Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 115 November 26, 1991 1) Feminine suffixes (Mikhl Herzog) 2) Feminine suffixes (Bob Werman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Nov 91 01:34 EST From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.BITNET Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.112 Noyekh: Too much to deal with af eyn fus. Just note: the suffix in rebitsn is NOT the same as the -in of lererin. It's probably not Germanic. Note also the -tsn forms of a number of Yiddish verbs of limited distribution: As for -te: it's Aramaic and in a number of words is "redundant". So. tsadik--tsadeykes--tsadeykeste. There's probably a stylistic difference between say, shkheyne and shokhnte; some would say that the latter is more "yidishlekh" In the case of khaveyre and khaverte there may even be an ideological distinct- ion: members of the Pioneer Women address one another as khaveyre; in the Arbeter-Ring it's khaverte. The -ke suffix is surely Slavic IN THE MAIN. Bit, don't write off the possibili ty of Northern German at some point. To add to your puzzles: Ber's wife is known as di berikhe; Leyb's wife is di leybikhe; Menashe der royfe has a wife known as Menashekhe di royfete; what would she be called if she were a royfe in her own right. What about di shoykhetke? Can a woman be a shoykhet in her own right? What would we call her? Would you buy "Der doktor iz shoyn do; zi vil mit aykh redn". How about Der professor heyst Ellen Prince? As for the -nitse items: the gem is "mefunitse". 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Nov 91 7:53 +0200 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.BITNET Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.112 A small note on the "ke" suffix. Constructions like the nextdoorike are standard for ghettoized yordim [ex-Israelis], even those who have no [other] Yiddish. So this is New World Hebrew [too?]. __Bob Werman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.115