Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 136 January 19, 1992 1) "L" and "R" (Bob Werman) 2) "L" and "R" (Ellen Prince) 3) Folk etymology (Melekh Viswanath) 4) Introduction (Bette Finnern) 5) Names (Hershel Bershady) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 92 18:55 +0200 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.BITNET Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.135 Something on "r"-"l" confusions; bal mitzva and bar mitzva. You do not have to go to Japanese to find similar confusions. Classic Hebrew contains a number of examples - garin - galin [pit, stone of fruit, nucleus] and sharsheret - shalshelet [chain, dynasty {including the TV series}] come to mind. __Bob Werman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 05 Jan 92 12:20:05 EST From: Ellen Prince Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.135 >For 'bal-mitsve' vs 'bar-mitsve' just listen to a Japanese. >Again, a universal phonetic phenomenon that people on the >list attribute to Yiddish a nice little example from english: grammar and glamour have the same origin! 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1992 12:55 EDT From: VISWANATH@DRACO.BITNET Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.133 Ellen, Your explanation of the essence of folk-etymology was very clear. I had two points which may have gotten lost in my long posting. 1) folk-etymology cannot be folk-etymology simply because it is wrong. Such a use of the term would seem to rob it of its usefulness. 2) Defining folk- etymology on the basis of the actual hypothesis cannot be meaningful either; professional linguists themselves use sound similarities to posit relationships; they too pull apart words to make sense out of them. Hence it must be what is done after the hypothesis is generated (or not done) that makes folk-etymology what it is. This was my suggestion. Also, thanks for the spelling correction on Ra(i)mon. Melekh. 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 92 11:36:09 PST From: "Bette G. Finnern Subject: Introduction I've subscribed to the mailing list to pass on to my mother. When I was growing up, Yiddish was the primary language of the household. But I've forgotten (or it lies dormant) most of what I knew. My mother still communciates in Yiddish with many of her friends, both verbally and through letters. She has also found it quite helpful in working with some of the new Russian immigrants who have settled in the Boston area. As an avid reader, she has also enjoyed any materials in Yiddish that she finds, even transliterated. Bette Finnern 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 05 Jan 92 20:01:52 EST From: "Dr. Harold Bershady" Subject: NAMES My old aunt (mihme, tante -- take your pick) talked about a mix-up of one of her friends and referred to him as a "Moishe kapoire." I know what this means, except now that Mendele has been educating me to things I used to take for granite, I wonder why the Moishe in the expression? Does anyone know? There is also the name "Moishe pipick" whose meaning I don't quite know, although this could well be a character created by Sholem Aleichem. I'd also appreciate any clarification of meaning and source on this name. --Hershel ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.136