Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 14.002
June 2 , 2004

1) Mendele vert bar/bas mitsve (Freydl Cielak)
2) Nebbich (Zachary Baker)
3) alef-beyz lid (Lori Cahan-Simon)
4) Bios needed (Lori Cahan-Simon)
5) Mendele mit yidishe oysyes (B. Berman)
6) tamerleyn (Martin Sherman)

Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net


1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 16, 2004
From: fridaG@cielak.com
Subject: Re: Mendele vert bar/bas mitsve

mazl-tov, mazl-tov!  oyf lange yor! ikh vintsh aykh vayterdike, lange,
sheferishe yorn! Noyekh Miller, der grinder fun Mendele, un far di vos hobn vayter
ibergenumen ayer erbet, Iosif.Vaisman un Victor Bers, (un oykh, Leonard
Prager fun Mendele Review! Hurray, bravo for Yiddish and to you!!!! a yasher
koyekh far aikh Noyekh, un far di ale vos, as Montreal journalist and poet
Mark Abley said, are: "tenacious, determined, smart, bloody-minded people.
People who ARE not going to let their language go gently into the night."
(as Hershl Hartman told us and wrote about). And I include in my BRAVO, also
Hershl and Fishl Kutner, Itche Goldberg and many, many, many more, too,
yiddhishe aktivistn, shrayber, lerer, ua'v!

Freydl Cielak
Meksike

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 17, 2004
From: zbaker@stanford.edu
Subject: Nebbich

Disclaimer:  While I am certainly no linguist I believe that some of those
participating in recent discussions concerning the word "nebbish" -- or
"nebbich" (its German spelling) -- have been barking up the wrong tree.  It
is not "Yinglish" at all -- or rather, that form was by no means "invented"
in America.  Rather, "nebbich" (with "ch" probably sounding closer to "sh"
than "kh," to American ears) was likely brought to America by 19th-century
German-speaking Jewish immigrants.

See, for example, the following lexicons of Yiddishisms in Western European
countries:

(1) Hans Peter Althaus, Kleines Lexikon deutscher W”rter jiddischer Herkunft
(Mnchen: C. H. Beck, 2003).  On pages 150-151 Althaus lists the following
entries, followed by copious examples of their use by German-speaking
authors and in both specialized and general German dictionaries:

nebbich (interjection).  Two examples among many cited by Althaus:  Der Mann
hat newwich sei(n) ganz Vermeech >Verm”gen< verlore (source: Frankfurter
W”rterbuch); Der Jngste ist nebbich ungeeignet (source:  Karl Kraus, Werke
7, 147).

Nebbich (noun), with various definitions.  Attested to in Frankfurt, Berlin
and Vienna dialects; literary example:  du Nebbich (Karl Kraus, Werke 5,
313).

Althaus also lists, separately, [das] Nebbich (defined as "'Nichts,' ad
hoc-Ausdruck"); [der] Nebbich-Philologe (citing correspondence between Betty
Scholem and her son Gershom); [die] Nebbichkeit; [der] Nebbichthiosaurus.

(2) H. Beem, She'erit; resten van een taal (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1967). Beem's
spelling is "nebbisch" (p. 83) and he describes it as an interjection while
also noting the Dutch spellings "nebbisj" and "nebbis."

Zachary Baker

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 23, 2004
From: lorelecs@juno.com
Subject: alef-beyz lid

A while ago there was a question about alef-beyz lider and I posted asong I
had by Nat Zumoff of Cleveland.  In going through other material, I see I
also have a version that fits to the same "Do, a Deer" melody, although I do
not know if it was intended for that tune.  It is from Frida Grapa de
Cielak's Book 3 of her wonderful Arele series of texts for children,
published in Mexico.  It is still in print and available.  If any of you
teach Yiddish to children, I highly recommend these three volumes.

Lori Cahan-Simon

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 23, 2004
From: lorelecs@juno.com
Subject: Bios needed

Khaveyrim,

I am researching biographies of composers and authors and would like help in
finding info on the following people.  I know it's a long list, but I have
access only to the first six volumes of the Leksikon, so I was hoping some
of you might be able to help me.

Yisroel Alter
M. Lifshitz
Elchanan Kirchan
Leo Lyov (Low)
Moishe Ivker
B. Stolovy
Alef Katz
M. Pozner
L. Dreytsel
Sore Barkan
Chane Mlotek
A. Shtifer
Mates (also Mattiss) Olitsky
Y. Goykhberg
Malke Gottlieb
L. Kipnis

a dank in foroys,

Lori Cahan-Simon

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 1, 2004
From: bberman@iopener.net
Subject: Mendele mit yidishe oysyes

Over quite some time I have received and appreciated the mateials from
Mendele, however the Yiddish in Roman alphabet is almost impossible for me
to follow.  I feel that I am standing on my head trying to decipher the
transliteration.  Is it possible to send Yiddish in Hebrew alphabet and
continue the English in Roman Alphabet?  For those of us who are Yiddish
readers, I believe it would improve our intellectual comfort.

Thank you.

B. Berman
Scotia, NY

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 2, 2004
From: MSHER2718@aol.com
Subject: tamerleyn

I would like to know who wrote the Yiddish poem _tamerleyn_.
Can you let me know?

Martin Sherman

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End of Mendele Vol. 14.002

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