Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 16 June 18, 1992 1) Mise meshune (Elyet Hersh Gertl) 2) Shmendrik (Howard Isaac Aronson) 3) Miese zakhen (Peyrets Mett) 4) Psycho-ostensives/bread and butter (Elye Katz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1992 12:51 PDT From: EGERTEL@FULLERTON.EDU Subject: Vayter mit der mise-meshune I have no new light to shed on the not-very-positive term "mise-meshune" which was dealt with fairly thoroughly in Mendele 2:14. I write to corroborate the definitions sent in by Nokhem Slobin, Peyrets Mett, Seymour Axelrod, and Moshe Taube. My father has always said of someone he despises (in his modified SE Yiddish from Podolia by way of Poland and the USSR): "Eh zuhl annemin uh meesuh mishinuh ["uh" here = schwa]!" (i.e. "Er zol aynnemin a mise-meshune!") Gloss: "He should die a horrible/violent death!" or "He should meet a horrible/violent end!" Although I always sensed the meaning from the context, for a long time I never really understood the actual meaning of the words in the expression until I formally undertook the study of Yiddish and renewed my intensive study of Hebrew. I had -perhaps as many others- the mistaken notion that "mise" meant ugly as in "mies" (sp.mem/yod/alef/vov/samekh). Of course there is the exact same expression in Hebrew from which the Yiddish expression was derived (as per Modern Hebrew): "mitah meshunah," gloss: "unnatural/abnormal/unusual/ violent death" from MITAH: "death" and MESHUNEH: "strange." Thank you, Peyrets Mett, for your interesting explanation of the origin of the expression. I have seen your book and found it very intriguing. It does deserve wider attention. And yes, if ever there was a "mise-meshuneh" it was that met by those spies! Elye(t) Hersh Gertl 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Jun 92 23:15:56 CDT From: howard isaac aronson Subject: Shmendrik The Yiddish word shmendrik has to be from Polish -medrek- (pronounced mendrek and spelled with a hook indicating nasalization under the first -e-) meaning a 'wise guy,' 'wiseacre.' The Yiddish seems to illustrate the second half of a sh-reduplication (e.g., the well-known 'money- shmoney,' 'mink-shmink' pattern that has entered English). I would suspect that the original must have been something like 'mendrik-shmendrik,' which might indicate that the Polish word, which is derived from the adjective -madry- (pronounced /mondri/, again with a hook marking nasalization under the -a-) 'wise' , originally meant a wise person. Howard Aronson hia5@midway.uchicago.edu 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 JUN 92 15:06:03 GMT From: P_METT@VAX.ACS.OPEN.AC.UK Subject: miese zachen !? >>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 Bob (in vus far anumen is dus - Bob - efsher ken men ehm riefen Berl oder Reevale) is take gerecht. Azoi shrabt men mies of Yidish = mem yid alef vov samech = . Afile "farmiest" shrabt men oich azoi = fay aleph raysh mem yid alef vov samech tes = Blayb gezint Payrets Mett 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 92 11:59:24 PDT From: katz@Sonoma.EDU Subject: psycho-ostensives; bread and butter To Yankele Matisoff: Not only am I aware of your "Psycho-ostensives", I spent some time last year trying to get two copies. It took me at least a month to find out at last that ISHI was out of business. The only thing I failed to do was ask you! I particularly wanted one o f the copies for my colleagues at Universitaet Trier, where one of them was doing work on such expressions in older literature. Ultimately (I confess) I xeroxed it. But now I'd like to take advantage of your offer to obtain two from you. I'll call you in Berkeley. **************** To Yankele Kessler: Here is my version of your "buttered toast" motif: Eyner fregt dem tseveytn: --"Farvos falt dos broyt alemol mit der puter arop?" --"Staytsh, vos heyst alemol mit der puter arop? Amol falt es mit der puter arop, amol mit der puter aroyf." --"Neyn, dafke alemol mit der puter arop!" --"Vos redste narishkeytn? Na, ikh shmir on a shtik broyt mit puter un ikh loz faln. Zest? Dos mol iz es gefaln mit der puter aroyf." --"Khokhem, eyner! Du'st es ongeshmirt af der linker zayt!" Elye Katz ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.16 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.