Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 18.003
June 17, 2008

1) sof-oyses (F. Lynn)
2) visn fun tsores (Al Grand)
3) visn fun tsores (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan)
4) tshudak (Eli Rosenblatt)
5) Buzi (Hershl Hartman)
6) s'glign tuenish (Bob Poe)
7) s'glign tuenish (Gerry Kane)
8) oyf kest (Lillian Garfinkel)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  June 4, 2008
Subject: sof-oyses

Does anyone know why the Soviet Union omitted the use of sof-oyses when
they wrote Yiddish.  I have seen a few examples of this.

A sheynem dank faroys,

F. Lynn

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 4, 2008
Subject: visn fun tsores

Irwin Mortman writes: "If one is asked a difficult question the response
can be, 'Visn fun mayne tsores.' I know what each word means but I haven't
been able to translate it into colloquial English phrase".  I believe the
response is more like "Zol ikh azoy visn fun tsores," which means something
like "May I thusly know of troubles as I know the answer to that question."

Al Grand

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 4, 2008
Subject: visn fun tsores

For Irwin Mortman and the meaning of the answer "visn fun tsores": When a
difficult question is asked, the answer is, "ikh zol azoy visn fun tsores,"
which means it is something (tsores) that I wish I never knew, like I don't
know the answer to this mind-boggling question.

Majorie Schonhaut Hirshan

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 4, 2008
Subject: tshudak


I'm not sure if this is the term you are speaking of, but when I was an
intern at the National Yiddish Book Center, a favorite Yiddish term for
such a person was a "tshudak" - which I believe comes from Slavic.

Eli Rosenblatt

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  June 4, 2008
Subject: Buzi

Ellen Cassedy's inquiry (Vol 18.002) about the name Buzi was clearly
answered - when used as a feminine name - by Sholom Aleichem in his
four-part story cycle, "Shir hashirim," The Song of Songs. Each section
repeats his explanation of the name of the hero Shimen's beloved, Buzi. In
Curt Leviant's translation:

"I once had a brother named Bennie (Benye). He drowned in the river. He
left an orphaned daughter. She was called Buzie. Short for Esther
(ester)-Libe. Libuzie-Buzie.  And she was as beautiful as the Shulamite of
the Song of Songs..."

Hershl Hartman

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 4, 2008
Subject: s'glign tuenish

I forwarded this to a friend whose parents were from Gombin.  The "tuenish"
part was quite familiar to him, meaning "You shouldn't" (maybe an
abbreviation for "tu es nisht"?).  So, if "glign" is a mistranscription of
"lign", it could mean "you shouldn't lie."

He is posting the question to a Gombin group.

Bob Poe

[Moderator's note:  "glign" sounds like it could be a local pronunciation
of "gelungen," i.e. successful]

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  June 9, 2008
Subject: s'glign tuenish

I would like to suggest that the Gombiner expression simply means to talk
to you about something that happened... a "tuenish" is happening...a
something done.

Gerry Kane

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 4, 2008
Subject: oyf kest

The answer to the question in item 4 [of vol. 18.002] is "kest" or "oyf
kest. This is a transliterated spelling; if the word is Hebrew, I don't
know how it is spelled.

Lillian Garfinkel
______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 18.003


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