Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.091 October 31, 1997 1) linguistics (sylvia schildt) 2) dav(e)nen cont'd (Dovid Braun) 3) schmooze (Ethan Hollander) 4) Yiddish anarchist group in England (Estelle Souche) 5) The Chelmer shames (Itsik Goldenberg) 6) shlak/durkhshlak (Julian Bielicki) 7) Sneezing (Marvin Engel) 8) Rozhinkes mit mandlen (Jacques Kapota) 9) Chaim Grade's short stories (Barbara Goodman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 22:29:38 +0100 From: creativa@charm.net (sylvia schildt) Subject: linguistics koydem, kol, an erklerung iber di bamerkungen fun wermanen, hobermanen un ramern. zey tapn on ale af vikhtike punktn. monaster-ramer iz gerekht mitn gedank az ikh hob humoristish-ironish kharakterizirt (un mestame a bisl ibergetribn) a tendentz tzvishn gevise hayntzaytike lingvistn tzu minimizirn di lebns arbetn fun weinreichn un andere. dos meynt nit, kholile, az di "oves" hobn af ale punktn geentfert un sheyn! dos iz toyre! aderabe, zikher zaynen faran alte kashes nit farentferte un naye kashes vos shtamen fun naye forsh-materyaln. ober raboysay, di naye teoryies muzn nit nor klepn lingvistish -- zey muzn eykh klepn tzu andere inyonim - vi, l'moshl, di geshikhte fun yidishe migratzies. in dem gebit, ligt di greyskayt fun weinreichn. first of all, a clarification over the remarks of werman, hoberman and ramer. they all touch on important points. monaster-ramer is corect that I humoristically-ironically (and no doubt exaggerated somewhat) a tendency among some contemporary linguists to minimize the life work of Weinreich and others. this does not mean, God forbid, that these forefathers explained away all the issues and that's it! this is torah! on the contrary, of course there are old questions not answered and new questions arising from new research materials. but learned people, the new theories should not only be linguistically cohesive -- they need to jibe with other subjects -- for instance, the story of Jewish migrations. Herein lies the greatness of Weinreich. sylvia schildt baltimore, maryland 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 00:43:25 EST From: dovid@MIT.EDU Subject: dav(e)nen cont'd Alexis Manaster Ramer has written: "The only remaining trouble is why the variaition between davenen and davnen." I see another problem: whence the -nen? Verbs such as pask-e-n-en, lakkh-e-n-en appear dialectally in their "base form" (first person singular = singular informal imperative) as paskn or paske, lakkhn or lakkhe, but (as far as I know) there is only _davn_ and not *dave. If the course of dav(e)nen was DVV --> davv-e-n-en --> dave-n-en, then we'd expect there to be a form *dave. Dovid Braun Cambridge, MA 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 23:25:27 -0800 (PST) From: Ethan Hollander Subject: schmooze I have what's probably an easy question. Someone recommended that I send it on to Mendele. A friend and I recently disagreed over the meaning of the word schmooze. I was quite sure the word had several meanings, including: (1) idle-talk, chatting, gossiping, etc. (usually about unimportant matters). or (2) 'chatting someone up' or familiarly talking to someone for the sake of gaining some sort of advantage or favor (almost like 'kissing-up', but not quite as direct). as in "to schmooze somebody". My friend is certain the word only has this second meaning (the one that implies trying to get some sort of advantage), while I'm quite certain it can _also_ mean the first (ie, just casually talking, without any other connotations). My grandmother -- whom I consider the true authority -- says it _only_ means the first. Meanwhile, I looked this up in at least three Yiddish dictionaries but didn't find anything with enough detail to satisfy our curiosity. Can you help us? Ethan Hollander 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 12:06:31 +0100 From: esouche@gyptis.univ-mrs.fr (Estelle Souche) Subject: Yiddish anarchist group in England Hugh Denman was right in [07.087:6]: the right date was 1911, not 1991, it was a typo. I apologize for