Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.288 April 20, 1997 1) Ashkenazic studies (Zachary M. Baker) 2) Nibl-pe (David Lidsky) 3) A lost line from Y.L. Peretz () 4) Leybish (Zellig Bach) 5) The plural of "hon" (Zellig Bach) 6) Stempenyu in English (Jana Branch) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 11:21:32 -0400 (EDT) From: yivo1@metgate.metro.org Subject: Ashkenaz [see 6.285] Not to be too contentious about it, but perhaps knowledge of the coterritorial languages of the countries and regions where Ashkenazic Jews have resided over the centuries should also be a prerequisite for a scholarly research on topics subsumed under "Ashkenaz." Zachary M. Baker 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 09:38:41 -0700 From: fdlidsky@netvision.net.il Subject: Nibl-pe In Mendele 6.287 Dovid Braun asks concerning "nivl pe" in Tsansin's dictionary: "Is the word unequivocally spelled with a veys and not a beys there?" I have just looked again. It _is_ a veys, that is to say the second letter of the alphabet with a little horizontal line over it. David Lidsky Jerusalem, Israel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 19:17:23 -0400 (EDT) From: kromobile@aol.com Subject: A lost line from Y.L. Peretz The quote Paul Miller [6.287] is looking for may be found in the _Haggadah for a Secular Selebration of Pesach_, pp. 20-21 (5th edition,1993) published by the Sholem Aleichem Club of Philadelphia and available from them at P.O. Box 27648, Philadelphia, PA 19150. Unfortunately they do not cite the provenance of the Peretz quote in the hagode, but I know some of them are Mendelyaner and surely would be able to provide it on request. Marti Krow-Lucal Sunnyvale 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 16:25:06 -0400 (EDT) From: zellig@aol.com Subject: The cause of misreading "laib" for "leyb" Liebe Denner's query (6.281) about "Layb-Leyb" promptly elicited several replies (6.282 and 6.293). All were interesting and to the point. However, none indicated the cause of the misreading, and such explanation may serve to prevent misreadings in the future when the tsvey yudn [two yuds] are similarly positioned. The names of these letters are: 1) Tsvey yudn; and 2) _Pasekh_ tsvey yudn. When the two contiguous tsvey yudn denote the diphthong /ey/, they do not take the Hebrew vowel sign called _tseyre_, a colon placed horizontally, like this [. .], because it would look as if each yud, individually, had a _khirek [dot] under it and are therefore not conjoined into one. But when the tsvey yudn denote the diphthong /ay/ they take the diacritic _pasekh_ under them to signify their conjointness. Thus we clearly distinguish the Yiddish homonymic words spelled alike but with different meanings in the following two lines: Tsvey yudn [ey] -- eyl, (kh')meyn, (kh')ney, sheyn, (kh')veyn, and other such words; Pasekh tsvey yudn [ay] -- (kh')ayl (zikh), mayn, nay, shayn, vayn, and so on. This is written from the viewpoint (or earpoint, if you will) of a litvishn (Lithuanian) dialect. Other dialects may complicate matters. And our good friend Mikhl Herzog will cedrtainly help us out. Zellig Bach Lakehurst, NJ 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 21:29:15 -0400 (EDT) From: zellig@aol.com Subject: The plural of "hon" Mendy Fliegler wrote (6.233,3): "Mayn mishpokhe hot gehat a farm in New Jersey, un mir hobn gehat a sakh yidishe shkheynim [neighbors], mit a sakh hiner un vintsige [few] honer." (If memory serves, the instructor of my undergraduate course in Animal Psychology, who happened to be from the U .K., taught us that exhaustive studies established conclusively that there is no honour among honer...) For the correct plural of "hon," see glossary below: 1. Hon (rooster), plural hEner (also honeN); 2. Fon (flag), plural fener (also fonen); 3. Man (male), plural mener; 4. Man (husband), plural mener, also manen; 5. Of (from Hebrew ayen, khoylem vov, lange-fey) fowl; 6. Eyfele (diminutive from Yiddish "of"), a reference to he helplessness of a tiny human baby; 7. Hindl (diminutive from "hun"), a scrawny chicken, just "hoyt un beyner" [skin and bones]; 8. Hinde (female given name), Hindl (its diminutive and endearing form); 9. Mindl (diminutive and endearing form from Mi'ne); 10. Zundele, also Zindele (diminutive and endearing forms from zun [son]; 11. Gezind (family), as in Avrohom Reyzn's famous song "A gezind zalbe akht;" 12. Gezindl (neither diminutive, nor endearing), a pejorative reference to an organized mob or, in contemporary terms, a gang. Zellig Bach Lakehurst, N J 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 21:12:57 +0100 From: jbranch@bitstream.net Subject: Stempenyu in English I'm looking for an English translation of "Stempenyu" by Sholom Aleichem. Does anyone on the newsgroup list know of a source? Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks. Jana Branch ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.288