Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.087 October 26, 1997 1) Shlack (leon rosenberg) 2) davenen (sylvia schildt) 3) On the trail of the Turkish shawl - Dos Porfolk (Louis Fridhandler) 4) Duchan (Robert Werman) 5) Yiddish Tongue twisters (Mendy Fliegler) 6) shlak/Dick (Michael Steinlauf) 7) Yiddish anarchist group in England? (Estelle Souche) 8) Superstitions (Gitl Dubrovsky) 9) Yiddish/Hebrew or Yiddish/English dictionary (Ada Holtzman) [Note from the moderator: The Shamesiat respectfully asks subscribers to refrain from sending messages not related to the scope of this list. The subjects of discussions in Mendele are limited to Yiddish language, literature, and culture. Broader topics of Jewish history, religion, politics, genealogy, etc. are covered by other forums.] 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 17:50:42 -0700 From: leon t rosenberg Subject: Shlack In the peculiar dialect in which I was raised, a "Shlack" had the single meaning of a foolishly stubborn person, one who could not be persuaded by reason. Gay vais. Leon Rosenberg 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 21:21:26 +0100 From: creativa@charm.net (sylvia schildt) Subject: davenen Endlekh. Ikh bin gezesn baym kompyuter un zikh nokhgekukt un geduldik gevart. Gevolt zen tzi emetzer vet zikh onkhapn on dem farbindung fun yidish mit alt frantzeyzish. Un ot ruft zikh op Rick Turkl [07.083] - a gezunt im in kepl. Ikh veys gantz gut az bay undzere hayntike lingvistn un gelernte iz opgeredt az yidishe verter megn shtamen fun bask, un karpatish, un bavarish. Un terkish. Vos ir vilt. vos es falt aykh arayn -- vi umlogish es zol nit zayn. vi nit-shaykhesdik mit di geshikhte fun di ashkenazishe yidishe kehiles. Ober khas vkholile fun alt frantzeyzish? Ikh hob eykh gehert dos zelbe vi Rick Turkel - un nit fun kin diletantn - nor fun mayne tayere gelernte mitl shul un lerer seminar lerers - mentshn vos hobn in zeyer tzayt farmogt a greysn shem af der intelektueler yidisher gas. Yefroikin, Yankev Levin, Opotashu, Yudl Mark, Khaim Bez, Kashdan, Lehrer, Weinreich, u.a.v. -- a reshime fun greyse kep. zikher derhayntikt zikh der visnshaft un kentenish -- ober ikh hob nokh nit gehert fun undzere haynttzaytike gdoylim a teoriye vos klept. men fargest, az alt frantzeyzish iz eykh geven a shprakh in alzas-loren, punkt azey vi daytsh iz geven a shprakh in alzatz-lotringen. d.h., dos iz geven a tzvey-shprakhik ort punkt vi haynt. un yidn hobn gemuzt zikh an eytze gebn in beyde kultur veltn. ikh meyn amol az afile in der lingvistisher visnshaft iz a frage fun mode - aza un aza teoriye iz in der mode -- un aza un aza iz nit in der mode. es tut mir bang vi di weinreichn, zet zikh oyset, gefinen zikh itzt nit in der mode. un vegn alt frantzeyzish iz opgeredt. me dreyt zikh in drayen lingvistish, kdey a vort zol nit shtamen fun alt frantzeyzish. Zol faln af mir "la guillotine" -- ikh meyn az davenen shtamt fun alt frantzeyzish. At last. I sat at the computer and looked on and waited patiently. Wanted to see if anyone would catch on to the connection between Yiddish and Old French. And here comes Rick Turkel -- a gezunt im in kepl. I know full well that our current linguists and scholars will accept that Yiddish words can come from Basque, or Carpathian, or Bavarian. Or Turkish. Whatever you want, whatever pops into your head - however illogical it may be. however irrelevant to the history of Ashkenzi Jewish communities. God forbid, a word should come from Old French? I heard the same as Rick Turkel -- and not from amateurs -- but from my dear learned mitl shul and seminar teachers - people who possessed great reputations in the Jewish intellectual world -- Yefroikin, Yankev Levin, Opotashu, Yudl Mark, Khaim Bez, Kashdan, Lehrer, Weinreich, etc. -- a list of great minds. Of course science and learning must update itself -- but I have not heard from our contemporary great ones a theory that makes sense. One forgets that Old French was also a language in Alsace-Lorraine, as Old German was in Alzatz-Lotringen, i.e., this was a bi-lingual region, as it is today. and Jews had to get around in both cultures. I sometimes think that even in the linguistic sciences there is an issue of "style" -- such and such a theory is in style -- and such and such a theory is out. It pains me that the Weinreichs, seemingly seem to be out. And about Old French, definitely out. I see all sorts of theoretical gyrations, to keep a word from being considered a derivative of an Old French word. Let the guillotine fall -- I think davenen comes from Old French. Sylvia Schildt Baltimore, Maryland 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 21:50:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: On the trail of the Turkish shawl (Dos Porfolk) Yes, there _is_ a connection between the Turkish shawl in Dos Porfolk and a character in Sholem Aleichem's early novel (1889), Yosele Solovey. A fascinating characteristic of the Turkish shawl is her constant nature in contrast to bizarre metamorphoses of other characters in a story which reads like a nightmare. For example, on p. 137 the hairy man has red hair, but a few sentences later has yellow hair. The English translation ignores this. Another feature already discussed: The protagonists are indianer at the beginning and at the end, but their nature is ambiguous at times. They shout in Yiddish, "halt dir, halt dir" which is translated as halder, halder. This is a reasonable sound interpretation and may be meant to convey the Yiddish equivalent of gobble gobble. However, that's not what Sholem Aleichem wrote. (Incidentally, in Kapores, same volume, p. 121, one lone turkey among chickens on strike shouts, hol-der, hol-der.) As in any dream, logic doesn't hold, constancy evaporates. No wonder, the protagonists look different from different points of view. An exception is the Turkish shawl, a