Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 14.039
April 18, 2005

1) Slob (Yankev Lewis)
2) Who was Y. Rozin? (Shloyme-Khayim Cohen)
3) meshugener ritekh (Lyuba Dukker)
4) shmendrik and shmegege (Vera Szabo)
5) mezinke (Martin D. Stern)
6) tsvey shvartse oygn (Tanye Gutova)
7) zog nit keynmol (Anna Lipphardt)
8) spodek (Ellen Cassedy)
9) Saul Bellow and Yiddish (Cyril Robinson)

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1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2005
Subject: Slob, bad housekeeper

A colleague asks for expressions in Yiddish meaning "slob" or "bad
housekeeper".

Yankev Lewis

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 28, 2005
Subject: Y. Rozin

Beshas shraybndik a referat vegn khemye-literatur af Yidish, hob ikh
geleyent dem araynfir in Nokhem Stutchkoffs "Der Oytser fun der Yidisher
Shprakh". Af z' XVII shteyt es geshribn az Stutchkoff dankt D"r Y. Rozin
far gehilf mit der khemye grupe terminen.

Mayn frage iz, ver is D"r Y. Rozin? Vos far a khemiker iz er geven, un vos
far a Yidish-reder un -kener iz er geven? Ikh sukh protim vegn zayn lebn,
dertsiyung, u"azv.

A dank in foroys,

Shloyme-Khayim Cohen

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 28
Subject: meshugener ritekh

Last Sunday I have attended with great pleasure a YIVO lecture in Yiddish
by Rivka Blau "Kafka in Yiddish, Kafka and Yiddish". Unfortunately, I had
to leave early due to a prior commitment. During the part that I did hear,
there was some commotion in the audience, when Ms. Blau quoted Kafka's
father using an expression "meshugener ritekh" - nobody, including the
speaker, seemed to know the meaning of the word "ritekh". The only
explanation Ms. Blau had, was that it must be of Hebrew origin. I wonder,
maybe it has been discussed later, when I have already left? In any case,
does anybody know exactly what or who this "ritekh" is?

Lyuba Dukker

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 5, 2005
Subject: shmendrik and shmegege

I was wondering about the etymology of the words
"shmendrik" and "shmegege."

Vera Szabo

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 5, 2005
Subject: mezinke

Can anyone provide the etymology of the word "mezinke" meaning "youngest
daughter" which my Yiddish speaking neighbour born in Belz (then Poland now
Ukraine) tells me should really be pronounced more like "mozhinke". It
sounds to me like a Slavonic loan word but I could not find it in the
Polish or Russian dictionaries which I consulted. Is it possibly originally
Ukrainian? The song/dance of that name was composed by Max Warschawsky who
was born in Odessa in 1840 and died in Kiev in 1907, which might suggest
this origin.

Martin D. Stern
Salford, England

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 11, 2005
Subject: tsvey shvartse oygn

Tayere haveyrim!

Zayt azoy gut un helft mir zu gefinen dem tekst un di notn fun a lid "tsvey
shvartse oygn" fun Jacob Sandler.

A sheynem dank!

Tanye Gutova

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 12, 2005
Subject: Zog nit keynmol

Dear list-members,

As part of my dissertation project I am researching the post-war reception
of Hirsh Glik's song Zog nit keynmol (in English often referred to as
"Never Say" or "Partisan hymn", in Hebrew Shir Hapartisanim).

It would be great if you could answer me some short questions and/or
forward this message to friends.

Here are the questions:

1. When did you hear / sing Zog nit keynmol for the first time and in which
context?

2. On which occasions did you sing it / do you sing it or listen to it now?
In what ways has it been performed (choir - soloist; as march or as a folk
song.) An in which language/s?

3. Which have been the most moving/impressive performances you attended?

4. If you are a musician - is the song part of your repertoire? How do you
interpret it, on which occasions do you perform it and how does your
audience relate to it?

5. And last but not least: What does this song mean to you? Which events,
memories, stories, people, emotions, moods, images, political ideas etc. do
you connect with it?

Please indicate your age, place of birth and current place of residence,
and if you have a background in Yiddish.

*****

I am also grateful for all information on contemporary adaptations of the
song (or references to it) in Jazz, Contemporary Music, Nu-Folk etc.

Thank you all very much in advance for your help - mit a hartsikn dank un
vareme grusn.

Anna Lipphardt

[Please be sure to send all responses directly to alipphardt@yahoo.com,
_not_ to Mendele.]

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 14, 2005
To: mendele@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: spodek

"Spodek" in Polish is a saucer.  Also, in Yiddish, a fur cap -- perhaps
because the cap looked like a saucer?  "Don't bang on my head."

Ellen Cassedy
Takoma Park, MD

9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 14, 2005
Subject: Saul Bellow and Yiddish

In the discussion of Saul Bellow's relation to Yiddish, a question not
discussed is the extent to which Yiddish influenced his writing, either in
the stories told, his language patterns, or his logic, among other possible
influence that a second language can have on a writer. I would be
interested in anyone's thoughts on this matter.

Cyril Robinson

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