it, zayt mir moykhl! (And there also was a small typo in the name of the journal: it was "V'panotch'" with a final "'", instead of "V'panotch".) So it seems that the dates and places mentioned in J.B.Evette's book were rather exact (but I doubt that there actually were articles in "Der hilfruf/ V Pomoshtsh'" denouncing a strange De Quincey society promoting murder as a new art form, as in the novel). A groysn dank for the information! Estelle Souche 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 07:46:50 -0500 From: "Robert Goldenberg" Subject: The Chelmer shames In reply to khaverim Friedlander and Shimshoni (Mendele 07.077 and 07.089) the story of the Chelmer shames is the very first mayse in the collection "Chelmer naronim: geklibene mayse'lakh" tsuzamengeshtelt un iberzetst fun Ben Mordekhay. Hebrew Publishing Co. New York 1929, p.11-12. Itsik Goldenberg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 14:57:31 +0100 From: "Julian S. Bielicki" Subject: shlak/durkhshlak Ruvn Millman mentioned possible shlak/durkhshlak connection [07.089] shlak comes from "schlag", it means "a beat", in polish "niech cie szlag trafi", in german "der Schlag soll dich treffen". "Durszlag" is a polish word for sieve, riddle, i do not know the word in english, it is the thing one uses in the kitchen to wash salade or vegetables, it has nothing common with "szlag". Something else: could somebody send me a prayer for the Yarzeit in yiddish? Julian Bielicki 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 12:07:40 -0500 From: marvin engel Subject: Sneezing I was hoping someone else would take the low road before me, but, alas: ir zayt ale aydele mentshn. My parents' formula, _always_ used facetiously, was- 1st sneeze: gezint zolst du zayn. 2nd sneeze: shtark zolst du zayn. 3rd sneeze: a kholerye zol dir trefn, verst shoyn krank. Does anyone else know this version? I suspect that it is an American spin on the other formulae. Marvin Engel 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 09:30:50 +0100 From: Jacques KAPOTA Subject: Rozhinkes mit mandlen Siegfried Risse asked for yidish texts of songs [07.085]: ROZHINKES MIT MANDLEN - text and music : Abraham GOLDFADEN (1840 - 1908) In dem beys-hamikdosh, in a vinkl-kheyder, Zitst di almone Bas-Tsiyoyn aleyn ; Ir ben-yokhidl, Yidelen, vigt zi keseyder Un zingt im tsum shlofn a lidele sheyn : A-a-a-a-a !... Unter Yideles vigele Shloft a klor vays tsigele, Dos tsigele iz geforn handlen, - Dos vet zayn dayn baruf : "Rozhinkes mit mandlen"... Shlof zhe, Yidele, shlof !... In dem lidl, mayn kind, ligt fil nevies... Az du vest a mol zayn tsezeyt oyf der velt, A soykher vestu zayn fun ale tvues Un vest fardinen in dem oykh fil gelt ... A-a-a-a-a !... Un az du vest vern raykh, Yidele, Zolstu zikh dermonen in dem lidele : "Rozhinkes mit mandlen" - Dos vet zayn dayn baruf, Yidele vet alts handlen, Shlof zhe, Yidele, shlof !... Es vet kumen a tsayt fun vertpapirn, Kantorn veln zayn in der gantser velt ; Der grester vestu zayn fun ale bankirn Un vest in dem oykh fardinen fil gelt ... A-a-a-a-a !... Un az du vest vern raykh, Yidele, Zolstu zikh dermonen in dem lidele : "Rozhinkes mit mandlen" - Dos vet zayn dayn baruf, Yidele vet alts handlen. Shlof zhe, Yidele, shlof !... Es vet kumen a tsayt fun ayznbanen, Zey veln farfleytsn di gantse velt ; Ayzerne vegn vestu oysshpanen Un vest in dem oykh fardinen fil gelt. A-a-a-a-a !... Un az du vest vern raykh, Yidele, Zolstu zikh dermonen in dem lidele : "Rozhinkes mit mandlen" - Dos vet zayn dayn baruf, Yidele vet alts handlen ... Shlof zhe, Yidele, shlof !... Best regards, Jacques KAPOTA 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 23:38:58 -0500 (EST) From: Barbara Goodman Subject: Chaim Grade's short stories I am trying to find a collection of Chaim Grade's short stories in Yiddish. I called The Workmen's Circle but they only had his novels. Does anyone know whether there is such a collection available? Barbara Goodman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.091 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