Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 14.048 April 25 , 2005 1) gut yontev (Sara Pokrassa) 2) Introduction (Charles Segal) 3) prezhenitse (Elisa Steinberg) 4) prezhenitse (Rose Jimenez) 5) Words of Fire (Yale Strom) 6) kuni-leml (Paul Kriwaczek) 7) kuni-leml (Lucas Bruyn) Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 24, 2005 Subject: a gut yontev ij vintch ale mendelianer a gut iom tev , a koshern pesaj tzuzamen mit di mishpojes. Sara Pokrassa Buenos Aires, Argentina 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 22, 2005 Subject: Introduction I am a new member. I have written books on American Jewish History (popularization) and scholarly books on the Puritan and Indians and also on Abraham Lincoln. In addition, my studies have been published in the Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society and the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. I have been a news reporter, UN correspondent and foreign correspondent, spent more than twenty years in public relations for national Zionist and Yiddish organizatoons and subsequently have been in New York State and federal government. I assume this would indicate that I am somewhat over twenty-one. I am a native of Montreal, raised in a Yiddishist famimly. My father, Chaim, was an actor who appeared with J.P. Adler, Maurice Schwartz and the Hollanders/ He played in the Dybbuk with Menashe Skulnik when Skulnik played dramatic roles. My Great Uncle was I.J. Segal. So much by way of introducing myself. Why am I writing. At present I am in the midst of writing my memoirs--my life in Montreal growing up Jewish and my experiences in the Unityed States. I am anxious to get as much information as possible about my father's shtetl: SHAROVKA in the Ukraine. While there are a few facts about Sharovka on the internet, they do not contain the information I hope--with your help--to secure. My father used to tell me about Sharovka from time to time but my interest then was not what it is today. And, of course my parents are gone and so are other members of their and my own generation. I am interested in descriptive matter on the houses Jews lived in, and what it was like to be a Jew in that shtetl. The period I'm talkling about is from 1898 (when my father was born) to 1913 when he and his father came to Montreal. Any information that Mendele members may have and wish to share will be greatly appreciated. A sheynem dank. Charles Segal 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 22, 2005 Subject: Re: prezhenitse prezhenitse is the word used by Sholem Aleikhem in one of his stories. My family said 'yayshnitse'. Elisa Steinberg uruguay/chicago 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 26, 2005 Subject: Re: prezhinitse My father used to use the word in the sense of mish-mash or many things thrown together as in an omelet with many ingredients: "Oy, iz dos geven a prezhinitse". Rose Jimenez 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 23, 2005 Subject: Re: Words of Fire I for one believe that Yiddish and East European Yiddish culture will survive in some form or another. But I do take exception to those who believe the hasidim will be the conveyors of the Yiddish language. Yes they do speak Yiddish as their daily lingua franca but have you walked around Wlliamsburg, Crown Heights or Boro Park, Brooklyn recently and listened carefully? The Yiddish many (if not most of those under 50) speak is mixed with many Yinglinsh-isms. Their daily vocabulary is very limited. (Just as the Yiddish spoken in Antwerp and in Bnai Brak is mixed with French and Hebrew) Of course I realize much of their daily lives are involved with religion and not a wide variety of secular subjects so the Yiddish spoken has no need for most of the words in Weinrich's dictionary. Basically procreation comes down to the heart of the matter I think these days. Secular and non-secular Jews do not have large familes the Khasidim do. Thankfully they will preserve some kind of spoken Yiddish, but one my bobe from Stolin, Belarus would have had a difficult time in understanding. Yale Strom 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 22, 2005 Subject: Re: kuni-leml You will find a kuna, a pillory, a lockable iron collar on a chain, cemented into a niche in the outside wall of the synagogue in Przysucha (Yiddish: Pshiskhah) in southern Poland to this day. Paul Kriwaczek 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 25, 2005 Subject: Re: kuni-leml In Vol 14.038 Hershl Hartman raised the question: "what is the meaning/derivation of `kuni' in the term for innocent fool/dope/dupe, kuni-leml, as found in the 1928 edition of Harkavy" The word is found in the supplement of the second edition of the Yiddish-English- Hebrew dictionary. On page 576 the dictionary gives kuni-leml: dunce, fool. The word kune is found in the same dictionary in the main body on p. 452: kune: pillory, prison. (info. Received from Mr. Hartman). Harkavy's Engl. - Yid. / Yid. Engl. Dictionary, 22nd edition of 1953, does not give kuni-leml, but on p. 302 it gives kune (f.) (pl. es): pillory, halson (halson obviously a misprint for prison). In Vol. 14.045 I quoted Niborsky's dictionary (info. Received from Mr. Jan Jonk). This dictionary informs us that kuni = kune and gives a clear definition of the word. In vol. 14.047 I added the definition for `kune' found in Bernstein. It gives us similar information as Niborski, but also the additional information that in Bernstein's days (his book was published in 1908), the kune was an institution of the past. It also explains that it is a Polish word and gives the expression `postawic w kunie'. In Stutchkoff's `oytser' kune-leml is found under 340 narishkeyt, p. 305, amidst a huge collection of other assorted naronim. Under 604 bashtrafung we find: shteln (tsubindn) tsum shandklots (tsum shondshlup, tsum shondstoyp); shteln in kune (in vinkel). Under 470 frayheytbagrentsung we find kune as one of the many words for prison. The question not answered yet is how the lamb got to the kune. Must have been a foolish lamb, and, as Mr. Hartman's original question suggests, probably an innocent lamb as well. The Dutch translation of `potawic w kunie' is: `aan de kaak stellen. The `kaak' (pillory) was abolished as a form of punishment in the Netherlands in 1854, but the expression survives with the meaning: to expose something/someone in public (i.e. to write about a scandal in the papers). The `kuni-leml' probably went through a similar development: the meaning of kune is forgotten, but it survives in the expression. Lucas Bruyn ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 14.048 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu