Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 15 June 16, 1992 1) Mise meshune (Ellen Prince) 2) One word, two questions (Noyekh Miller) 3) Shmendrik (Zachary Baker) 4) Mise meshune (Itzhak Finger) 5) Mise meshune (Bob Werman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 12:02:00 -0400 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.14 i believe all the 'strange death' definitions given, but the only way i've ever heard it used is in the way david hirsch notes, describing color, e.g. 'a mise meshine green' = 'a sickly green'. it was definitely used as an adjective or adverb, never as a noun. wonder if there was some sort of reanalysis of it as related to mi(e)s 'ugly'? Ellen Prince 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 From: nmiller@trincc Subject: One word, two questions 1. I've seen and heard 'meyashev' used in several ways: bin ikh meyashev bin ikh mir meyashev bin ikh zikh meyashev Does this interest grammarians? 2. Meyashev is often used for ironic or comic effect: Iz zikh meyashev dos redl un falt arop fun vogn. Iz er meyashev un heybt on shrayen 'Gevald! A fayer!' Which is something like the American 'he upped (or went) and died'. Do other European languages go in for this sort of thing? Noyekh 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 16, 1992 From: Zachary Baker (BM.YIB@RLG.BITNET) Subject: Shmendrik I can't believe I'm actually writing this. Anyway, in vol. 2, no. 13, Dovid Braun writes: "We know who coined the word! [I wish I remembered who the coiner was. . .]" Well, I don't know if Abraham (Avrom) Goldfaden COINED the word, but he certainly is responsible for popularizing it. The earliest edition of Goldfaden's "Shmendrik" that we have in the YIVO Library was published in Odessa, 1879, i.e., VERY early in Goldfaden's illustrious theatrical career. For further information, I recom- mend that readers of MENDELE consult Zylbercweig's Yiddish theater lexicon or numerous sources on Goldfaden that are available in libraries near you. Zachary Baker, YIVO Library 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 09:20:57 MDT From: jfinger@mv.us.adobe.COM Subject: Mise-meshune The expression "mise-meshune" is used in the Morning Blessings, before the Order of the Sacrifices. There is a section called Tefilas Rabi which says, "It should be your will .... to rescue us this day and all days from Aze-Ponim and Azus-Ponim, ..., from libels, mi'MISA MESHUNA, from bad diseases, ... " -- Itzhak "Jeff" Finger -- 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 21:45 +0300 From: RWERMAN%HUJIVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.14 David Hirsch writes: > Mise is >feminine for "mies", I think, meaning ugly. while Seymour Axelrod writes: The first element seems unrelated to MIES, "ugly." Is it related to mem/sof [MES] "dead body, ghost"? ***************** As a number of reporters noted, the expression is derived from the Ashkenakic pronounciation of mita m'shu-ne [yes, same root as mes or met in Sephardic Hebrew]. The "derivation" from mies is quite common, a result probably of the Ashkenazic indifference to samech-sof differences, while Sephardic is indifferent to sof-tof nuances. Mies, I would guess is derived from mem-aleph-samech, or mi-us, disgusting in Hebrew, as in pasul m'hamas[t] mi-us. __Bob Werman rwerman@hujivms.bitnet ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.15 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.