Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 179 April 21, 1993 1) Oifn pripitchek (David Sherman) 2) Manger/idioms (Eli Katz) 3) Slippers/tsart (Khaim Bochner) 4) Menachem Mendel (Zachary Baker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Apr 20 13:36:19 1993 From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman) Subject: Oifn Pripetchik It's one of my kids' favourite songs -- even my 2-year-old knows most of the words, and she carries the tune better than most of the others! This version is from Mlotek's "Favourite Yiddish Songs" (Mir Trogen a Gezang): Oyfn pripetshik brent a fayerl, Un in shtub is heys. Un der rebe lernt kleyne kinderlekh Dem alef-beyz, Un der rebe lernt kleyne kinderlekh Dem alef-beyz. [REFRAIN:] Zet she, kinderlekh, gedenkt zhe, tayere, Vos ir lernt do. Zogt zhe nokh a mol un take nokh a mol: Kometz-alef: o! Zogt zhe nokh a mol un take nokh a mol: Kometz-alef: o! [The verses below are unfamiliar to me, but here they are:] Lernt, kinder, mit groys kheyshek, Azoy zog ikh aykh on, Ver s'vet gikher fun aykh kenen ivre, Der bakumt a fon. Az ir vet, kinder, elter vern, Vet ir aleyn farshteyn, Vifl in di oysyes lign trern, Un vi fil geveyn. Az ir vet, kinderlekh, dem goles shlepn, Oysgemutshet zayn, Zolt ir fun di oysyes koyekh shepn, Kukt in zey arayn! David Sherman Toronto dave@lsuc.on.ca 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Apr 20 15:05:33 1993 From: katz@Sonoma.EDU Subject: manger/idioms 1. Bob Rothstein is right about "ti nash". There is a parallel construction in the Germanic component of Yiddish which may, for all I know, have entered by analogy with Slavic. In the present instance it would be something like "Got du mayner/undzerer". Manger's phrase reminds me of a saying of my father's: "Ekh ti reboynesheloylem, kak ty bohu nye bayusya? which trans- lates something like: "Oh you Lord of the Universe, have you no fear of God?" The Slavic I take to be Belarussian, which the Jews called "raysish". With respect to "tsart", it seems clear to me that it's the common adjective (adverbial in the context) which Wein- reich glosses as "gentle, tender, dainty, delicate". 2. I have recently begun to worry (I hope needlessly) about certain aspects of Yiddish which may be lost in spite of the fact that lots of people are learning the language. These are idiomatic expressions (what the Germans call 'Redensarten', not proverbs) and examples of language play or tongue twisters. For example: "Er lozt zikh nit shpayen in der kashe." He doesn't take any guff [supply your own equivalent] from anyone. "Zi ken (zikh) ir (eygn) shtetl bashteyn." She can stand up for herself. "Es hot mayn babns tam un Yagnes reyekh", a disparage- ment of something (usually food) not pleasing to the taste of the speaker. "Di tsveyte teg yontef!" an exclamation in response to an inappropriate or belated intervention in a discus- sion (argument) by someone not previously involved. "Gut morgn Gele", a greeting to someone arriving later than expected. "Fin Brisk ken Trisk trugt a fiks in pisk a biks." (This only works in dialect.) A fox carries a rifle in its mouth from Brisk (Brest Litovsk) to Trisk (?). I havent done anything systematic about collecting any of this, but I'd welcome any contributions from Mendel- nikes and will record them. Eli Katz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Apr 20 18:56:38 1993 From: bochner@das.harvard.edu Subject: Re: slippers & tsart Bay undz heysn "slippers" papuchn oder papuchelekh. (ch = tsh) Ikh veys az s'iz do aza vort oyf terkish (!). Ober vi azoy iz es arayn in Kshanever (Chrzano'w) yidish? Efsher iz dos vort do oyf Poylish? Andere hobn gezogt az "tsart" = "tender(ly)". S'iz emes. Ober: 1) Do iz geshribn "tsert", dos heyst, mit an ayin. Nor oyb s'hot tsu ton mit "tsar" (~anguish), vet men es leyenen "tsart". Oyb nisht, vet men es leyenen "tsert", un aza vort hob ikh keyn mol nisht gehert. ("tsertlekh" onshtot "tsartlekh", efsher yo. Ober "tsert"?) 2) Es dakht zikh mir az in kontekst funem lid leygt zikh 'pained, anguished' mer oyfn seykhl vi "tender". Nor vi nemt men "tsart" fun "tsar"? Ikh volt gikher gezogt "fartsart". Ober Manger iz geven a poet; mistome meg er ... Khaim 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Apr 21 13:24:25 1993 From: Zachary Baker, YIVO Library (bm.yib@rlg) Subject: Yiddish version of "The Adventures of Menakhem Mendel" In MENDELE 2.178, Pierre Lewis asks where he might buy the Yiddish text of Sholem Aleichem's "Menakhem Mendel" monologues. The short answer to that is: Contact the National Yiddish Book Center, 48 Woodbridge St., South Hadley, MA 01075; tel. (413) 535-1303, fax (413) 535-1007. The next question -- unasked by M. Lewis -- is which edition of "Menakhem Mend[e]l" should he purchase? -- For there are many. There is, of course, the "Menakhem Mendel" volume of SA's collected works (the Folksfond edition, reprinted many times): vol. 10. And then there are separately edited collec- tions, such as the 1963 "Musterverk" edition (published in Buenos Aires, under the imprint of the BA YIVO) and the 1976 Bet Shalom Aleichem edition (published in Tel Aviv). There is also a very rare (and unobtainable) 1926 Kiev printing. In any event, the Folksfond and Musterverk editions are almost certainly available from the NYBC, and the Bet Shalom Aleichem edition may be, as well. For those whose principal entree to Yiddish texts is via Uriel Weinreich's "College Yiddish," the orthography in the Musterverk edition is closest to what you are most familiar with, and the Bet Shalom Aleichem edition comes in second. The Folksfond orthography is antiquated by today's standards. And speaking of standards, has any of our MENDELnikes been following the "vikuekh ha-leksikografn" -- re the "Klal-takones fun yidishn oysleyg," introduced by the Oxford Programme in Yiddish -- in the last couple of issues of the "Forverts"? Bay undz in Yidishn visnshaftlekhn institut iz der inyen, farshteyt zikh, an ongeshtrengter, vayl der YIVO aleyn hot ayngefirt di "Takones fun yidishn oysleyg" (beshutfes mitn TsISh"O) shoyn mit hekher 35 yor tsurik. "Let a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend," is the response we read in the columns of the "Forverts" (a response to a letter signed by ten professors of Yiddish and related fields, which appeared in the newspaper a few weeks back). I wonder if any subscribers to this bulletin board have any thoughts on this question. Finally, I have sad news to relate. Today was the funeral of Berl Kagan (Kahn), a truly original Yiddish bibliographer who is best known for his "Sefer haprenumerantn" ("Hebrew Subscription Lists"), "Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers," and "Yidishe shtet, shtetlekh un dorfishe yishuvim in Lite biz 1918" -- as well as for a number of yisker-bikher that he edited (most prominently, the Suvalker yisker-bukh). Berl Kagan worked at YIVO and later at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library, before retiring in the 1970s. At the time of his death he was busy at work on a supplement to the "Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers." (He was in the middle of a telephone conversation with a colleague of mine when he collapsed suddenly, this past Monday evening.) Berl Kagan will be sorely missed. He was one of the very last of the Eastern European-born Yiddish bibliographers. He was 81 years old. Zachary M. Baker ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.179