Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.014 June 19, 1998 1) An opruf af Shikl Fishmans artikl in Afn Shvel (Sholem Berger) 2) es un dos (Peter Kluehs) 3) shlemil (Meyer-Leyb Wolf) 4) Izn iz er... (Alexander Maxwell) 5) Search for a story (Leonard Prager, Henri Diament) 6) Jewish languages; kharpe (Mikhl Herzog) 7) a shande un a charpa (Feivel Halpern) 8) shandes un kharpes (elye palevsky) 9) Name 'Shirley' (Gitl Dubrovsky) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 22:58:47 -0400 From: "Sholem Berger" Subject: An opruf af Shikl Fishmans artikl in Afn Shvel [Dear Mendele readers of English: this post will be of interest to precious few in any case, so I won't make it twice as long with a translation. It concerns Shikl Fishman's article in the current issue of "Afn Shvel," with the title "What will Yiddishism look like in the 21st century?" -Sh. B.] Zeltn ver vet nisht maskem zayn mit Shikl Fishmans oysfir: "Der 21ster yorhundert vet oder zayn der letster funem yidishizm, oder der yidishizm aleyn vet zikh muzn drastish baytn." Di dozike shtrenge maskone bazirt zikh af a kurtsn analiz fun di ideologishe hoyptzayln fun yidishizm -- di veltlekhkayt, dos folkzayn, un di shprakhikayt. Loyt Fishman zaynen zey ale oysgeshpilt, nisht relevant tsu undzer kultureler baveglekhkayt, un take "moyredike albatrosn afn haldz funem shtark opgeshvakhtn yidishizm." Emes -- shoyn fun lang. Der entfer -- dos heyst, af der frage "vos tut men?" -- iz ober an uvde farn leyener. Do vil ikh ongebn tsvey firleygn af a tshuve af der shayle, "Vos far a drastisher bayt vet adurkhmakhn der yidishizm?" Mir kenen onnemen az di veltlekhe yidish-reders veln shoyn keyn mol vider nisht vern keyn badaytndike kehile, un mistome gor farshvundn vern in mitn 21stn yorhundert, mer veyniker. (Di genoye date iz nisht shayekh.) Mitn dozikn fakt vi an onheyb, kenen mir spekulirn (oystrakhtn) tsvey gelegnhaytn farn kumedikn yidishizm. Ikh pruv makhn bekitser. Halt in zinen az dos oybn iz nisht keyn baarbeter entfer, nor an ershter pruv, kedey zikh oystsuredn dos hartsn. 1. Dos geredte yidish vet blaybn in khsidishe mayler. Der veltlekher yidishizm, d"h di kleyne makhne veltlekhe yidish-reders, vet zayn far a brik tsvishn der ofener modernkayt un der fargetoizirter khidisher kehile. Makhmes dem, vos der tsenter funem "yidishaks" vet bemeyle zayn tsvishn di khsidim, vet di role fun di yidhistn zayn nor a sekundere: dos bavayzn, az me ken yo kombinirn a tifer kentshaft fun yidishkayt mit a breytn tsugang tsu der ofener moderner velt. Dos heyst: di kumedike yidishistn veln zayn "mayster," bale-loshn, a lingvistisher oyr-legoyem. 2. A sakh mentshn hobn ongevizn af dem, az dos yidish fun di yingere yidishistn (d"h studentn, entuziastn, ud"g) iz kinstlekh, a bisl umgelumpert, un fort -- me redt zikh adurkh. Fun der anderer zayt kumt men tsum oysfir, az di yidishkayt aleyn, vos fleg bashteyn say fun etnisher, say fun religiezer, say fun rasn-identitet, vert mit der tsayt tsedriblt, loyzer. (Ze Hillel Halkin in "Commentary," May [?] 1998.) Es falt ayn: Oyb me ken zikh bageyn on kvalitet, ken men bavayzn kvantitet. Dos heyst, efsher ken dos yidish vern a min kulturshprakh tsvishn yidn, zey tsu helfn tsunoyfbindn -- nisht af der madreyge, vos tsu dem m'iz dergangen in mizrekh-eyrope, un fort: epes an onshtendike, erntste role far yidish. Di dozike zaynen nor ongevorfene gedanken, nor oyb eyner fun aykh leyent, un hot an eytse, brengt zhe afer a por verter, ikh bet aykh... Sholem Berger 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 08 Jun 1998 21:12:00 +0200 From: pelokoha@t-online.de (Peter Kluehs) Subject: es un dos shalom khaveyrim, in Z. Segalovitshes 'maysyes fun der rusisher kazarme' hob ikh vider a mol getrofn frazes, in velkhn er banutst zikh mit di dozike vertlekh in a far mir modnem oyfn, lemoshl, "vi tsit men ES vider op, dem gantsn inyen?" "hob ikh zikh dervust, az DOS hot eyner fun meyne gehilfn opgeroymt di roln." fregt zikh a frage, vi azoy est men es, dos ES, un voser a dos iz dos DOS? mit di beste grusn fun di taunus-berg peter kluehs wehrheim, germany 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 22:50:19 -0700 From: Meyer Wolf Subject: shlemil Alexis Manaster Ramer is surely right about the importance of the 19th century attribution of shlemil to Yiddish, which Nina Warnke happily brought to our attention. We now know that the word was already used by German Jews and perhaps derives from an earlier Western Yiddish usage. There remains, however, a problem with shlemil as an Eastern Yiddish word. It was and is current in the Yiddish of American Jews and is certainly characteristic of "Judeo-American" -- but not all of "Judeo- American" is necessarily derived from Yiddish. The problem is, what is the earliest attestation of shlemil in Eastern Yiddish? One of the etymologies proposed for shlemil is the Biblical name Shlumiel. This name is said to have acquired it's pejorative meaning from the pronunciation _shlimiel_ in Southern Yiddish and some parts of Western Yiddish, through the identification of the first syllable with the word shlim (as in the first part of shlim-mazl). This etymology has received a kind of stamp of approval through the incorporation of shlumiel into the lexicon of Modern Hebrew with the meaning 'shlemil'. However the Hebrew usage is not very old, apparently from the 19th century. Right now It looks to have been first used by Mendele. But only in his Hebrew works. In his Yiddish writings I've only found shlimazldiker and shlimazlnik. Meyer-Leyb Wolf 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 23:27:52 -0500 From: Alexander Maxwell Subject: Izn iz er... I was reading Maurice Samuel's _In Praise of Yiddish_, and he gives the sentence "Voynen voynt er in Amerike, ober izn iz er fun England". This interested me: I was familiar with the "Voynen voynt er.." form, but I had assumed one formed it through the infinitive. It can't be so: the infinitive would yield "zaynen iz er fun England". Can anyone give the rule? Do I say "Binen bin ikh fun Kalifornie"? Also, is there an accepted theory where this grammatical form comes from? I mean to ask, do any of the languages which Yiddish has borrowed from use a similar construction, or is it a Yiddish innovation? Zayt gezunt! Alexander Maxwell 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1998 15:47:08 +0300 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Query by Henri Diament, son of Zaynvl Diamant (1904-1963) I am passing on this query of my colleague, Henri Diament. He can be answered directly at: hdiament@research.haifa.ac.il. Many of us know the name of his father, Zaynvl Diamant, from numerous entries in the _Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literature_, as well as from a wide variety of publications in Yiddish journals. Subject: Search for a work by Yiddish writer unknown to me I am the son of the Yiddish writer Zanvel Diamant, who died in 1963. Many years ago, when I was still a teen-ager, my father read a Yiddish story to me, whose title and author I have quite forgotten, if I ever really knew them, and which I am very much trying to find now, for it is relevant to my research in French literature. I read Yiddish, of course. All I can do is give a summary of the story as I remember it.I was struck by its naivete as regards France and the French,which the writer idealized to an absurd degree. This leads me to believe that he was an Eastern European (perhaps Polish)man who had never set foot in France, and saw in it only the birthplace of the Rights of Man,of the French Revolution, the land of liberty, equality, fraternity.Anyway here is the story as I remember it after 45 years or so:It takes place in a small town in the South of France, and in which one lone Jew lives. The town,from the mayor on down, has adopted him and cherishes him. One day he reaches a decision, the nature of which I have forgotten (Leaving town?Converting?), but the Mayor in person comes to him to try to dissuade him, pleading with him, saying:"But you are our very own Jew!" or some such thing. And the lone Jew changes his mind...That is all I remember. It would seem that this story was written before the outbreak of the Dreyfus case, which started in 1894 and dragged on till 1905, but this is not a certain clue, for many Polish Jews, including my father, continued to look to France as if to a beacon of liberalism in an anti-Semitic Europe, and this, in part, prompted his own departure from Poland to Paris in 1928, where he became disillusioned, but only partly, or else he would not have read this story to me with an expression of near-rapture many years later (it must have been around 1950 in New York). Any assistance in identifying this story and author and getting a copy thereof would be very highly appreciated. Thanks. Henri Diament 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 14:24:28 -0400 From: "Mikhl Herzog" Subject: Jewish languages; kharpe Sam Kweskin asks about other Jewish languages in Europe (_leshoynes_, Sam, not _l'shonim_). Address inquiries about Judeo-French (Chuadit) and Judeo-Italian (Italkit) to George Jochnowitz jochnowitz@postbox.csi.cu and about Judeo-Italian to Seth Jerchower sejerchower@jsa.edu I'd be grateful for any information that you may able to contribute about these languages. Rick Turkel's insistence on _kherpa_ is a _sha'nd@n@kha'rp@_ (or, as we said it, _a _kha'rp@n@sha'nd@_). _kherpa'_ is the Hebrew form. Remember: "lowering of high vowels before r". Mikhl Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 22:13:51 -0400 From: "Phil Halpern" Subject: "a shande un a charpa" Shalom alekhem mendele khevre! Yeshua Litman asked: Does anyone know what charpa means in the phrase "a shande un a charpa"? I recall hearing " a khorbene shanda", which refers to a "khorben", the Hebrew word for "sacrifice" if 50s talmud torah serves me correctly. Zay mir gezint Feivel Halpern in Toronto 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 16:26:05 EDT From: EPalevsky1@aol.com Subject: shandes un kharpes moishe goldshteyn o'h, der lang yoriker mayster -lerer fun sholem aleykhem shul # 21, in bronks n"y, flegt undz zogn ( ven mir hobn zikh nit fayn ufgefirt order gor fargesn tstsushteln an arbet) "a shande un a kharpe, shem zikh in vaytn haldz arayn." shpeter flegn mir tsugebn, "a shande, a kharpe un a miese bushe." elye palevsky 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 07:02:30 -0400 (EDT) From: GDubrovsky@aol.com Subject: Name ' Shirley' About a boy named "Shirley." I have a cousin born in Brooklyn of Yiddish speaking parents. In American, his name was Gerald. But his parents called him "Shoyl." We, children called him "Shirl." Sometimes, we teased him by calling him "Shoyli." I assume the Shoyl was from the Hebrew Shaul. I know his mother came from Lipna. I do not know where his father came from. Just a tidbit from my store of memories. Gitl Dubrovsky ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.014 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