Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.022 June 22, 1997 1) boyuvke (Joachim Neugroschel) 2) Thomas Mann on Bergelson (Joachim Neugroschel) 3) boyuvka (Hugh Denman) 4) boyuvka (abraham brumberg) 5) boyuvka (Claus Buryn) 6) vegn kompyuteray, nets & veb oyf kol-yisroyl radio (Leybl Botwinik) 7) Bashevis, demons, and typos (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 19:27:54 -0400 (EDT) From: ACHIM1 Subject: boyuvke in response to M. Engel's query about the word "boyuvke" [7.021], it means "armed band" and comes from the Polish noun "bojo'vka" (pronounced "boyuvka--since the acute accent over the "o" changes the pronunciation to "u"). The Polish word can be found in the Polish-English dictionary published by the Kos'ciuszko Foundation--anyone seriously working with Yiddish, especially as spoken in Poland, ought to have a copy. Joachim Neugroschel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 19:31:10 -0400 (EDT) From: ACHIM1 Subject: Thomas Mann on Bergelson Does anyone know anything (such as source, date, etc.) about Thomas Mann's review of the German translation of Bergelson's "Nokh Alemen" (the German title is: "Das Ende vom Lied")? Joachim Neugroschel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 13:55:58 +0200 (MET DST) From: Hugh Denman Subject: boyuvka With reference to Marvin Engel's query [7,021:1] concerning the word 'boyuvka', I can inform him that the meaning is 'assault squad' or 'storming party'. I am replying to Mendele rather to him personally, because there is a general principle here which some Mendelyaner seem to overlook, to judge at least from the frequency of requests for elucidation about the meaning of lexical items derived from the 'coterritorial' languages. Yiddish, as we all know, borrowed hugely from the Slav languages and a large number of these borrowings which became 'naturalised' Yiddish words are to found in Yiddish dictionaries. However, as anyone knows who has lived for any length of time in an environment in which a language other than his/ her native tongue is prevalent, it inevitably becomes convenient to borrow terms on an ad hoc basis. Such words then become candidates for permanent adoption, but most of them are used so infrequently that they never reach the dictionary of that native tongue. Yiddish for obvious reasons is an extreme case in this regard and it would be unreasonable to expect such nonce borrowings to appear in even the most comprehensive Yiddish dictionary. Serious Yiddishists just have to face the fact that, in addition to the familiar (and notoriously inadequate) Yiddish lexicographical resources, they need to equip themselves with at least Polish and Ukrainian dictionaries (Stanislawski and Andrushyshen respectively are the ones I would recommend). You don't need to learn Polish or Ukrainian, if you don't want to. It really doesn't take very long to work out from the introduction to a good primer how the orthographic system of each of these two languages function and then you have vast supplementary lexical resources at your disposal. In this instance you would quickly learn that 'boyuvka' is the Polish word 'bojowka' (spelled with an acute accent on the 'o' which makes it sound like [u]) and that it is derived from 'bojowy' = 'fighting' which in turn comes from 'boj' (likewise with acute) = 'combat', 'struggle'. Hugh Denman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 Jun 97 08:48:55 EDT From: abraham brumberg <102142.2545@CompuServe.COM> Subject: boyuvka "bojowka", from the Polish word with a dot over the "o"--fight, struggle. a fighting unit or group, usually made up of a dozen or so young people either to attack Jews or to defend them. The Endeks had bojowkas in Poland, so did the Bund and other left-wing Zionist youth groups. abraham brumberg 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 15:07:03 +0200 From: troia Subject: boyuvka/bojowka Polish: bojowka - fighting group, fighting squad. (accent on second 'o') a grus, Claus Buryn 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 11:02:42 +0300 (IDT) From: Leybl Botwinik Subject: vegn kompyuteray, nets & veb oyf kol-yisroyl radio [English follows] ikh bin tsufridn tsu meldn, az onheybndik fun dem khoydesh, vet zayn a khoydeshlekher 10-minutiker radyo program oyf der yidisher radio oyditsye, kol-yisrael, gevidmet kompyuters, dem internets, un dem alveltlekhn veb. der program oyf yidish vet heysn: "der yidisher kompyuter vegvayzer - radio program" tsugegreyt un ongefirt fun leybl botvinik der ershter program vet men hern: dinstik dem 24stn yuni tsvishn 19:00-19:25 (16:00 GMT) un mitvokh dem 25stn yuni tsvishn 19:00-19:25 (16:00 GMT) . beyde ovntn oyf 927 AM un mit a sho shpeter (20:00-20:25) oyf 88.2 FM, in yisroyl. un oykh mikhuts yisroyl (zet untn far di coordinatn). I am happy to announce, that starting this month, there will be a monthly 10-minute radio-show on the Yiddish program of Kol-Yisrael about computers, Internet and the World Wide Web. The program is entitled: "The Yiddish Computer Guide - Radio Program" prepared and presented by Leybl Botwinik. The first program may be heard on: Tuesday the 24th of June, between 19:00-19:25 (16:00 GMT) and Wednesday the 25th of June, between 19:00-19:25 (16:00 GMT) . Both evenings on 927 AM and one hour later (20:00) on 88.2 FM, in Israel. International broadcasts are as follows: >From March 30, 1997, to September 13, 1997 LANGUAGE Local Time KHz Meters Target Areas ------- ----------- --- ------ ----------------- Yiddish 16:00-16:25 9365 32.03 Central Europe 9435 31.79 North America 11585 25.89 East Europe 11605 25.85 C.Europe/N.America 17:00-17:25 9435 31.79 North America 11585 25.89 East Europe 11605 25.85 C.Europe/N.America leybl botvinik, netanya 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 10:12:12 -0400 (EDT) From: SHirshan@aol.com Subject: Bashevis, demons, and typos While reading the NY Times article about the typos on Bashevis' tombstone, "A Too Noble Epitaph", I was suddenly transported into a Singer story - two lovers demonically chained in death to the irate husband for eternity, and the story printed with multiple typos. Were Bashevis' imps and demons at work here, even after his death? Janet Hadda, his new biographer, tells in the spring issue of the Pakn Treger how she felt waylaid by demons as she sought interviews with people who had been part of his crazy world; she was becoming transformed into a character wihin his fantastic tales. Doors mysteriously swung open and shut, strange stories appeared on demonic microphones, uncanny encounters with birds appeared normal, as she sought the truth for her recently published biography. Next I remembered Singer's tales of his woeful suffering of typos and misspellings at the hands of the Forward typesetters. One story told of how the printers went so far as to have published one edition, that was missing the final paragraph of his submission. Lo and behold, his closing sentences turned up in a competing newspaper, "Der Tog". I could not help wondering if these gravestone typos were Alma's carelessness and irresponsibility in checking what was ordered to be cut, or did imps shove the tools in the hands of the stonecutter, or was the "h" omitted from Bashevis merely because the stonecutter was a Litvak! Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Evanston, Illinois (for one more week) ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.022