Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 170 March 30, 1993 1) Purimshpil (Moshe Taube) 2) Various (Pe'rets Mett) 3) A kashe (Michael Shimshoni) 4) Pronouncing ish for ikh (Berl Hoberman) 5) Du and ir (Moshe Waldoks) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Mar 29 14:57:43 1993 From: MAXUS@HARVARDA Subject: Purimshpil. As someone one who has spent last Purim recording a Purimshpil at the Krethenef Tish in Rehovot, I can only recall that the Artaxerxes comedy was published and discussed in a russian book which appeared in the sixties in Moscow. I think the name of the book is Artaxerxovo Dejstvo, but I could be wrong. Forgot the nam e of the author. Binding was green. Good Luck Moshe Taube 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 30 05:27:21 1993 From: P.Mett@open.ac.uk Subject: Various zev bar-lev's question about the pronunciation of 'ikh' reminds me that I recall seeing (probably in some translations of khumesh) the form 'nikht' for 'nisht'. As if that wasn't enough I discovered that litvaks use 'nit'. ================= Martin Davis is absolutely correct about the general lapse in the use of polite forms among younger folk (and, no, I do not go around hitting people in the face!) ================== And thanks to khayim bokhner for his clear summary of the ground rules for irtsn, which conform to my experience too. pe'rets mett 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 30 10:20:29 1993 From: MASH@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL Subject: A Kashe My son asked me about an expression he had come across and he was told is Yiddish. It is tipech shel kayitz. Do you know it, and if so what does it mean? Michael Shimshoni 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 30 13:19:24 1993 From: RHOBERMAN@CCMAIL.SUNYSB.EDU Subject: Pronouncing ish for ikh Zev Bar-Lev asked about the pronunciation /ish/ for ikh. I've never heard it in Yiddish, but that's exactly how it is pronounced in my in-laws' German dialect, spoken by Jews in small towns near Frankfurt: "ich" rhymes exactly with "Fisch", and similarly all words in which standard German has the "ich-Laut" are pronounced with /sh/ ("sch"). Also some words in which the standard language has /k/, for example, the name of one of the towns, Friedberg, is pronounced locally as [fritbeash] (with a short /i/). I don't know how widespread that is in German dialects. The only possibly analogous case I know of in Yiddish (but maybe there are others) is nisht, compared with German nicht -- if this originally had a /kh/. Berl (Bob) Hoberman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 30 14:37:13 1993 From: WALDOKS@BINAH.CC.BRANDEIS.EDU Subject: Du and Ir Reb Khaim is gerecht, mayne eltern, oych fun Poylisher shtam, hobn tomid genuttz "ir" mit fremde un mit eltern- ober zei zenen beyde geboyrn in a tzayt ven opgeben kovid is geven a shtndiger shtayger. hot men ale a zisn un koshern Pesach. Reb Moshe fun "di gantse megille" Moshe Waldoks ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.169