Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.113 December 3, 1997 1) "opikuress" (Wolf Krakowski) 2) "opikuress" (Lynda Kraar) 3) Apikorsim (Burton M. (Berel) Leiser) 4) Apikorus & Am Huuretz (Aron Mandl) 5) apikoyres (Claus Buryn) 6) "opikuress" (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 7) davvenen III (Claus Buryn) 8) I.B. Singer's "Blood" (jason m. payne) 9) Thank you for the subscription to the Yiddish "Forwards" (George Fogel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 19:12:31 -0500 From: "Wolf Krakowski, Paula Parsky" Subject: "opikuress" Felix Baerlocher asked about "opikuress" [07.111]: "Apikoyres" comes from the Greek philosophical school "Epicurean", which taught, in a nutshell, that one should behave according to whatever gives one pleasure. My understanding is that in East European Jewish culture it has always denoted one who denied G-d, an unbeliever. There is a joke: A well-known apikoyres from one shtetl ran into another famous apikoyres from another shtetl. The first one said: "I neither say morning nor evening prayers and I ride on the Sabbath." The second one said: I, too do not daven, nor do I observe the Sabbath. I don't keep kosher. I could care less about any of the commandments; I do whatever I want. And, as you can see, I no longer wear a beard or a yameke." The first one responded: "Listen, I am an apikoyres, but you--you are a goy!" Wolf Krakowski 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 20:20:05 -0500 (EST) From: TelAviv893@aol.com Subject: "opikuress" The word you are looking for is "epikoros," whose Greek roots can be heard in the English term "epicurean," and, in its Hebrew or Yiddish useage, you are essentially correct in your definition: The term describes a Jew who although is learned in the Torah has chosen a secular lifestyle. My teachers at Associated Hebrew Day Schools regularly issued us brimstone- laden caveats regarding the behaviour of the epikoros, but, unfortunately, as the great American songwriter Jimmy Buffet once wrote, "We are the people our parents warned us about." A gitn toog. Lynda Kraar 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 22:49:51 -0500 (EST) From: BLeiser77@aol.com Subject: Apikorsim Reb Felix Baerlocher asks (Mendele 07.111) about "apikores." The word is quite old, stretching back at least to Mishnaic times (about 2200 years). It is found, for example, in Pirkey Ovos 2.19, where R. Elazar is quoted as having urged his talmidim to "know how to respond to an apikores." The word refers, of course, to unbelievers, heretics, and similar unsavory characters, and is derived from the name of the great Hellenistic philosopher, Epicurus, whose name is also invoked the English word, epicure. Judaism, and later Christianity and Islam, used Epicurus as the paradigm of those who denied the existence of God, and had other wicked ideas as well. He was one of the later leaders of the school of Greek atomists, who believed that the universe consisted entirely of matter and empty space, and that matter was composed of tiny atoms. They thus denied, quite explicitly, the existence of any purely spiritual beings, including God, angels, and even the souls of human beings, insisting that anything whatever, if it existed, had to be composed of matter. They were also strict hedonists, believing that pleasure was good and pain was evil, and that the right thing to do was always what produced the greatest pleasure and the least pain. No person rooted in the western religious traditions could accept such a thesis, for it would mean that morality was not derived from divine commands, kholileh! Burton M. (Berel) Leiser 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 23:05:09 -0500 (EST) From: Aronio@aol.com Subject: Apikorus & Am Huuretz In response to Felix Baerlocher's question, an Apikorus (Aleph Pay Yud Koof Vav Resh Vav Samech) is Jew who while knowing Jewish Law, decides (flagrantly) to ignore it and to act as he pleases, often in contradiction to that Jewish Law. To illustrat, an Orthodox rabbi who has a change of heart and now eats pork is considered an Apikorus. An Apikorus is often contrasted with an Am Huuretz (Ayin Mem new word Hey Aleph Resh Tzadi) who is someone who simply does not know about Halacha (Jewish Law). An example is an Am Huuretz who is raised in an irreligious family and then eats pork, not knowing that eating pork is prohibited by Jewish Law. While the term Apikorus might be used disparagingly because this person has forsaken his traditional roots and misused the tools originally given to him, an Am Huuretz will often be looked at with pity, since he never had the tools in the first place. Aron Mandl 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 09:51:27 +0200 From: Marion Troia & Lucas Bruyn Subject: apikoyres Re. apikoyres, apikorsim der - (Jew. fig.) heretic [EYYED] H. Beem, in his 'she-eriet', gives Dutch. Y. appikoures, sceptic, non believer & appikorses - scepticism, unbelief. He says: The word probably reminds of the Greek philosopher Epicurus.I recently found the word with the meaning 'sceptic' in: Tsvi Kanar. [Zwi Kanar] Opgegebn Broyt. [Bread for Bread farlag I.L. Perets, [I.L. Perets Publishing House. 