrow, I could not find any English text on her, and no Internet resources (even if she has been living in the States from to 1968 to the day of her death, in 1980). Maybe some Mendelyaner can suggest me something, or maybe among Mendele readers there is somebody who still remembers personally Kaminska, and is able to tell me something? Even a little anecdote would be really helpful A sheynem dank! Laura Mincer Rome, Italy ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.048 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net http://ibiblio.org/yiddish/mendele.html