Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 14.008 July 27, 2004 1) gret (Israel Zamir) 2) Yiddish in transcription (Troim Katz Handler) 3) mayn yidishe mame (Itzhak Luden) 4) Goldfaden translations (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 5) zhaleven (Vulf Plotkin) 6) Help with translation (Faygel Lynn) 7) shier nisht (Marty Green) 8) zhargon (Noyekh Miller) Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 18, 2004 From: iczamir@mefalsim.org.il Subject: Re: gret Direkt fun di "mekoyres": mayn familie shtamt fun Lodz. Bay undz - es iz nisht akademish demonstrirt...- iz gret spetsiel genutst geven mit der kombinatsiye "shmutsike gret" (dirty laundry). Yours Israel Zamir Kibutz Mefalsim 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 19, 2004 From: Troim@webtv.net Subject: Yiddish in Transcription Lynda Cohen [Mendele 14.004] asked for transliterated yiddish material. The International Association of Yiddish Clubs (IAYC) has mailed its 80 member clubs 2 such books published by the organization: _simkhe_ by Troim Katz Handler; and _mayn shtetele bronzvil_ by Sylvia Schildt. Its next mailing will be 5 stories from Onkelos. Miriam Hoffman's _in IN der velt fun baley-khay_ (In the World of Living Creatures) will be published in Der Bay (fishl@derbay.org) in 3 upcoming issues. If your club is interested in IAYC, write to Seymour Graiver at symour.graiver@worldnet.att.net. Troim Katz Handler 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 21, 2004 From: luden@netvision.net.il Subject: Re: Mayn Yidishe Mame Khoshever redaktor fun Mendele, Derloybt mir oystsudrikn mayn Yesher koyekh far ayer frukhtiker un balerndiker arbet fun popularizirn Yiddish durkh der elektronisher komunikatsye. Durkh ir, durkh der elektr. post vos stromt arayn tsu aykh kon men oykh lernen vifl amoratses (am haarts'es) es vildevet in yidishn "kultur-lebn", mashteyns-gezogt' der iker tsvishn di kolerley artistn un zingers vos lebn fun yidish, nit kenendik di shprakh. Kumt deriber a loyb dem zinger Yilian (Yidl) Tallmer, vos er iz greyt zikh tsu lernen un vos er vendt zikh tsu Mendele men zol im koregirn dem text un im zogn vi azoy men darf im rikhtik zingen. Ikh bin nit keyn groyser khosid fun dem primitivn grafomanishn kitch fun dem sort vi di "Yidishe Mame", vos vert oykh gezungen in e hefker-loshn azoy vi yeder eyner vil - hob ikh ober a gevisn derekh erets tsu im vi eyns fun di populerste folks-lider, un derfar iz take noytik efsher durkh ot dem lid tsu dertziyen dem oylem tsu derekh erets far der shprakh. Ikh ken nisht dem origineln text, oyb aza iz faran, fun dem lid. ikh bin ober greyt' vi a yidisher zhurnalist un u dertsoygling fun a yidisher shul, tsu farrikht di grayzn in dem forgeleygtn text fun fraynd Yidl Tallmer: Ikh ken bay aykh a kashe fregn, zogt mir ver es ken mit vifl tayere farmegns iz fun got gebencht men krigt es nisht far keyn shum gelt - dos krigt men nor umzist, der veyst shoyn vos ikh meyn... A yidishe mame - nishto keyn besers oyf der velt. a yidishe mame, oy vi swiz biter ven zi felt! vi sheyn un likhtik iz in hoyz ven s'iz di mame do vi troyrik fintster dortn vert ven zi iz mer mit undz nishto. (oder: ven zi geyt oyf oylem habo.[klert im oyf, az "oylem habo" meynt "yene-velt"]...) in vaser un fayer >> volt zi gelofn far ir kind >> nisht haltn zi tayer >> dos iz gevis di greste zind (gevis meynt: avade, oder: zikher) >> oy vi gliklekh un raykh >> iz der mentsh vos hot >> aza sheyne matone geshenkt fun Got >> aza altinke yidishe mame, mame mayn Itzhak Luden 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 21, 2004 From: Gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: Abraham Goldfaden translations Many of the works of Abraham Goldfaden were translated to Hebrew, some of them more than once. Shulamit was translated to Hebrew, inter alia, by Yacov Lerner in Warsaw 1921, and by Yigal Mosinson in the 1950s in Israel. See also Abraham Goldfaden, Shirim u-Mahazot, hehedir Reuven Goldberg, Jerusalem 1970 217 p. Gilad J. Gevaryahu 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 21, 2004 From: vulf@iimath.com Subject: Re: zhaleven In discussing the meaning of _zhaleven_ references have been made [Mendele 14.007] to two Slavic verbs: Polish _ZaLowaC_ and Russian _zhalovac'_ with the implication that both might have had an equal impact on the Yiddish loanword. It should be pointed out, however, that these languages influenced Yiddish very differently, Polish having been the first Slavic language to affect it, whereas its contact with Russian began only in the late 18th century after a large part of Poland was annexed to the tsarist empire. The verb _zhaleven_ is clearly a borrowing from Polish retaining the meaning _to stint_ and has nothing to do with Russian _zhalovac'_ meaning _to grant_. Incidentally, the impact of Ukrainian and Belarusian on Yiddish, though noticeably weaker than that of Polish and geographically restricted, was deeper and stronger than that of Russian. Care should therefore betaken not to overestimate the Russian influence on Yiddish, which is limited to vocabulary items mostly referring to the sphere of officialdom. Vulf Plotkin 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 22, 2004 From: faygel@optonline.net Subject: Help with translation I have been trying to figure this out and have asked many Yiddish speaking friends, but to no avail. Would appreciate help. It is a description of the ceiling in an old shul in a shtetl. Der sofit adurchgeflokhtn mit dike fir-knotike bolkes [Mod: baliekes?]. A shaynem dank, Faygel Lynn 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 26, 2004 From: marty@aptitude-testing.com Subject: shier nisht I would like to post a question about the expression "shier nisht". Not the Hebrew "shiur" meaning lesson; not the same Hebrew word in the expression "ohn a shiur" meaning without an end; but the expression "shier nisht" meaning "all but...". My question: is this a Hebrew or a German root? I can find many instances of the expression "schier nicht" used with its regular meaning in German writing on the internet; but the expression does not appear in my Pocket Langenscheidt's. Have the Germans borrowed it from us? If not, I find it a little odd that Weinreich spells it with the extra ayin (but not of course the vav of "shiur"), as a two- syllable word. Is this how it would really be spoken? Do we have the meyvinim on board who can clarify this etymological question? Marty Green Winnipeg, Canada 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 27, 2004 From: nmiller@trincoll.edu Subject: zhargon Does anyone know when 'zhargon' came to be applied to Yiddish. My hunch is that it's post-haskole but I'll be just as happy to have that proved wrong. Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 14.008 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu