Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 16.024 March 18, 2007 1) Curses (Allan Warshawsky) 2) Curses (Morrie Feller) 3) Curses (Bob Rothstein) 4) Vulgarism & "Ashkenazis" (Yale J. Reisner) 5) pagira (Ruth Jimenez) 6) Yiddish Wikipedia (Sylvia Schildt) 7) Mangers purim-shptil (Avner Falk) 8) "Shabesdike shvebelekh" (Sholem Berger) 9) Modal verbs questionnaire (Sandra Birzer, Bjoern Hansen) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 23, 2007 Subject: Curses di bobe mayne, oleha hasholem, a frume yidishe froy fun kovner gubernye vos hot nit gekent shraybn oder leyenen af keyn shum shprakh, hot di verter oykh gezogt. ikh bin kemat vi zikher az zi hot nisht farshtanen vos zi hot gezogt. in 1963, ven ikh bin a talmid in brooklyn college geven, hob ikh oykh gearbet in a moyshev skeynim in brownsville ('s iz geven a finstere nakht in bronzvil!) un ikh hob di verter oysgezogt tsu emetser vos hot dortn gevoynt. hot er mir genumn baym hant un mir dertseylt af english vos ikh hob take gezogt. ikh hob di bobe nisht gekent dertseyln. zi volt mir oysgevasht mit zeyf di moyl! Allan Warshawsky - arn varshavski 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 23, 2007 Subject: Curses In response to Jules Rabin's question about Yiddish curses (Mendele 16.022), I suggest he try to obtain a copy of "Blessings, Curses, Hopes, and Fears" by James A. Matisoff (Stanford University Press, 2000). This is a second edition. Morrie Felller 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 24, 2007 Subject: Curses Jules Rabin (Mendele 16.022) quotes his mother as saying (75 years ago) "Geh' kerbenye matri," which he translates as "Go fuck your mother," adding that "we kids took the phrase to mean something as innocent as "Go to Hell!" or some 1930's equivalent of "Bug off!" The Russian original is actually "idi k ebene materi," which literally means "go to [your] fucked mother" (the form "ebene," pronounced approximately [yebyenye], is a reduction of the past passive participle of the verb "ebat'" [to fuck]). It is used to mean something like "get the fuck out of here." I would venture to guess that his mother knew that it was strong language, but had no idea how strong or what it literally meant. A Russian joke tells about a little boy sitting in front of his house. A passerby says, "Little boy, bring me a glass of water." The little boy replies, "Idi k ebene materi. I haven't learned to walk yet." Bob Rothstein 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 24, 2007 Subject: Vulgarism & "Ashkenazis" The Russian vulgarism "k yebenoy matyeri" doesn't mean "f... your mother" [yob tvoyu mat'] but rather "[go] to your f...ed mother," i.e. go to hell. In the highly amusing Israeli slang dictionary Milon 'olami le-'ivrit meduberet [World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang] by Dan Ben-Amotz & Netiva Ben-Yehuda, the editors have the following three pertinent citations: Lekh-kibini! -- Go to hell; a rather strong curse (short form of lekh kibinimat). Citation: "Lekh-kibinimat!", Uri raged. (M. Shamir, He Walked in the Fields, p. 321]; Lekh-kibinimat! -- a very strong curse (from Russian; or some reason or other it has become inseparably attached to the Hebrew lekh, go). Citation: "Don't threaten me. You want to go! Go, then, go kibinimat! You, too!" Lekh le-Binyamina! -- Go to Binyamina (a town), a euphemistic phrase in place of the phrase "lekh kibinimat." Mayse shehoye: At the Lauder Foundation's Polish summer camp, I have seen young Jewish women giggle and blush (and young Jewish men sing much louder) when the song "yibane ha-mikdash" [may the Temple be rebuilt] was sung, since "jebane" [yebane] -- in Polish as in Russian -- means "f...ed." Ashkenazit As readers of Mendele might appreciate this, I'll take the opportunity to point out another interesting feature of the Ben-Amotz-Ben-Yehuda Hebrew slang dictionary about which I wrote a college linguistics paper decades ago. In the dictionary, the editors cite the etymology of slang phrases as coming from Yiddish, French, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, etc. They also uniquely designate certain phrases as coming from "Ashkenazit": This refers to Hebrew words that passed into Yiddish, obtained in Yiddish a comical or ironic overtone, and then _returned_ to Hebrew in an Ashkenazic pronunciation with an ironic sense _alongside_ the original Hebrew word in its original sense (pronounced in Sephardic Hebrew). Examples: Heb. hakham, "wise man" vs. Ashk. khokhem, "wise guy"; Heb. ba'al 'agalah "wagon owner"; Ashk. balagule, "coarse slob" or "poor driver" Heb. metziya, "discovery"; Ashk. a metsiye, "what a bargain!" -- usually dismissive or sarcastic (e.g., it's actually a bad deal) etc. Yale J. Reisner 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 1, 2007 Subject: pagira Does anyone know the meaning of the word "pagira." This is transliterated from the Yiddish. I have been told that it is used in a pejorative manner, but have not been able to find it in any Yiddish dictionary that I own (Harkavy, Weinreich). Thank you for your efforts. Rose Jimenez 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 1, 2007 Subject: Yiddish Wikipedia Oyb ir vilt zikh bakenen mitn shtrom fun kharedish yidish, iz bazukht vikipedia yidish (mit tsvey yudn) -- ir vet gefinen idish, mit an alef yud, un a velt fun dish vos iz zeyer interesant. zey banutsn andere terminen afile - an ander oysleyg -- a hibsh bisl aynflus fun english -- gramatishe enderungen fun klal yidish - ober fort mameloshn. Sylvia Schildt 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 4 2007 Subject: Mangers purim-shpil Try this http://yiddish.haifa.ac.il/texts/manger/medresh.htm Happy Purim. Warm regards from Jerusalem. Avner Falk 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 7, 2007 Subject: "Shabesdike shvebelekh" Ikh zukh vu tsu koyfn di roman "Shabesdike shvebelekh". (Ikh hob shoyn an ekzemplar nor kh'vil es koyfn vi a matone.) Tsi veyst ir fun an ort? A dank, Sholem Berger 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 14, 2007 Subject: Modal verbs questionnaire We [at the University of Regensburg] are investigating the semantics of modals in Yiddish. Could you please translate the following 18 sentences in italics into Yiddish? Please do try to use the modal expressions in square brackets and - if possible - give more than one translation. Please also indicate if the mentioned words do not cover the meaning of the sentence. Any comments are welcome! Sentence 1 [try to use kenen, megen, bikhoyles] (Context: The child is pretty strong.)The child is able to open the door. Sentence 2 [try to use kenen, megen, bikhoyles] (Context: The door is open.) We can enter the room. Sentence 3 [try to use kenen, megen, bikhoyles, kern] (Context: The mother allows the child to go to the cinema and says) You may go to the cinema. Sentence 4 [try to use kenen, megen, bikhoyles, kern] (Context: The police are investigating a crime. The Inspector thinks that Peter possibly killed the man.) Peter may have killed the man. Sentence 5 [try to use darfn, zoln, muzn, kern] (Context: The door is locked.) Peter has to call the porter. Sentence 5 [try to use darfn, zoln, muzn, kern, es is neytik] (Context: The door is locked.) One has to call the porter. Sentence 6 [try to use darfn, zoln, muzn, kern, es is neytik] (Context: The mother forces the child to stay at home.) The child must stay at home. Sentence 7 [try to use darfn, zoln, muzn, kern] (Context: The police are investigating a crime. The Inspector thinks that it is likely that Emma killed the man.) Emma must have killed the man. Sentence 8 [try to use darfn, zoln, muzn, kern, es is neytik] (Context: The professor tells another person that Peter is supposed to hand in his dissertation) Peter is supposed to hand in his dissertation by Friday. Sentence 9 [try to use darfn, zoln, kern] (Context: There are certain rumors in town) Peter is said to be rich. Sentence 10 [try to use veln] (Peter intends to go to Greece.) Peter wants to visit Greece. Sentence 11 [try to use veln, zoln] (Next month Emma will visit Greece.) Emma will visit Greece. Negated forms Sentence 12 [try to use nit kenen, nit megen, nit bikhoyles, nit torn] (Context: The child does not yet crawl.)The child is not able to open the door. Sentence 13 [try to use nit kenen, nit megen, nit bikhoyles, nit torn] (Context: The door is locked.) We can not enter the room. Sentence 14 [try to use nit kenen, nit megen, nit bikhoyles, nit torn] (Context: The mother does not allow the child to go to the cinema) Peter is not allowed to go to the cinema. Sentence 15 [try to use nit darfn, nit zoln, nit muzn, nit kern] (Context: The door is open.) Peter needn't call the porter. Sentence 16 [try to use nit darfn, nit zoln, nit muzn, nit kern, is nit neytik] (Context: The door is open.) One needn't call the porter. Sentence 17 [try to use nit veln] (Peter does not intend to go to Greece.) Peter doesn't want to visit Greece. Sentence 18 [try to use nit veln, nit zoln] (Emma will not visit Greece.) Emma will not visit Greece. Please answer offlist to sandra.birzer[at]sprachlit.uni-regensburg.de Thanks a lot in advance! Best regards, Sandra Birzer Bjoern Hansen ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 16.024