Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 09 June 4, 1992 1) Bronfen (Sheldon Benjamin) 2) Kibitsn (Yitzhak Kertesz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 04 Jun 92 00:12:55 EDT From: sbenj@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: Bronfen I had always assumed bronfen meant brandy, but I know it was used for whiskey in our family. Which brings up the uses of the terms bronfen, mashke, shpirt (any others?). Can anyone explain the finer points of when to use bronfen and when mashke (apart from oyf simches!)? This reminds me of the story of my great uncle Neach. Neach's grandfather used to keep a barrel of bronfen hidden under some hay in the barn as refreshment for the man hired to help with the farm (apparently it was concealed homemade shine). When, at 4 years old he nearly drowned in the Dnieper due to his habit of ignoring his mother's pleas not to play near the water's edge, my great grandmother dragged him off to the rebbe in Ostipole to ask what to do with the boy. The answer (vu den?) was to enroll him in cheder early. There he'd be safe. So, Uncle Neach's grandfather, my great great grandfather Bentzi, would take little Neach to cheder, then sit in the back of the room and watch his miraculous grandson learn. They were doing alef-beys drills one day..........(you know what's coming)... "Hershel, vos iz unter dos alef?" "Kometz alef o." and "Neach vos is unter dos hay?" "I can't tell you!" said the boy. The rebbe gave him a patch and asked again... "A kayfele bronfen!" he finally blurted out. Great uncle Neach has been dead for nearly 50 years but the family still won't let him live that moment down.... Sheldon Benjamin 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Jun 92 08:27:46 PDT From: Yitzhak Kertesz Subject: Vanellus, or the peewit Herman RWerman has an interesting keyboard, that produces strange characters from time to time. The word "to collect, gather" is spelled kuf-bet-tsadik, which is well known from the "kabtsen", who is always ready to collect his rightful share (tsedoke). Purists, please don't attack me, it is not my fault that the dagesh didn't drop from the "bet". I don't know the original meaning, but the kibits had an important role in the world of the Central European coffee-houses, casinos (sort of clubs, not Las Vegas style hotels), especially around the card-players. Kibits was not simply a passive onlooker, sort of fan, spectator. He was very much part of the hevre (kibuts), although not financially involved, like the players. The kibits was always ready to give advise, and since he was more interested in excitment, he often talked the player into a risky game, that lead to great losses and major disputes. Hence the saying: for a kibits nothing is too risky. The kibits had very useful tasks. According to a Hungarian saying, he had three important qualities: doesn't talk too much, doesn't have smelly feet, and always has cigarettes to spare. His real usefulness showed from the strategically important positioning of his seat. He was expected to be able to get a peak into the cards of the player to the left or right (mostly to the left, since the game went clockwise) of the player, for whom he was kibitsing. It is easier to give advise from two hands. Even more interesting situations arose, when a kibits was positioned behind an opponent, and tried to give invisible signs to his pal. Such signals led to major misunderstandings, and when caught, to quite a few scandals. One such story recorded by Biblical scholars of the devil: The kibits suddenly pointed to his chest. His player played coeur (heart), and lost big. In the ensuing dispute the kibits defended himself: "Since when is my name Herz, my name is Pick, don't you remember?" (Pick is the spades, if I am not mistaken) As for the bird Vanellus vanellus, in German Kiebitz, in Northern Germany Kiewitt (dialectologists take note!), according to the encyclopedias and dictionaries, it is the same as the English lapwing or peewit. If I can believe my dictionary, in Hebrew "kivit" (Kuf-yod-vav-yod-tav), and for Elisheva, Eliot, and everybody else who cares to know, in Hungarian "bibic". Symbol of the human soul in the old-Egyptian religion. Yitzhak Kertesz [May the shames kibitz a little? Lapwing is from the AS hleapwince, from AS hleapen "run" and wincian "wink" (for the bird's twisted flight). Never mind. A foygl vos loyft un vinkt un makht in gantsn a tararam is take a kibitser.] ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.09 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.