Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 15.014
July 6, 2005

1) shtadlen (Perets Mett)
2) Benjamin the third (Todd Hasak-Lowy)
3) alber (Lucas Bruyn)
4) Cat's pajamas (Mikhl Herzog)
5) zog nisht keyn mol (Abraham Chayat)
6) Soviet orthography (Noyekh Miller)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 28, 2005
Subject: shtadlen

The yidish word shtadlen means intercessor or mediator (Harkavy,
Weinreich). What is the origin of this word?

It has been suggested on another list that shtadlen derives from supposed
Medieval German staatlen, one engaged in affairs of state. Traditionally
the shtadlen was a member of the Jewish community who interceded with the
governing authorities on behalf of the Jewish community, usulally to avert
decrees directed against the community. Unfortunately no such word appears
to have existed in German.

An alternative etymology is from Hebrew hishtdl.

This derivation too is difficult, for a number of reasons.

To start with, shdl is not  a native Hebrew root. It derives from an
Aramaic root meaning to persuade, seduce.

So, if hishtdl entered yidish from Hebrew, how and when did enter the
Hebrew language?

Can anyone pinpoint the first use of either shtadlen or hishtdl, in
either yidish or Hebrew?

Perets Mett

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 28, 2005
Subject: Benjamin the third

I have a question regarding the Yiddish original of Kitser masoes Binyomin
hashlishi.  In the final chapter, when Benjamin makes his speech before the
military tribunal, does the narrator explicitly specify the language in
which this speech is made?  In the Hebrew versions the language of his
speech is not made explicit (though clues in the text suggest that he
speaks Yiddish).  In Hillel Halkin's translation of the Yiddish we are told
that here Benjamin speaks "entirely in Yiddish."

Thanks,

Todd Hasak-Lowy
thasak@aall.ufl.edu

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 28, 2005
Subject: alber

I would like to ask a question on a word I met with twice in the poems of
Y. Furman (unpublished typescript). The word is 'alber' and, from the
context it seems to mean 'tsart'. The writer came from Bukovina and lived
in Tchernovits. He wrote his poems in the late fifties. I give the places:

About the departure of Shabes from the house, while mother is singing
"got fun avrom" (poem with this title)


albertreler vayt aroys bagleytn im. ful betokhn
zingt zi vayter: zol di vokh undz kumen tsu gezunt un tsu parnose

About eyes:

ir oygn, vider-makhshirim
oyf hoykhfligl alber-gevebte

Lucas Bruyn

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 29, 2005
Subject: re: Cat's pajamas

_dos eybershte fun shteysl_ = creme de la creme.

_shteysl_ is the 'mortar' of 'mortar and pestle'.

Mikhl Herzog

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 9, 2005
Subject: zog nisht keyn mol

The melody for this "Jewish Partisan Song" is by Dmitri Pokras, a late
Soviet composer. Does anybody know the original title of this song and,
possibly, the Russian words?

[Please send replies to poster, not to Mendele]

Abraham Chayat
fred2@worldnet.att.net
6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2005
Subject: Soviet orthography

In 1997 there was a detailed discussion on Mendele about Soviet orthography
(Google for details) but I find nothing about dates.  Does anyone know when
Soviet Yiddish periodicals and books began spelling loshn-koydesh words
phonetically?

A second question has to do with the history of that orthography in the
U.S. I know that some folk-shules did so but I don't know if they later
abandoned it for conventional spelling.  And what of periodicals such as
the Morgn Frayhayt?

Noyekh Miller

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End of Mendele Vol. 15.014


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