14, Brener St, Tel-Aviv, Israel] Tel-Aviv - 1996; ISBN 965-7012-05-8 . z.63 "E-e-e, narishkeytn! Yene velt, - du glebst nokh in azelkhe bobe-mayses?" - hot Beniek fun mir gekhoyzekt, vi an alter geniter apikoyres: "Ot hostu di kupe farshtunkene toyte. Ze vos far a yene-velt s'iz do!" Claus Buryn. 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 17:04:24 -0500 (EST) From: Gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: "opikuress" This word entered Yiddish via the Mishnah. Jastrow _A Dictionary of the Targum..._ p. 104 says: one irreverent of authority or religion, sceptic, heretic. He brings both the possible origins 1. the philosopher Epicurus and 2. the root P,K,R. Gilad J. Gevaryahu 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 17:41:51 +0200 From: Marion Troia & Lucas Bruyn Subject: davvenen III (Read my lips.) In Mendele No. 07.011 A. Manaster Ramer writes: "As for specific instances of the replacement of Romance by Hebrew elements, the terms of betrothal, engagement are an obvious example. The verb antshpoyzn is no longer used in modern Yd (except in the archaic language of Bible translation) and the related noun shpousering 'engagement ring' is only attested I believe in Dutch Yiddish. Instead of the Romance stem shpous/shpoyz-, modern Yiddish uses the Hebrew stem knas-." The word 'shpousering' 'engagement ring' is found in: H. Beem, Resten van een Taal, (Dictionary of Dutch Yiddish),written in 1966, 3rd ed. publ. by 'Nederlands-Isrealitisch Kerkgenootschap, Amsterdam, 1992 , in the spelling.'schpousering' His translation is trouwring -'weddingring' and Beem adds: Old Rom.rest. comp Lat. sponsa-bride. The spelling used by Beem is not the YIWO spelling and the spelling in Hebrew script cannot be derived from his spelling. .His 'sch' stands for YIVO 'sh' and in many instances his 'ou' would read 'oy' in Weinreich's spelling. Whether this 'ou' is Yiddish actually written in Dutch Yiddish Hebrew print or merely represents the Dutch pronunciation of the 'oy' is not clear to me, but from an illustration given by Beem (in the first ed.) it would appear that YIVO 'oy' was common. In the introduction to a Tsenerene printed in 1711 in Amsterdam, the printer (Chaim Jakobs Druker) says: "vas zal ich fil sreybn - guti dint, neyi oysyes, gut papeyar - ich mag dafun nit fil svetsn; Ich biger nit fil dr fun zu preyzn, er vert zich vaul zelbrt oys veyzn" and "Drum ir libh leut, kumt an tsu loyfn beya tseyt; Un tut dizn Tsine Rine koyfn mit freyd, den mn hat bamunh gar vinik tun drukn; Drum kumt tsu loyfn i mn zia vert far tsukn, dr nach vert ir droyf habn grusi reyan, dos ir eyer kind nit oych mit azu eyn seyfer hot tun arfreyan." H. Beem gives 'ousie-es' in his dictionary. It seems therefore possible that A. Manaster Ramer's 'shpousering'originates from a dutch transcription, rather than from a Dutch Yiddish source in Hebrew script. For a considerable time A. Manaster Ramer has been arguing in favor of a certain etymology of the word dav(e)nen. In In No. 7.076 we read : "It traces davenen (originally daven) to the Hebrew root D-B-B, whose primary sense is 'to move the lips'." He adds: "the word is attested in one Westerly Yiddish dialect, Dutch Yd, and it is not clear whether it was indigenous or borrowed from Eastern Yiddish." H. Beem gives the word 'dav(e)nen in the spelling dawwenen. Could it be that A. Manaster Ramer's source is this or a similar Dutch transcription of the word 'dav(e)nen? A. Manaster Ramer concludes saying: "This does not mean that I am right to suggests that davenen is derived from Hebrew and that it replace the Romance-origin word orn, but at least that scenario is consistent with the bigger picture." In No 7.081 the same writer says: "it is impossible that doynen could have changed to dav(e)nen. At best [Old Yiddish] doynen was replaced by dav(e)nen. The two words cannot be related, as noted by Birnbaum." Were both words replaced by 'davenen? Claus Buryn. 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 11:50:40 -0500 From: "jason m. payne" Subject: I.B. Singer's "Blood" Does anyone know the place and publication date of the Yiddish original of Singer's "Blood"? I assume that it's Yiddish title is "Blut." Thanks. jason m. payne 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 01 Dec 1997 15:26:35 -0500 From: "Fogel, George" Subject: Thank you for the subscription to the Yiddish "Forwards" As one of the recipients of the 100 free subscriptions to the "Forwards" in honor of its 100th anniversary, I want to say a big, public thank you to the Leage For Yiddish and its supporters who made my subscription possible. The presence of the newspaper in my house has encouraged me to attempt to read it; although my Yiddish is rusty, I have found myself reading more and more of each issue. I realized that something important had happened when I quoted an article that I had read in the "Forwards" to my parents during a phone call. (I think they were as surprised as I was!) Once again, thank you! George Fogel ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.113 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