Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.144 February 10, 1998 1) Bozyk biography (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 2) Napoleon in Yiddish folklore (Susan Lerner) 3) Grobe verter (Sholem Berger) 4) ikh hob dikh tsufil lib (Rokhl (Rhoda) Bernard) 5) Yiddish newspapers and journals (Janet Gould) 6) tcholent (Felix Baerlocher) 7) cholnt (A. Manaster Ramer) 8) The possible origin of "cholent" (Roni Gechtman) 9) tsholnt (Paul (Hershl) Glasser) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 08:27:04 EST From: SHirshan@aol.com Subject: Bozyk biography It's always delightful to read that someone will breathe life into another of our great Yiddish artists. Max Bozyk is most worthy of a well-researched biography. His wife and artisitic partner, Reyzl, commanded as much esteem. (I think her last role was as the beguiling, match-making bubbie in "Crossing Delancey".) The Hebrew Actor's Union at 31 7th Street, New York 212-674-1923 might be the best source for information. Our two still-spectacular, Grande Dames of the theatre, Mina Bern and Shifra Lehrer, still performing, are co-vice presidents, who knew tthe Bozyks well. I remember they had a daughter and eyniklekh. Good luck, Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 00:37:03 -0600 (CST) From: Meydele@ix.netcom.com Subject: Napoleon in Yiddish folklore I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who knows of any Yiddish or Jewish folklore - stories, legends, sayings, maxims, songs - concerning Napoleon. Any snippets, recollections, or references to collected sources, would be welcome. Please feel free to email me directly. Thanks. Susan Lerner 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 16:46:37 -0500 From: "Sholem Berger" Subject: Grobe verter Tsi hot emetser amol gezen a verterbukh fun grobe verter af yidish? Un agev-orkhe: vos iz dos beste bukh azoyns af ivrit? Sholem Berger N.Y. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 13:21:48 -0500 From: "Rhoda Bernard" Subject: ikh hob dikh tsufil lib ver hot geshribn dos lid "ikh hob dikh tsufil lib?" mayn kapelye vet rekordirn dos lid. a sheynem dank -- Rokhl (Rhoda) Bernard 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 17:09:31 -0600 From: "Janet Gould" Subject: Yiddish newspapers and journals I have some funding to purchase Yiddish newspapers and journals for a community library. Thewy may be either written in Yiddish, or written in English with a Yiddish cultural theme. Can anyone suggest titles (and if possible, contact sources) to me? Thank you - Janet Gould, Kaufman Silverberg Resource Centre, Winnipeg, Canada 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 12:10:33 -0500 From: Felix Baerlocher Subject: tcholent I find the explanation by Salcia Landmann most convincing (it is also mentioned by Hardy Meyer). She derives it from chauld (old French for hot), combinded with lent (French, slow), it means slow heat. Since no fire can be started on the Sabbath, meals had to be cold or had to be prepared over a slow fire started the day before. A similar idea is suggested by the Aramaic term chamin (cham = warm). Felix Baerlocher 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 21:52:05 -0500 (EST) From: manaster@umich.edu Subject: cholnt I am afraid I have to weigh in again on the issue of amateur vs. professional Yd linguistics. Hardy Meyer's etymology of cholnt as being from "Rhineland French" "chaud lent" (slow heat) contains several points that are at least troublesome. First, what pray tell is "Rhineland French"? Second, does French really have the expression "chaud lent" or is this just a literal translation from the English? (I dont know quite enought French to be sure, but the expression I know is "four doux" (lit. soft oven), so I have to suspect that "chaud lent" is not really French. Third, clearly it is not modern French that we need but early medieval French, and we need to be told what the forms were at that time. Fourth, the standard works of Yiddish hist. ling., those of Max Weinreich, propose that the derivation is from a Romance source but not quite the one mentioned, and so for the nth time I must protest against amateurish anecdotes being posted w/o any attempt to find out what the scholarly literature has to say on the subject. It would be too much to expect nonspecialists to know the literature, of course, but it is not too much I submit to insist that if they dont then they can ask--rather than promulgating all kinds of fantasies. A. Manaster Ramer 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 12:03:38 -0500 From: Roni Gechtman Subject: The possible origin of "cholent" I was taught in high school that the origin of tshulnt is in the French "chaut" (hot), but pronounced not as it is pronounced now (sho), but in medieval pronunciation was probably close to the way it is written. I was told that the word first appears in Rashi, transliterated (something like teis shin vov lamed nun). I never checked it up. Roni Gechtman, New York 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 08 Feb 1998 20:46:54 EST From: paullaure@juno.com (Paul D Glasser) Subject: tsholnt I hate to throw cold water on a Mendele discussion, but the origin of "tsholnt" is explained in Max Weinreich's Geshikhte/History (vol. II, 55-57 in the Yiddish, pp. 400-404 in the English). The etymon is the Latin present participle "calentem" 'that which is warm', via Old French. Case closed. Paul (Hershl) Glasser ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.144 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