Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no.51 July 25, 1991 1) Brouhaha (Ellen Prince and NM) 2) Responsa (Raphael Finkel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jul 91 10:39:04 -0400 From: Ellen Prince Subject: RE: Vol 1.50 EP: excuse me, tayerer shames, but i DID answer. and you published it. my answer was: BROUHAHA. it's of course from french, where it's claimed to be from borekhhabe (just listen to those noisy jews greet- ing their guests...). if you had something else in mind, what was it? NM: The shames's face is red. Of course you did and I published it. But my brain isn't always on duty. Here's what happened: since I knew the answer (not because I KNEW but because Mikhl inadvertently told me), I somehow treated 'brouhaha' as if it were the _question_. Ay, ven me vert elter, toyg es in gantsn nisht. However, while I'm up, the etymology just may be more interesting. The Petit Robert says, like you, probably onomatopoeic (though without specifying whose noises are being mimicked). Recent U.S. dictionaries (with the exception of the latest Random House which retreats from the Unabridged, 2nd ed.) say something like this (here's the New World 3rd): "in medieval theater, cry of devil disguised as clergy; said to be < Heb... formula used by Levites to welcome to the Temple". How you like them apples? Life must have been particularly jolly in medieval Yurp. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1991 11:30:59 EDT From: Raphael Finkel Subject: RE: Vol 1.50 1. yidtype.c. If you compile the program using a C compiler, you will have some software that will turn input looking like a SAneM dank into output looking like ___ _ _ _ ____ ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , / | ,\| | | | | | | | | | | | ,\| |/ _| |_\ | |__| _|/ _| |/_/ |_\ | If you also have the 'sed' program available, then using recast.sed will let you type in the more legible a sheynem dank and get the same result. If you don't have C available, the program is useless. 2. Borukh-habe. Might be the origin of 'brouhaha', but it is in doubt. I expect that 'copacetic' really does come from 'kol beseder', however. 3. Shrage-fayvel. The fact that the two are combined implies to me that they are synonymous. I trust the Phoebus version. I dimly recollect that Phoebus and Apollo were not always the same. Even if Shrage is a relexification (what a great word!) for Uri, it still means light. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.51