Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 27 June 18, 1991 1) Two comments (Melekh Viswanath) 2) Introduction (Aren Abramson) 3) Introduction (Nicholas Eshelman) 4) Intriduction (Agnes Romer-Segal) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 11:20 EDT From: VISWANATH@DRACO.BITNET Subject: bamerkungen A. As to the exchange between NM and Dave Sherman [Vol 1.6]: > Since we had only one Sefer Torah it was > agreed that the Ashkenazim would leyn first > ...and we leyned after the roll call (Jewish > Life, July 1973, pp.45-46). D.S.: What's unusual here? To leyn has a specific meaning (to read from the Torah during servic es). What other word could you possibly use? "Read" would *not* have the same meaning. The same goes for Sefer Torah, which is a specific object for which there is no other convenient term. To which Melekh says: Mayn briv iz take zeyr shpet, ober ikh hob say vi a bamerkungen afn vort 'leyn'. ikh hob geleynt mit etlekhe yor tsurik in a bikh fun (ikh meyn) maurice schwartz (ikh hob in meynung, der vos shraybt populare bikher vegn yidish. efsher hob ikh gemakht a tues mitn familie numen). in yeden fals, hot er geshribn in yene bikh az in zayn gegnt in manchester, fleg men nitsn dos vort leyenen bloys farn leyenen fun a seyfer toyre; hot men genitst dos vort lesen far sekulare zakhn. B. Regarding Mikhl Herzog's comments [Vol 1.22] M.H.: As for the other indirect reference, "vus zugt der ruv?", I've >had friends (in Toronto) who never addressed their own parents >directly: "Vus vil der tate?", "Tsi vil di mameshi zix zetsn?" The following comment is not related to Yiddish in any way (except that I have two children, one of whose first languages is Yiddish): In Malayalam, a south Indian Dravidian language, it is very common to use the name of the addressed person in conversation. As, for example, (talking to Noyekh), "Would Noyekh like some tea?" A step further: My aunt (the only woman I knew who was actually named Yente, zol zi mir hobn a likhtikn gan-eydn, never addressed her husband directly (at least in company). When I came calling, she'd announce me to him (if he was upstairs or at the back of the house) by call ing out (bellowing?) "her nor, di: ('Listen, you'), Mexl i du: ('Mikhl is here')". Note "Mekhl" not >"Mikhl". You may know the process from words like "lekht" 'candle(s)' (not "likht"). Taken a phoinological step further, the process yields "Makhl"; the feminine equiv alents are "Mikhlye, Mekhlye, Makhlye" whence the (matronymic family name Machlis. Again, a comment of non-Jewish origins: In India, it is not considered respectful for the wife to use her husband's name. Hence the husband is often addressed in various ways, e.g. "Do you hear me?" "Father of (first born son)" "Listen!" etc.; Melekh (viswanat@draco.rutgers.edu) 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 10:51:09 EST From: "Arthur S. Abramson" Subject: Introduction My name is Arthur (Aren) Abramson. I am a professor of Linguistics at The University of Connecticut. My spe- cialty is experimental phonetics: the pro-duction and perception of speech.I have a great interest in Jewish culture, including Hebrew and the various Jewish lan- guages, especially Yiddish.Not having grown up in a Yiddish-speaking home, I learned most of what I know of the language later in life.Here on this campus some ten of us have a Yiddish luncheon about once a month; we read a story in Yiddish and talk about it, making sure that everyone understands everything. I am an enthusi- astic member of the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. Aren 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 13:47:01 CST From: Nicholas Subject: Introduction Hi. My name is Nicholas Eshelman. I am a catalog librarian at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. Cataloging is very boring, but KU has a good basket ball team, which helps. I used to work at the New York Public Library, also as a cataloger, where I worked some of the time with Yiddish books, which was better than basketball. My Yiddish is OK as long as I don't try to speak or write it. I enjoy the list very much and am pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the contributions. I will offer some low quality contribu- tions as soon as I can. We just moved and I'm living in the middle of a big confused mess, so it may be a while. 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 13:08 MDT From: ELSegal@UNCAMULT.BITNET Subject: Introduction I'm writing this intro. on behalf of my spouse, who does not enjoy direct access to the net- work. I will probably be less modest about her achievements thatn she would be. Agi began formal studies in Yiddish as one of the first graduates of the the Jewish Studies programme at McGill University in MOntreal, under Ruth Wisse. She is Hungarian, and her family background is not a Yiddish-speaking one. After completing her BA she moved to Israel where whe completed two M.A. degrees (Is that what they call M.A. - M.A. -loshen?). The first in Library Science, involved a study of Yiddish books and readership in the 16th-century Mantua censors lists, and a summary of it was published in Kiryat Sefer. Her second MA, for Chone Shmeruk in the Hebrew University Yiddish department, was about the Mitsvos Noshim literature (women's commandments). A summary in English appeared, I think, in one of the Field of Yiddish collections (If Sigrid Petersen is listening, I think it might fall within the definition of your interests). She is currently researching the begin- nings of Yiddish liturgical translations, though at present without an academic affiliation. Her publica- tion of a Genizah fragment of a Yiddish siddur (cowritten with Ch. Shmeruk) appeared in Tarbiz 50. Since 1985 we have been living in Calgary. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.27