Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 16.011 October 3, 2006 1) balas and Old Czech in Hebrew letters (Martin Jacobs) 2) -enyu (Al Grand) 3) transcription (Ellen Cassedy) 4) Multiple Queries (Lori Cahan-Simon) 5) Vilner trupe (Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf) 6) Sutskevers "Der vunder fun dem yidn"(Rokhl Wamsley) 7) Western Yiddish (Harris Engelmann) 8) American Yiddish press (Frank Handler) 9) Psivitshevski (Caraid O'Brien) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 9, 2006 Subject: balas and Old Czech in Hebrew letters My thanks to Leyzer Gillig and Dimitri Ponomarenko for their answers to my inquiry concerning the architectural term "balas," and also to Arieh Lebowitz. I did some more research on my own and discovered much the same: "balas" is a Polish word; in English, "baluster" (accent on first syllable). Balusters are the columns or posts which support the top of a railing or balustrade. I also posted this question on a translator's forum (www.TranslatorsCafe.com) and got just one reply, from a Portuguese translator who consulted some Polish friends of hers working on civil construction in England. They said there was no English translation, "Not even some similarity." So poor are we architecturally outside the Continent?! [M. Ruta refers us to the explanation of the word "balas" in the Polish version of Wikipedia: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balas] On another matter, I asked if anyone knew a reference to an old Czech grammar written in Hebrew letters. (My thanks to Roberta Newman for her very interesting contribution of a recent use of Hebrew letters to write Czech.) The reference eventually came to me. In "The Field of Yiddish" [vol. 1], ed. U. Weinreich, Judah Joffe, basing himself on information from Roman Jakobson, says that Abraham ben Azriel of Prague (13th cent.) wrote the earliest known treatise on Czech grammar, and this centuries before any non-Jewish writer. Now he does not explicitly say that the grammar was written in the Hebrew alphabet, but what other alphabet would the author of "Arugat Habosem" use? We also know that at about the same time that Rashi was writing glosses on Bible and Talmud in French, Isaac ben Moses of Vienna (author of "Or Zarua" and originally from Bohemia) was writing glosses in Czech (see "Jewish Encyclopedia"). I cannot imagine that he would have used any alphabet other than the Hebrew. Still, I would appreciate any further information on either of these writings. Martin Jacobs 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 9, 2006 Subject: -enyu In response to Felicitas Payk's question about the term of endearment ending -enyu: although I can't shed any light on its etymology, I can't resist reacting to the inquiry with a sort of anecdote. Growing up in East New York Brooklyn in the thirties was like living in a shtetl that was transplanted into the New World. When I was about six years old there was a kid on my "block" named Martin. Each year, when the days began to shorten as they are now, his mother would appear at her front door at dusk while we were in the middle of a street game and call out "Martinyu! Martinyu! s'iz shoyn shpet un es vert fintster. Kum shoyn arayn!!" Today, seventy years later, I still hear that voice whenever they announce a musical piece that's about to air on the classical music station WQXR by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu. Al Grand 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 10, 2006 Subject: transcription In reading a transcript of an oral history interview with a Lithuanian Holocaust survivor, I've repeatedly come across the expression "dos oh." Sometimes "un dos oh." Sometimes "dem oh." Or "dos ah"? "Oh" is spelled alef hey. Any ideas? Ellen Cassedy 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 10, 2006 Subject: Multiple Queries khaveyrim, What a wonderful community this is! So many of my questions about authors and composers have been answered. You are an inestimable resource and so generous!! I still have a few unanswered questions and hope that there is someone out there who can help me. I am looking for: The name of the composer who wrote the music for Y. Kaminski's "Khanike iz freylekh"; Biographical information on M. Lifshits, (not Max Lifshitz, who is working currently), composer of "Ven kh'tsind di likhtelekh on, di akht," from Avrom Reisin's Jubilee Booklet (from the 1960s?); Biographical information on Moyshe Yvker, 20th c. composer in Mexico, for the Jewish day schools in Mexico City; Biographical information on Malke Gottlieb; Death date for Yisroel Goykhberg; Whether there is any attribution for "Tsindt on di likhtlekh" other t han "folk song." I look forward to hearing anything from any of you mavens. A sheynem dank, Lori Cahan-Simon 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 13, 2006 Subject: Vilner trupe Friends, As theater editor of the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe, I'm wondering if anyone can help me with dates for a number of actors who performed with the Vilna Troupe. Here they are, along with the information I have as of now: Sonia Alomis (Lubotski, 1896-) Aleksander Azro (Orliuk, 1892-) Frida Blumental (d. 1947) Yankev Kurlender (1904- ) Dora Rivkin Sholem Tanin (Tankus, 1892- ) Henri Tarlo (Henryk Tarlo, 1898- ) Bela Belerina (Belleryna, Rubinlicht, 1898- ) Avrom-Yankev Mansdorf (1902- ) Moryc (Moritz) Norwid (1895- ) Moyshe Potashinski (Potaszynski, 1903-). Alyosha (Eliyohu) Shtayn (d. 194?) Miriam Orleska (c. 1900-1943?) Avrom-Yankev Vayslits (Jacob Weislitz, 1891- ) Yokheved Vayslits (Weislitz, 1889- ). A sheynem dank foroys, Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 15, 2006 Subject: Sutskevers "Der vunder fun dem yidn" Letstns hob ikh gezen dem film vegn Itshe Goldbergn vos di yidish lige hot ersht aroysgegebn. In film dermont Goldberg a lid Sutskevers fun bloyz akht shures vos er ruft "Der vunder fun dem yidn." Ikh vil es leyenen oyb emetser veyst in velkhn fun Sutzkevers bikher ikh ken es gefinen... A sheynem dank, Rokhl Wamsley 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 17, 2006 Subject: Western Yiddish My name is Harris Engelmann and I was interested in knowing if there are currently any Western Yiddish speakers. I assume that Western Yiddish was wiped out as a result of the Haskalah and the Holocaust; however, the language site ethnologue (www.ethnologue.com) states that there may be as many as 50,000 speakers left. I look forward to all of your responses! Harris Engelmann 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 17, 2006 Subject: American Yiddish press I'd like to alert readers to an article on the cultural continuity of the MORGN ZHURNAL, the TOG, the TOG-MORGN ZHURNAL and the ALGEMEYNER ZHURNAL that appears in this week's ZHURNAL. The online version is at http://www.algemeiner.com/generic.asp?id=2318. The print version (Sept. 15) has a number of fascinating images. Frank Handler 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 20, 2006 Subject: Psivitshevski I recently came across a mention of the play "Der emes" (The Truth) by Psivitshevski. I have just transliterated the spelling of the author's name. No first name was listed. Does anyone know who this is? Is it a Russian writer in Yiddish translation? He is not listed in the Leksikon fun yidishn teater. Thanks, Caraid O'Brien ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 16.011