Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 25.009 April 4, 2016 1) kneydl un alke (Sholem Beinfeld) 2) kneydl un alke (Tomasz Majtczak) 3) "getting away with something" (Tomasz Majtczak) 4) a meshugener hunt in tamez (Tomasz Majtczak) 5) a meshugener hunt in tamez (Yeynesn Felendler) 6) a meshugener hunt in tamez (Galit Hasan-Rokem) 7) a meshugener hunt in tamez (Beni Warshawsky) 8) "Mayses fun hintern oyvn" translations (Mark Stewart) 9) Va-yikhbeshuha be-adu (?) (Yael Chaver) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 February Subject: kneydl un alke In reply to Fishl Kutner’s query [Vol. 25.008] about “alkes”: the Groyser Verterbukh defines "alkes” as “kneydl fun tseribene kartofl, farmisht mit mel”, noting the word’s derivation from Ukrainian or Belorussian. It also gives “halkes” as an equivalent. Weinreich may not have either “alke” or “halke”, but the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary under “halke” says: ze “haleshke”. In turn, “haleshke”=”holeshke”, is defined simply as “dumpling”. Sholem Beinfeld 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 February Subject: kneydl un alke It seems that the word "alke" is a dialectal variant of "halke" (in those dialects that tend to lose the word-initial "h-"). This "halke" is also used in the form of "haleshke" or "holeszke", and it is probably a borrowing from Belarusian "галка" (halka) / "галушка" (halushka), meaning "knob" as well as "dumpling". Tomasz Majtczak 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 February Subject: "getting away with something" The Polish-Yiddish dictionary by Arn Mark of 1929 has the Polish phrase "upiekło mu się" (= he got away with it / he got away with murder / he got off scot-free) translated as: "s'hot zikh im ayngegebn" but this meaning is not confirmed by Niborski/Vaisbrot = Beinfeld/Bochner ("ayngebn zikh" = to succeed, to come off well). The Russian-Yiddish dictionary of 1984 translates the Russian phrase "сойти с рук (кому-л.)" (= to get away with it) as: "opgeyn (emetsn) glat" which would be partly confirmed by NV = BB: "opgeyn glat / glatik" (= to come off without a hitch). Tomasz Majtczak 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 February Subject: a meshugener hunt in tamez Bernstein in his collection of Yiddish proverbs and sayings of 1908 (http://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/freimann/content/pageview/4015203) lists: "Itlicher m'schüge'ner wert im Tamüs klur, (oder: m'jüschow)." [= YIVO: "Etlekher meshugener vet in(em) tamez klor (or, meyushev)."] with the explanation: "Gerade in den Hundstagen werden die Verrückten auf einmal gescheit." (= It is precisely on dog days that the mad ones become sane.) This makes a nice connexion of the month of tamuz and dogs (by means of Sirius / Dog Star / Canicula, and Canis Major in general). But the meaning of this saying is unclear to me. The Yiddish-Belarusian dictionary by Astravukh of 2008 lists also: "hintish meshugas" (= rabies) "meshuge vi in/mitn tamez" (= utter fool) and the same saying as Bernstein (with literal translation only: "every fool becomes reasonable in tamuz / in summer"). Tomasz Majtczak 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 February Subject: a meshugener hunt in tamez Reyzele, Ir hot gefregt [Volume 25.008] vegn dem vertl, "A meshugener hunt in tamez", oder "meshuge vi a hunt in tamez". Lemayse ken ikh zogn, az an enlikher vertl hob ikh gehert fun a Vilner yidn (un es vert eykh gebrakht in Stutshkovs oytser), "tzitern vi a hunt in di nayn teg". Der inyen iz, az Yidn torn nit esn kein fleish in di nain teg tzulib aveyles fun dem khurbn beys hamikdesh. Derfar tsitert der hunt, vayl er veys az er vet nit krign kein been in di teg. Mistome ayer vertl hot dem zelbn inyen, vayl tamez kumt glaykh farn kheydesh ov, un di nayn teg zaynen in kheydesh ov. Far vos ober iz dos dafke tamez? Mistome vail der hunt veys shoyn yemolt az di tsayt kumt az zain beyn vet er nit krign, vayl di dray vokhn heybn zikh shoyn on fun yud zayen tamez, un etlekhe dinim fun aveyles heybn zikh shoyn on yemolt. Ikh hof az dos hot aykh geholfn... Yeynesn Felendler 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 February Subject: a meshugener hunt in tamez Re: "a meshugener hunt in tamez" [Volume 25.008] Please compare with the title of Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett's book "The Called Him Meir July" where July is a translation of Tamuz, apparently because of the heat of the month that may also have influenced people's and dogs' moods. The meaning of 'tamez" in the name is explained in the book. [Moderator's note: Paul (Hershl) Glasser also cites this book.] My late father used to say "a meshugener hunt fun Alabama", and we lived in Northern Europe and Israel, and I have never been able to trace the origin of that. Any ideas? Galit Hasan-Rokem 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 February Subject: a meshungener hunt in tamez Reyzele, Tammuz coincides with the secular months of June/July. So the expression "a meshugener hunt im tamus, oder "meshuge vi a hunt in tamez" is similar to the English expression "only mad dogs and Englishman go out in them mid-day sun." Beni Warshawsky 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 23 February Subject: "Mayses fun hinern oyvn" translations Can anyone help me find the existing translations for the I.B.Singer story collection published in Israel in 1982 as "Mayses fun hintern oyvn"? It seems they might be scattered in several different English collections, e.g., "Taibele" is in "Short Friday". Additionally, are there stories in that book that have not been translated? Thanks! Mark Stewart 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 March Subject: Va-yikhbeshuha be-adu (?) tayere mendelyaner, The weekly, long-running Berkeley Lehrhaus Judaica reading group that I lead is nearing the end of Alter Katsizne's Shtarke un Shvakhe. On p. 335, Vol. 2 of the 1954 Buenos Aires edition, near the end of Chapter 12 of Book 4, a dialogue contains what purports to be a quote from the Bible (it's described as a posek). The full exchange is: "hm... di batsvungene...oyfn gemoyzekhts. va-yikhbeshuha be-adu meynt der posek?" And the rejoinder, ot, ot... ikh ze az ir farshteyt." I may not have properly transliterated the second word of the quote, as there are no nekudes. My searches for this combination in a biblical concordance, as well as in Stutchkoff's Oytser, have been fruitless. The Hebrew translation of 2012, as it sometimes does with problematic phrases, ignores the 'posek' altogether. It replaces it with 'do you mean an act of lewdness?' [ha'im ha-kavanah le-ma'aseh zima?], a question that is not in the Yiddish text. Does anyone have any idea what the quote in the Yiddish original might mean, or where it might have originated? I'd be very grateful for any insight into this conundrum. a hartsikn dank in foroys! Yael Chaver ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 25.009 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. 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