woman of vivid character. On further reflection, I now believe she is the fulcrum of the piece, and she gives the piece an autobiographical basis. In Yosele Solovey (Ale Verk Fun Sholem-Aleykhem, Nyu York: Folksfond Oysgabe, Volume XIV, Yosele Solovey, 1918, p. 37) the Turkish shawl is brought from Berdichev to be a stepmother to Yosele. Yosele is basely neglected by the Turkish shawl, and, as a consequence, Yosele's father also becomes neglectful. This persuasively associates to Sholem Aleichem's autobiographical novel (Folksfond Oysgabe, Volume XXVIII, Funem Yarid, Bukh Tsvey, 1923, pp. 7-13). The chapter is called a mayne-loshn fun a shtifmame (abusive language from a stepmother). Sholem Aleichem's father, not very long after the death of Sholem Aleichem's mother, brings home to Pereyaslav a woman from Berdichev to be his children's stepmother. The hurtful curses heaped on the Rabinowitz children by this stepmother is described by Sholem Aleichem in detail. Clearly, the Turkish shawl in Dos Porfolk connects to the fictional Yosele's stepmother, the Turkish shawl from Berdichev, and thence to Funem Yarid and Sholem Aleichem's own abusive, real stepmother from Berdichev. At first the Turkish shawl in Dos Porfolk is almost a neutral character. Later, she becomes insulting, and eventually lets loose a stream of curses that match in vigor the curses flung by Sholem Aleichem's stepmother. For example: the Turkish shawl in Dos Porfolk screams at the unruly children (p. 140): a shlak zol oyf aykh kumen, reboyne shel oylem, a srife, a mageyfe, a khalerye! S'zol aykh onkhapn un s'zol aykh koyklen un koyklen un oyskoyklen eyntsikvayz mit ale meshumodim, ziser got, un s'zol fun aykh nisht blaybn biz peysekh keyn shrid upolit, liber, foter, hartsiker, getrayer! Thus can be traced a connection between Sholem Aleichem's real life and Dos Porfolk, an elusive, oneiric fantasy. Of the many things the author was trying to deal with, one of the elements was, in my opinion, unfinished business from childhood. The stresses of 1909 probably forced him to dig deeply. That is the one most attractively interesting element of the piece. Thanks to Leonard Prager for suggesting we carefully consider this work. Louis Fridhandler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 04:38:54 +0200 From: Robert Werman Subject: Duchan Hugh Dennan asks about the origin of the word, "duchan." The word appears in the gemara, if not earlier. See, for example, Rosh HaShanna 31b, "the Kohanim are not permitted to ascend to the duchan in their sandals." Note that it is duchan and not dukhan, chaf and not khet. Bob Werman, Jerusalem 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 17:16:58 -0200 From: emenems@juno.com (Mendy Fliegler) Subject: Yiddish Tongue twisters.. Efsher ken Louis Fridhandler un andere Mendlyaner oykh gedenken: Fiftsik pur fiksene piskelakh?? Nu, siz du mer?? Mendy Fliegler 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 10:03:17 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael Steinlauf Subject: shlak/Dick While this doesn't answer David Herskovic's question about the connection to sukkes, it's interesting that there's a Polish expression that's just about the exact equivalent of "der shlak zol im trefn," that is: "Niech go szlag trafi," with the subtle difference that in the latter the szlag seems to have a bit more of an aim, since trafic suggests hitting a target. On Steven Cassedy's question about Isaac Meyer Dick: David Roskies wrote his dissertation at Brandeis on Dick; it includes an extensive bibliography. Al dos guts Michael Steinlauf 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 16:42:16 +0200 (MET DST) From: esouche@ens.ens-lyon.fr Subject: Yiddish anarchist group in England? In a French novel I've just read, "Jordan Fantosme" (first novel of the young writer Jean-Baptiste Evette), which takes place in London in 1991, the main character meets some people at the headquarters of the "Fe'de'ration des anarchistes de langue yiddish" in Jubilee Street, and reads an anarchist journal "V'panotch" which is supposed to be published in Russian and Yiddish. I was wondering if that "federation" and that newspaper really existed in 1991. Estelle Souche 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 10:59:33 -0400 (EDT) From: GDubrovsky@aol.com Subject: Superstitions My bubby, from Toste, Galitsia, before coming to New York, lived with us on our farm in New Jersey after my mother died. She prevented lightening from striking our house. When it rained and stormed,-- gedunert un geblitzt--she filled glasses half full with water, placed a fork with the prongs up in each glass, and placed the glass carefully on the window sill. Proof that she was right: Our house was never hit by lightning, phtu, phtu, phtu. She also had a most effective remedy to stop bleeding from cuts, a frequent occurrence in our household. The bleeder had to chew a piece of rye bread, but not swallow it. The chewed up bread was used as a poltice and went directly on the wound. The bleeding stopped and the wound healed quickly after that. Maybe rye bread because it was the only bread we ate, except for my bubby's home baked challah which I don't remember we ever used for this purpose. I don't know the medical reason for the healing properties of chewed up rye bread, but there must be one. Use these helpful hints in any way appropriate, and thank my wonderful bubby, Tsirl Katz. Gitl Dubrovsky 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Oct 97 23:08:38 PDT From: ada01@netvision.net.il Subject: Dictionary: Yiddish/English I am looking for a dictionary to buy in Israel, Yiddish/Hebrew or Yiddish/English. Does anyone of you know where I can buy one, the publishing house , the author etc? Thank you, Ada Holtzman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.087 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