Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 12.005 October 7, 2002 1) Diminutive plurals (Joachim Martillo) 2) Jacob Gordin's "Sappho" (Eric Gordon) 3) Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl (Lori Cahan-Simon) 4) eyns-eyns-eyns (Mitja Farber) 5) Alphabet songs and love-handles/spare-tire (Adam (Yerme-Leyb) Levitin) 6) Sheyn bin ikh sheyn (Harold Penn) 7) latin american yiddish writers (Alan Astro) 8) Passage from Mendele Moykher Sforim (Daniel Soyer) 9) Sacco and Vanzetti (David Mazower) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 03:30:43 -0400 (EDT) From: ThorsProvoni@aol.com Subject: Diminutive plurals In resonse to Ellen Prince [12.002]: An interesting speculation, but -erl diminutives exist all over Southern Germany and modern Austria. In those dialects where the -erl/-rl diminutive exists for a word often the -el/-l diminutive is not found. M=E4derl for M=E4del is the common example among Austrian dialects. I am not convinced of the common exclusion in West- or Ost- Yiddish of word forms because of associations with Christianity. Sometimes, we find specifically Jewish uses of Christian terms, e.g. menikh (from monachos) instead of parve. I am also dubious that every modern apparently Hebrew morpheme genuinely is an Hebrew-Aramaic morpheme and not just an apparent Hebraization of a Germanic form. Khasdimlekh could easily be a reinterpretation of khasidenlekh. Joachim Martillo 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 12:43:54 -0400 (EDT) From: EricArthur@aol.com Subject: Jacob Gordin's "Sappho" Does anyone know of an English translation of Jacob Gordin's play "Sappho" whether in published or unpublished form, and where such might be obtained? Does anyone have knowledge of English-language productions of the play? Eric Gordon, Los Angeles, CA 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2002 10:23:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Lori Cahan-Simon Subject: Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl Re: information about "Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl" [12.002] Can anyone else corroborate this information (which jibes with my earlier suspicions) so that I may proceed with my research? One thing that would be very helpful is if any of you could let me know when you first remember hearing the Yiddish and/or English versions. This will help establish when the songs appeared, information which I have not been able to locate yet. The earliest I have been able to place either version is in the mid 1940s. I have a 1928 edition of Goldfarb's The Jewish Songster, which does not contain the song. My guess is that if he had already "written" it, he would have included it in the book. The earliest printed version I have found so far from Gelbart is from 1946. If any of you have some old Gelbart song books, would you look and see if the song is included, and what year that book was published? If you have old books with the English version, I would like to know about that, too. Lastly, would you email me privately so I could hear from you as soon as you reply? I will post my findings to Mendele. A dank in foroys, Lorele Cahan-Simon 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 16:22:44 -0400 (EDT) From: "Mitja A. Farber" Subject: eyns-eyns-eyns tayere mendelyaner! amol gehert a lidl, vos hot zikh ongehoybm mit "eyns-eyns-eyns, ver veyst vos iz eyns? eyns iz a ha-koydesh borukh hu, voser iz mefarnes, mefarnes alem bekhol makom she-hu" dem tsveytn kuplet farshtey ikh oykh gants klor: "tsvey-tsvey-tsvey, ver veyst vos iz tsvey? tsvey zaynen di khosn un kale - tsulib zey mir tantsn ale, eyns iz a ha-koydesh... ua"v " der ferter iz mikoyekh epes di mekhutonim "vosere hobn di mezumonim", ober mit vos ikh hob dafke a fuln zak tsores - mitn dritn. s'geyt a reyd vegn klezmorim, nor vos punktlekh redt zikh?!!! oyb emetser hot a tshuve - ven-nit-iz gehert, a kuk geton in a tekst - volt ikh geven zeyer dankbar es zen. Mit di yidishe grusn fun Moskve, Mitja Farber 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 17:44:36 -0400 (EDT) From: "Adam J. Levitin" Subject: Alphabet songs and love-handles/spare-tire I'm hoping that someone can refer me to a source for two Yiddish alphabet songs. My hunch is that they both have their origin in the Arbeter-Ring school system. A teacher at the Weinreich Summer program mentioned them ages ago. The first starts: Aleph-beys-giml A shtern shaynt in himl Dalet-hey-vov Shlof, mayn kind, shlof, shlof... The second one is to the tune of Do-a dear, a female dear... I don't remember the beginning of the second one; I only recall two letters, tes and fey: Tes (Tess)khallie, yarmulke-->yarmulkie. In any case, is there a Yiddish word for love-handles/spare-tire? Mit a dank in faroys, Adam (Yerme-Leyb) Levitin 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 16:55:40 -0400 (EDT) From: HLPEN@aol.com Subject: Sheyn bin ikh sheyn In the October 4, 2001 issue, Claire Siverman asked for the full lyrics to subject song, which has been recorded by 8 different artists. Here it is: Sheyn bin ikh, sheyn, Sheyn iz oykh mayn nomen, Redt men mir shidukhim Mit groyse rabonim... Rabonishe toyre Iz dokh zeyer groys. Bin ikh bay mayn mamen A likhtike royz! A sheyn meydele bin ikh, Bloye zekelekh trog ikh, Gelt in di tashn, Bir in di flashn, Vayn in di krigelekh, Kinder in di vigelekh Shrayen vi di tzigelek: Me, me, me! ... Harold Penn 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 21:07:41 -0400 (EDT) From: "Astro, Alan" Subject: latin american yiddish writers For my anthology on Yiddish writers in Latin America, to be published by the University of New Mexico Press, I would appreciate information on heirs or holders of rights to the works of the following authors: Arn Leib Schusheim (Shushaym), Argentina Mimi Pinzon, Argentina Jose Goldchain, Chile Thanks, Alan Astro San Antonio, Texas 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2002 12:07:30 -0400 (EDT) From: danielsoyer@cs.com Subject: Passage from Mendele Moykher Sforim In an autobiography I am translating, the author writes: "Ikh gedenk ikh hob amol geleyent far zey [zayne amerikaner-geboyrene kinder] a blat Mendele un es fartaytsht ts.b. a kugl mit a ganef iz kugl veysn dokh ale vos es iz un a ganef meynt az derbay iz do a gefilte heldzl takse iz tekses mekhteyse iz mir ongekumen shverlekh ikh hob dokh gefunen genug idishe un oykh englishe verter dos tsu derklern. Zey hobn gelekt di finger. Derbay is es ober geblibn." Can anyone direct me to the "blat Mendele" to which he is referring? Thanks. Daniel Soyer 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 18:29:17 -0400 (EDT) From: David MAzower Subject: Sacco and Vanzetti In response to Larry Rosenwald's request for Yiddish works about Sacco and Vanzetti, Nathan Asch's novel 'Pay Day' may be of interest. Asch (1902 - 1964) was the oldest son of Sholem Asch. 'Pay Day', whose action unfolds during the hours leading up to Sacco and Vanzetti's execution, was his third novel, published in New York in 1930. A year later, it appeared in Yiddish, translated by L. Hodes and published by Kultur-lige in Warsaw. The Yiddish title is 'Der tsvayuntsvantsikster august' [22 August], referring to the execution date of 22 August 1927. Thus, the multiple resonances of the book's English title have been replaced by one presumably thought more likely to appeal to the Yiddish reader. David Mazower. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 12.005 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