Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 15.015
July 7, 2005

1) Mordechai Gebirtig (Harriet Weinstein)
2) Idiomatic phrases (Charles Segal)
3) balagole (Joan Gusoff)
4) shtadlen (Moyshe Taube)
5) shtadlen (Refoyl Finkel)
6) shtadlen (Martin Jacobs)
7) shtadlen (Amitai Halevi)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 6, 2005
Subject: Mordechai Gebirtig

I would like to convey my gratitude to all the Mendele subscribers and
others who overwhelmed me with their  prompt reponse to my Mordechai
Gebirtig queries.Your help was greatly appreciated. I can now lay to rest
the rumour that some unpublished works of Gebirtig may have been floating
around in folklore limbo somewhere in Israel.

Harriet Weinstein
nweinstein@videotron.ca

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 30, 2005
Subject: Idiomatic phrases

As we all know, there are so many Yiddish phrases that are untranslatable
into English.   For example, "er hot gekhapt di fis af di pleytses un
antlofen vi dos fefer vakst".

I would appreciate it if someone can tell me how to translate "er hot
geshept nakhes."

Charles Segal

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 6, 2005
Subject: balagola

What is the meaning of balagole?  I thought it is the driver of a wagon.
However, Harkavy's doesn't have a listing.

Joan Gusoff

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 6, 2005
Subject: Re: shtadlen

My Even-Shoshan Hebrew Dictionary (vol. 7: 2801) gives as the earliest
testimony of shtadlan a phrase from the 1681 pinkas vaad 4 aratsot, ed.
Heilperin, p. 171: vehotsaat skhar shtadlan.

Moyshe Taube

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 6, 2005
Subject: Re: shtadlen
פּרץ מעט פֿרעגט װעגן דעם װערב פּרץ מעט
פֿרעגט װעגן דעם ער „להתל“ אױף העברעיִש.
מען קען געפֿינען דאָס װאָרט אין מישנה
אָבֿות, ב'ו,, פֿון צװײטן יאָרהונדערט
(אָדער אפֿשר פֿריִער): ובמקום שאין אַנשים
השתּדל להיות איש

רפֿאל פֿינקל
Perets Mett fregt vegn dem verb 'lhshtdl' oyf hebreish.  men ken gefinen
dos vort in mishne oves funtsveytn yorhundert (oder efsher friyer): uvmokom
sh'eyn anoshim hishtadel l'hiyot ish.

Refoyl Finkel

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 6, 2005
Subject: Re: shtadlen

Concerning difficulties in deriving shtadlen from loshn-koydesh:

1.  There is no problem in "shtadlen" entering Yiddish directly from
Aramaic.  Yiddish has many words of Aramaic origin.  After all, the same
people who studied Gemore in Aramaic spoke Yiddish.  There is no need for
"shtadlen" to have entered Hebrew first in order to enter Yiddish.

2.  "Hishtadel" (Aramaic "ishtadel") in both Hebrew and Aramaic means,
among other things, "to insinuate oneself", "to be on good terms", "to
win favor" (e.g. in Talmud Bavli Pesah.im 112-113, as cited in Jastrow's
dictionary), characteristics relevant to an intercessor.  I don't know if
this is actually the source of Yiddish "shtadlen", but it is certainly
plausible.

Martin Jacobs

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 6, 2005
Subject: Re: shtadlen

Eliezer ben Yehuda's Thesaurus traces the Hebrew word "shtadlan", back to
1670, when it appeared in the minutes of a meeting of the Council of Four
Lands in Eastern Europe. Its meaning in Hebrew is the same as in Yiddish:
intercessor or mediator.

Though the root "sh-d-l" is indeed Aramaic, it had already been adopted by
Hebrew in Mishnaic times and appears throughout the Mishna and Midrashim
both as "shadel" (to persuade or coax) and the reflexive "hishtadel"
(persuade yourself, i.e., make an effort).

There is no doubt in Ben Yehuda's mind (or in mine) that the etymology of
"shtadlan" is from "hishtadel", by the common formation of terms for
persons from verbs describing their characteristics or activities:
"lamdan", "ra`hman", "ragzan", etc.

Amitai Halevi

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______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 15.015 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, choose one of these two: Messages for posting on Mendele Personal and other messages to the shamosim