Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 80 October 7, 1991 1) Food (Ellen Prince) 2) Mangled Hebrew (Bob Werman) 3) Introduction (Golda Werman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 06 Oct 91 16:53:37 -0400 From: Ellen Prince Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.79 re calves' foot aspic, in my house it was always 'fisl'. the word 'ptsche' (rhymes with 'feh', which was my opinion of the dish) was known but not used. i never heard 'ptscha'. re the nuts and honey candy, it was 'nuent' chez moi. two syllables. as long as we're on food terms, how about some ENGLISH ones? i have no idea what the following fowl parts are called in english (since no one has served them to me since i've upward-mobilized into english): gorgl and pupik. and of course tukhes, tho i could figure that one out. stuffed cabbage was kholeptshes. (first vowel as in 'hull'.) here's a yinglish one: what's the singular of 'lozenges'? on my block it was pronounced 'lozengeh', three syllables. other food questions. where is the turkish connection from? i used to think 'halvah' was a yiddish word (of course it is, but...). and why was turkish delight (aka loukoum) so big in brooklyn? as were dried apricots and figs and dates etc. i asked a polish (gentile) colleague once if these things were popular in warsaw and he said of course--but you had to go to a jewish neighborhood to buy them... did jews shlep these maykholim all thru their wanderings from the middle east? or did they discover them only when they were already in eastern europe, thru trade with turkey? 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 8:43 +0300 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.BITNET Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.79 In Mendele Vol 1.79 Noyekh writes: >She writes of Pidyon-A-Ben and Shal Achmones. nm] *********** Which reminds me of the hazan who - in training his choir - tells them how to sing "l'chodo dika la." And since we are talking about food, could anyone help me with the origins of the term _parva_ or _parve_? And since I am asking for the origins of a word associated with religious practice, how about the origins of _daven_ [pray]? Before my associations take me too far astray, I will sign off. __Bob Werman rwerman@hujivms.bitnet rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il Jerusalem 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Oct 91 10:19 +0300 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.HUJI.AC.IL Subject: Golda Introduction: I was born in Berlin, Germany, grew up in the United States and live in Jerusalem since 1967. I am married to Robert Werman, Professor of Neurophysiology at the Hebrew University. We have four children. I have a Ph.D. in English Literature and Jewish Studies [my dissertation, much of which is published in MILTON STUDIES, deals with the midrashic sources of _Paradise Lost_]. During the trial of Ivan Demjanjiuk, which was broadcast live on Israel TV, I developed an interest in Yiddish and in preserving Yiddish literature, the only surviving remnant of the rich Jewish life that had existed in Eastern Europe. I have since published translations of stories by Peretz [in the PARTISAN REVIEW and in _A Peretz Reader_, ed. Ruth Wisse] and have translated an entire book of Anski: stories, history, folklore and a new translation of _The Dybbuk_, which will soon be published by Schocken Press. I teach Yiddish in English Translation at the Hebrew University. Golda Werman rwerman@hujivms.bitnet rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.80