Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 14.006
July 9 , 2004

1) Yiddish stories in transcription (Malvin E. Ring)
2) Sholem Asch's _Song of Songs_ (Jeremy Godden)
3) Three further etymologies (Hugh Denman)
4) zhaleven (Alan Astro)
5) zhaleven (Dina Leviash)
6) Mendele mit yidishe oysiyes (Philip Muzlish)
7) Mendele mit yidishe oysiyes (Joachim Martillo)
8) 'On 2nd Avenue' (Yaffa Glass)
9) Yiddish and American law (Noyekh Miller)

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1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2004
From: docring@frontiernet.net
Subject: Re: Yiddish stories in transcription

In answer to Lynda Cohen [Mendele 14.004], the best place for both
transcriptions and transliterations which can be used at a Yiddish club
would be the National Yiddish Book Center whose address can be easily gotten
on Google.

Malvin E. Ring

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2004
From: Jeremy.Godden@btopenworld.com
Subject: Sholem Asch's _Song of Songs_

My late mother refers to reading Sholem Asch's novel _The Song of Songs_. I
believe that this was originally a play. She refers to it in a diary. She
mentions what I think is a kibbutz beginning with a 'K'. I cant read it.
Does his book mention a Kibbutz K. What is its name? Is this book published
in English translation?

Jeremy Godden

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 6, 2004
From: h.denman@ucl.ac.uk
Subject: Three further etymologies

In response to the contributions to Mendele 14.003 by Alan Shuchat and Mechl
Asheri concerning the etymologies of 'penkes' (the 'down or stubble left on
poultry after plucking'), 'shpakhlyeven' ('to smooth', 'fill with mastic',
'stop') and 'gret' ('laundry', 'washing'), I might mention the following:

Though we may make shorthand use of Russian for diagnostic purposes, we
should not base etymologies on similarities between Yiddish and Russian,
unless we happen to be dealing with very modern words such as 'poyezd' or
'pravozhitelstvo', since Yiddish and Russian did not come into contact till
after the partitions of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century. Since
we are almost certainly dealing here with words of considerable antiquity we
should look rather to coterritorial Polish and Ukrainian that have the forms
'pienki' (n acute) and 'pen'ki' respectively in the meanings 'hemp',
'stubble' and 'little stumps'.

'Shpakhlyeven' is derived from Pol.'szpachlowac' (acute on second c) which
represents the grafting of the performative suffix '-owac' on the Ger.
'spachteln' which is originally an Austo-Bavarian verbal derivative from
'Spatel' or 'trowel' and is, of course, ultimately cognate with Eng.
'spade'.

'gret' is distinctly more problematic and I have worried about it before
without coming to any very definite conclusions. I merely offer some ideas
which might stimulate others to do better. Could it be that there is a
connection here with the MHG adj. 'gereit(e)' meaning 'ready' (as reflected
in Yiddish 'greyt'). This is indirectly cognate with MHG 'geraete' in the
sense of 'advice', 'assistance' but also that of 'tool', 'equipment' from
which we have NHG 'Geraetschaft' = 'equipment', 'kit'. Was there possibly
some concept of laundering as being how one got one's vestimentary equipment
ready for re-utilisation? Or am I streching this point too far?

Hugh Denman
London

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 7, 2004
From: aastro@trinity.edu
Subject: Re: zhaleven

Another translation for zhaleven in certain contexts can be to stint. Also:
to save for a better occasion, a more worthwhile purpose. To hold back as
was suggested is a good translation too. Depends on what you want aspect of
the word you want to render into English.

Alan Astro

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 7, 2004
From: dinaleviash@vtx.ch
Subject: Re: zhaleven: a stab in the dark

Out of my total ignorance, but emboldened by a fertile imagination, may I
suggest the following:

"zhaleven" may be based on the Russian "zhalet'", i.e. "feel sorry for",
used colloquially in a situation where person A. offers person B. an
insufficient amount of food or drink. Person B. then asks, "potchemu ty
menya zhaleyesh ?" i.e., more or less, "Why do you spare me ?"

Dina L‚vias

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 7, 2004
From: zumlif@netscape.net
Subject: Re: Mendele mit yidishe oysiyes

I am not much of a Yiddish speaker or writer although I try. However both
Outlook Express and Netscape Mail have Hebrew letters. In Netscape Mail, go
to "Format, Font" and there are 3 Yiddishe fonts. I don't use OE much but it
can receive and display a message sent from Netmail in the Yiddish font. It
may have to be loaded from Word. I have sent a messages in a Yiddish font
from Netmail and it was received and displayed perfectly in IE.

Philip Muzlish

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 7, 2004
From: ThorsProvoni@aol.com
Subject: Re: Mendele mit yidishe oysyes

The AOL mailreader does not do well with extended character sets.

Joachim Martillo

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 8, 2004
From: martin18.glass@ntlworld.com
Subject: 'On 2nd Avenue'

The Leeds Jewish Theatre Festival which took place last week, had amongst
its performers a splinter group of Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre in
Montreal.

The 6-strong troupe gave a nostalgic musical tour tracing history of
Yiddish music from Eastern Europe to second Avenue on New York's Lower
East Side.

They were professional!

The evening was a delight for all, including non-Yiddish speakers.

The brought the flavour of all the American Yiddish theatres that used to
come to Israel in the fifties and sixties. I recommend you see them  if
they perform in your neck of the wood.

A rikhtiker fargenigen!

Yaffa Glass

9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 4, 2004
From: nmiller@trincoll.edu
Subject: Yiddish and American law

I have only now discovered an article by federal judge Alex Kozinski and
UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh first published in the Yale Law Journal in
1993.  I apologize for being so tardy but I think readers will find the
contents interesting.

http://www1.law.ucla.edu/~volokh/yiddish.htm

Noyekh Miller

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End of Mendele Vol. 14.0006


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