Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 152 February 10, 1993 1) Ochtzig-neintzig (Bob Werman) 2) -a- un -o- (Payrets Mett) 3) Faygelekh (Meylekh Viswanath) 4) Faygelekh (Eli Katz) 5) Yiddish /f/ and Ukrainian various (Bob Rothstein) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Feb 93 10:34 +0200 From: RWERMAN@vms.huji.ac.il Subject: Ochtzig-neintzig Apropos the discussions of 99 [777, a local brandy might be more appropriate with the approach of Purim], yeshiva bocherim are using the expression, "ochtzig neintzig" to denote pay tzadee or putz. And in the Purim spirit, "What comes between fear and sex?" A: Finf. __Bob Werman rwerman@hujivms.bitnet rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il Jerusalem 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 12:52:22 +0000 From: P.Mett@open.ac.uk Subject: -a- un -o- Interesant az Elye Gertel shraybt -azoyns- (= such like) Mir zogen -azayns- Payrets Mett 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1993 09:25 EDT From: VISWANATH%DRACO.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: feygelekh Dovid Braun writes: >leygt zikh nit ken feygelekh in buzem means 'don't brag >about that which you don't have a right to brag about'. I don't see how that would fit into the context of the article that was cited. My wife uses the expression to mean "don't count your chickens until they are hatched." derekh agev, M.M.B. iz take dokter shekhter. er nitst etlekhe pseudonomen; zey zaynen ale dermont in "der leksikon fun der yidisher literatur" unter zayn nomen. vegn dem nomen "daniel," ikh hob a plimenik vos heyst don gedalye, un der 'don' in zayn nomen redt men aroys vi a komets; ikh hob shtendik gemeynt az der 'don' in zayn nomen komt fun Daniel. Meylekh Viswanath. 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Feb 93 12:23:56 -0800 From: katz@Sonoma.EDU Subject: feygelekh "leyg zikh nit keyn feygelekh in buzem" in my experience means something like "give up your optimistic illusions." "er leygt zikh feygelekh in buzem" would mean he has foolishly unrealistic expectations. Eli Katz 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 09 Feb 1993 22:17:45 -0500 (EST) From: rar@titan.ucs.umass.edu Subject: Yiddish /f/ and Ukrainian various David Braun asked about correspondences between Yiddish /f/ and various things in Ukrainian. The story starts in 9th century c.e. or so. The /f/ of Byzantine Greek was new to Slavic. It was borrowed by the Slavs in their literary practice, but dialects (Ukrainian and others) made various substitutions: [p], [kh], [khv], [v], [t]. Some of these versions show up in literary forms as well, e.g., Russian _parus_ 'sail' from Greek _faros_, Ukrainian _khvirtka_ 'gate' from German _Pfortchen_; names like _Pilip_, _Khoma_ (Russian _Filip_, _Foma_), Ukrainian and Russian _Marta_. Note that as far as borrowings from Greek are concerned, /f/ or its substitutes replace both phi and theta. Correction: the Russian version of "Martha" is _Marfa_, not _Marta_, at least in the literary language. The extrapolation of all of this to Yiddish depends on the words you have in mind, i.e., are they internationalisms, borrowings from a Slavic standard language, part of the Germanic component, etc. Bob Rothstein ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.152