Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.083 October 23, 1997 1) Yiddish tongue twister (Louis Fridhandler) 2) Fifth IAYC Conference Announced (Philip "Fishl" Kutner) 3) davnen (Sandra Layman) 4) Duchenen and superstition (Paul Ilie) 5) dukhenen (Ben Fogel) 6) Nokh a mol davenen (Rick Turkel) 7) superstitions (Malka Essig) 8) finger in fist - a fayg (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 9) Zibn und zibale (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 20:07:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Yiddish tongue twister In Kishinev the word for fox was pronounced _fiks_. The challenge: trogt a fiks a biks in pisk. That is: A fox carries a gun in the mouth. Haven't thought of that in ages. Louis Fridhandler 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 18:27:42 -0800 From: fishl@well.com (Philip "Fishl" Kutner) Subject: Fifth IAYC Conference Announced The International Association of Yiddish Clubs is proud to announce that the Fifth Conference will be held August 27-30, 1998 in the beautiful Westwood section of Los Angeles at prestigious UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) with the Bel Air section across the street from the campus. The university also has a Yiddish program. IAYC President, Dr. Harold Black, stated that this is the first time the group will be meeting on the West Coast. It will give the second largest U.S. Jewish population the opportunity to participate, and offers Canadians, Easterners and Midwesterners the chance to have an extended vacation in one of the prime vacationlands of America. Previous conferences have been held at the University of Maryland and hosted by Yiddish of Greater Washington. The second conference was hosted by the Toronto Friends of Yiddish near the University of Toronto. The third conference was held at the DiLido Hotel in Miami Beach and was coordinated by Ruth and David Barlas. In May of this year our fourth conference was hosted by Mameloshn in Fairfield, CT. This Fifth Conference's coordinator is Mel Rogow and is shaping up to be the finest one. The rooms are guest suites at the UCLA Conference Center. Meetings, dining, accommodations, and entertainment will be held around a courtyard area. Monthly updates and applications will appear in "der bay" and posted on Mendele. Philip "Fishl" Kutner San Mateo, CA 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 21:25:02 -0400 From: Sandra Layman Subject: davnen Esther Goffstein recently posted this interesting message (in Vol. 07.079): Is there any chance "doynen" could be in any way related to the Romanian verb "a doini" (to sing or play a doina), or is any resemblance purely coincidental? A doina is, of course, a slow, melismatic, sometimes semi-improvisational song (often melancholy) found in both Romanian and klezmer music. Sandra Layman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 19:16:03 -0800 From: Paul Ilie Subject: Duchenen and superstition Rita Falbel's query about "dukhenen" reminds me of another superstition we youths believed in, that to look at the cohanim when their hands were outstretched toward the congregation, fingers spread in the special configuration, was to incur serious impairment of eyesight. One teenager, a Levite, swore that he needed glasses soon after peeking during one such ritual. He was convinced that he would go blind if he ever looked again. Paul Ilie 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 12:34:39 -0400 From: bfogel@juno.com (Ben Fogel) Subject: dukhenen In [07.079] Rita Falber says, "Does anyone recognize the word Dukhenen and know what the derivation might be?" I quote "The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion", Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1966, page 308: "After removing their shoes and having their hands washed by the Levites, the priests ascend the duchen (the platform before the ark; hence the Ashkenazi expression dukhen". I have just joined this list and have found it very enjoyable. I am sure I will continue to enjoy and to learn. May we all enjoy the simcha of the coming chag. Ben Fogel 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 10:56:49 -0400 From: rturkel@cas.org (Rick Turkel) Subject: Nokh a mol davenen A gut moed. I was told years ago that davenen, bentshn and tsholent all came from Old French: diviner, whatever the reflex of the Latin benedictere was, and the appropriate antecedent of Modern French chaud/chaleur, respectively. If this is incorrect, would someone please explain why. A pretty thank-you. Be me well and strong. Rick Turkel 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 10:08:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Dkmouser@aol.com Subject: superstitions While we are on the subject of superstitions..I thought I might take the chance to clear up one of my family's mysteries (maybe). Well...my great aunt Charlotte (who WAS eccentric and who's family was from Poland) used to ,every time it rained(which it frequently does in the spring and summer in Chicago and Milwaukee) run all around the house and put little dishes of water on EVERY window sill... the reason that I remember(I was younger than 10 at the time) is that the lightning if it hit the building would go into the dishes of water and drown! well... that doesn't seen very likely! i don't remember who offered this explaination.... does this sound familiar to anyone? i have no idea if this was a Jewish superstition , a Polish superstition or just Charlotte's..in my family, at the time we did NOT talk about when anyone did anything that was kind of old fashioned(IE embarrassing!) on another note.. when I was in my teen years, I was fooling around with my Mamma's wedding dress, and i felt something odd in the hem, being nosy I said, hey there's something odd here! my Mamma said no I don't think so.. I said yes, it's heavier and lumpy here,can I look? she said oh,ok and I opened the hem and found silver dollars with a piece of what looked like cake or salt (I'm not sure )between she was very embarrassed and said she had NO idea what that could be doing there! I was happy, even though her wedding ended in a divorce, it seemed nice that someone must have been wishing her well(probably my Bubbe,or great aunts) any one know what this is supposed to wish? and what it was, in there with the silver dollars? thanks, Malka Essig 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 08:36:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: finger in fist - a fayg Bob Poe [07.080] said: "If I remember correctly, this gesture, called `a fayg' in Yiddish, is used to express simple defiance, etc., like the middle finger in mainstream America, and does not necessarily have a superstitious association." In South America the Yiddish "fayg" is called "fige" (Spelling?) in Spanish and it is a good luck charm. I used to have one made of red wood. Note what Harkavy says about the word Fayg: (2) FICO motion of contempt made by placing the thumb between the two fingers. 'geben a fayg' to give the fico. Weinreich, true to his idea of keeping his dictionary clean of any vulgarities, does not have this meaning. Gilad J. Gevaryahu 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 08:11:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: Zibn und zibale Ellen F. Prince in her discussion on "indianer and sneezing" brinngs the following: "when uttered by someone despised -- would elicit 'Zibn! Shoyn a lign!' (Of course, this was usually said behind the person's back, so to speak.)" That must be the explanation for the term 'zibale' which meant a child born prematurely, supposedly on the seventh month instead of the ninth month. The saying "she had a zibale" usually went along with a chukle, every one knew that the girl got pregnant before the chuppah. So the Ziben = Zibale was a lie. The usual explanation that children survived only if born on the seventh month or on the ninth month, but did not survive if born on the eighth month, did not make much sense and was thus a "Zibn". Gilad J. Gevaryahu ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.083 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html