Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 14.035 March 7 , 2005 1) baleboste (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 2) New World Yiddish (Mel Comisarow) 3) keyn shum hant (Alan Astro) 4) oysfirn (Perets Mett) 5) Tsoyzmer (Norman Buder) 6) Tsoyzmer (Herman Taube) 7) hakn a tshaynik (Sylvan Beer) 8) hakn a tshaynik (Jack Berger) Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Re Etymology of "baleboste" Jonathan Jacobson asks (v14n34) about the Etymology of "baleboste" Both your explanation of the current meaning, that is <<1. Boss (female), owner, master, proprietor, hostess and 2. A capable, efficient housewife, esp. a traditional Jewish one, devoted to maintaining a well-run home.>> are correct, but the etymology (i.e. the study of the word's origin) is from the Hebrew ba'al bayit, that is the owner of the house, and idiomatically the owner. Owners takes care of their property better than outsiders, and so efficiency is assumed. So for male is "balabos" or "balebos" and for female it became "balaboste" or "baleboste". Harkavy's Dictionary brings along these line the definition of "baleboste" "female owner of a house, land lady, mistress" and Weinreich for "bal'bos" simply brings the Hebrew Ba'al bayit. Gilad J. Gevaryahu [Posts covering the same ground received from Zulema Seligsohn, Amitai Halevi,Avrum Miller, Chana-Chayke Dickter, Dina Levias, Faina Furman, Norman Buder and Jack Berger.] 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Geographic variations in New World Yiddish North American Yiddish differs from European Yiddish by the inclusion of some English words but it also has different word meanings. Perhaps the best known example of the latter is the word shtetl, which means town in European Yiddish but tiny village, what would be dorf or dorfele in Old World Yiddish, in New World Yiddish. New World Yiddish also has slang terms that were unknown in Europe. For example, the Yiddish speakers of the Canadian Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta used the slang term Gimelah for their Ukrainian neighbors. This was because (Western Canadian) Ukrainians were from the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia and the letter g in the Hebrew alphabet is gimel. I first became aware of possible geographic variations in New World Yiddish when I asked a fluent Yiddish speaker, originally from Toronto, the president of our local Peretz Society no less, about Gimelah and he had never heard the term. While New World Yiddish slang for Ukrainians had an origin that was geographic and alphabetic, the origin of New World Yiddish slang for Italians was gastronomic. Lokshen, literaly noodles in Yiddish, was Yiddish slang for Italians in both Alberta and New York City. So I assume it was universal in North America. Gimelah for Ukrainians and Lokshen for Italians were unknown in Old World Yiddish. Quoting directly my father, "When the family was in Russia, we never (even) heard of Italians.". So here are the questions. Is anyone not from the Canadian Prairies familiar with Gimelah = Ukrainians? Are there any other geographic variations in North American Yiddish? What about Australian Yiddish or South African Yiddish? Or South American Yiddish? Mel Comisarow Vancouver, BC 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Re: keyn shum hant "arbetloz iz keyn shum hant" is very easy. It means "No hand is without work (unemployed)." Nisht/nit is left out often in poetry, a kind of daytshmerizm that is vaguely acceptable. Also, the "zikh" in "mir zingen zikh a lid" doesn't mean "ourselves," we are not singing a song to ourselves. It is simply a dative of interest, intensifyiing. We're belting out a song. May I be so bold to say that there are people out there who are translating Yiddish who have no business doing that. I'm glad Aaron Lansky thinks he has singlehandedly saved a vanishing culture... If this is the Yiddish world saved by Aaron Lansky, I'd hate to think what the Yiddish world would look like had Aaron Lansky not saved it. Without going to Gellerian excesses, I would ask that people who have arrived at the stage of deciphering some Yiddish not believe they are experts yet! Alan Astro [Similar posts received from Dina Levias and Rose Jimenez.] 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Re: oysfirn Justin Jaron Lewis wrote: > The Chofetz Chayim in his work by that name on the prohibition of malicious > gossip discusses "oysfirn", using the Yiddish word in his otherwise Hebrew > text. Can Justin please supply a reference? Perets Mett 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Re: Tsoyzmer Regarding Nathan Weinstock's question as to whether there is a Polish town named "Tsoyzmer," YIVO News No. 197, Winter 2003 suggests that this is another name for Sandomierz. The issue, available at http://www.yivoinstitute.org/pdf/yedies197.pdf in an item entitled "New Accessions to the YIVO Archives," has the following sentence: "Dr. Seymour Bortner donated a Polish account of the Jews of Kamien, near Sandomierz (Tsoyzmer), Poland." Norman Buder 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Re: Tsoyzmer There is a town in Poland called in Yiddish: Tsuzmir. (In Polish: Sandomierz) Tsuzmir, in the area of Kielce, is one of the oldest medieval shtetlakh in Poland. Most of the Jews of Tsuzmir perished in Treblinka and in Skarzysko-Kamienna Concentration Camps. Fro more information about Tsuzmir, see: page:1132- Sandomierz. (Volume 2, "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life, Before and During the Holocaust", editors: Shmuel Spector and Geoffrey Wigoder, Published by Yad Vashem(Jerusalem) and "New York University Press". Mit frayndlekhn grus, Herman Taube [Similar posts received from Perets Mett and Robert Shapiro.] 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Re: hakn a tshaynik It is my impression is that it was a slang term among itinerant klezmorim. In their private language, much as we know American jazz musicians have their own language, a trombone was known as a tshaynik, a samovar, both being made of shiny brass. To hak a tshaynik was to play the trombone. Sylvan Beer 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2005 Subject: Re: hakn a tshaynik The idea of spinning any piece of headgear on a finger is an obvious metaphor for killing time unproductively. However, I think 'hakn a tshaynik' is most simply 'banging on a teapont' as a metaphor for creating a disturbing noise as a distraction. Jack Berger ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 14.035 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu