Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.064 September 27, 1998 1) Shnipishok and Bichach (Shaya Mitelman) 2) shnipishok (elye palevsky) 3) meyvin (Rick Turkel) 4) meyven (Sam "Shloyme Zalmen" Millman) 5) farshidens (itzik shteyn) 6) Camp No Worries (Marvin Engel) 7) The Forvitz (Rick Turkel) 8) "schmai", "eidelgepatchit" (maxine gold) 9) Reverse words (Morrie Feller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 22:51:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Serge Mitelman Subject: Shnipishok and Bichach. H.D.Meynkes in zaner a dertseylng "A pisrn fin parkl" (Forverts, nimer 31,202 fin nantsntn september) shrabs dofke azoy: "Fir zey op, dayne retsues, in Boyberik! Neyn, in Bobruysk! In Baranishok!" Ba indz in Keshenev vot men gezugt: in Yupets! Leshune toyve tikuseyve akh olemen! Shaya Mitelman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 17:57:30 -0400 (EDT) From: EPalevsky1@aol.com Subject: shnipishok shnipishok iz geven un iz nokh alts a forshtot noent bay vilne. mir dakht zikh az in "War and Peace" vert dermont az dort hot napolyon genekhtikt af tsurikvegs fun rusland. karpinovich dermont dos eykhet in zayne dertseylungen. mit a por yor krik bin ikh geven af kyever oves in vilne un khbin tsugeforn in shnipishok af a yarid fun gruziner un arminer. mir hot zikh gedakht az kh'volt beser opgeshnitn in krig mit naployonen. aykh alemen, klal yisroyl un der gorer velt a gut zis yor fun gezunt, freyd un sholem - gmar khsime teyve elye palevsky 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 16:53:57 -0400 (EDT) From: rturkel@cas.org (Rick Turkel, bs"d) Subject: meyvin In Mendele 08.062, Sheldon Clare asked about the origin of the word "meyven." It is a borrowing of the Hebrew word meaning "one who understands." Its sarcastic use, as mentioned by Sheldon, is characteristic of Jewish culture in general, and Hebrew/Yiddish in particular. A gut, gezunt yor. Rick Turkel 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 01:25:31 -0400 (EDT) From: MILLPERSON@aol.com Subject: "meyven" The origin of the word "meyven" is from the Hebrew. "Ani meyvin" means " I understand". ( Feminine gender would be " Ani m'vinah" ) In Yiddish usage, the word was picked up and utilized to mean, not just one who understands, but a person who "really understands", or an "expert". Whether a person is being described as a real expert, or as a phony expert, when the word is used, depends on the context, and especially upon the tone of voice. Sam "Shloyme Zalmen" Millman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 12:59:41 -0400 (EDT) From: shteyn@juno.com (Isak Shteyn) Subject: farshidens in mendele 08.062 iz geven a shajle fun vanen nemt zikh dos vort "mejvin" un viazoj is tsu farshtejn dem ojsdruk"er iz a mejvin azojvi a khazir ojf hejvn". is di zakh poshet un klur: mejvin kumt fun hebrew un mejnt ejner vos farshtejt un kennt zikh ojs, iz an ekspert. "a mejvin vi a khazir (kats) ojf hejvn" mejnt ejnem vos farshtejt gornisht in dem oder yenem gebit. jedes vort kon men nutsen vi a pejorative un dos iz lakhlitn nisht kayn umkoved far dem oder jenem vort. der mendelianer koppel sipser makht a tues ven er leynt dos jidishe kepl fun forverts "forvitz". er rekhnt rikhtig ojs di jidishe ojsjes, nor di letste fir ojsjes ayen, rejsh, tes,samekh lejnt er"vitz"un frejgt tsu volt nisht rikhtiger geven tsadik ojfn ort fun tes, samekh. er fargest ober dem ayen, velkher mejnt a latejnish"e"un dem rejsh, velkher iz a klurer"r". majn ejtse iz zikh bazorgen mit feygl infeld glezers transliteration fun 03.08.98 un alts vet sejn klur. a khsime tojve, itzik shteyn 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 16:59:59 -0400 (EDT) From: marvin engel Subject: Camp No Worries In reply to khaver yankev lewis' query: >From a book: Leviatin--"Followers of the Trail", I have two reproductions of camp ads, one dated 1932. Both spell it NITGEDAIGET, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the spelling varied over time. Marvin Engel 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 17:16:21 -0400 (EDT) From: rturkel@cas.org (Rick Turkel) Subject: The Forvitz In Mendele 08.062, Kenneth K Sipser asked about the Yiddish spelling of the name of the Forverts. Huh? To me that spells "forverts," not "forvitz." New Yawka or not, that second resh should be pronounced in Yiddish. :-) >Question: Why is the last sound tz spelled with tess, samach and not >with a tzadik, that is end-tzadik as one might expect it to? Nu? Probably because it's a word with a meaning, specifically, "forwards," the "-vert" (not "-vertz" with a tzadi) element being cognate with English "-ward." The adverbial "-s" ending is retained in the spelling, rather than being assimilated into the preceding sound. A gut, gezunt yor. Rick Turkel 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 16:31:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Goldimax@aol.com Subject: "schmai", "eidelgepatchit" does anybody know meaning/derivation of "schmai," as in schmai around? does anybody know meaning/derivation of "eidelgepatchit?" a shaynim dank and gut yuntif. maxine gold 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 11:34:17 -0400 (EDT) From: Morris Feller Subject: Reverse words In a recent experiment which I made to send real Yiddish via e-mail, one of the words in my message was "loz". Several recipients pointed out that a better choice be "zol". Suddenly I realized that these two words were spelling opposites of each other but with a similar meaning. Then I thought of another instance: "es" and "se". In addition in Hebrew we have "lo" and "al" which both have a negative connotation. Are there more examples of this property in Yiddish or Hebrew? Is there a name for this this property? Morrie Feller Phoenix ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.064 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