Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.062 July 15, 1993 1) La Shiksa (Zachary Baker) 2) Barches (Yitzhak Kertesz) 3) Amish German and Yiddish (Gerald M. Phillips) 4) License Plates (David Sherman) 5) Jaguars (Jascha Kessler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Jul 14 22:27:07 1993 From: "Zachary M. Baker" Subject: La Shiksa According to my trusty Argentine informant (a porten~a of fine Galician lineage -- her parents are from the region that gave birth to such notables as Generalisimo Francisco Franco, yimakh shemo ve-zikhro, so that makes her a gallega and not a galitsyanerin), the word "shiksa" has entered Buenos Aires slang among the twenty- and thirty-something generation as a term for "maid" or "housekeeper." She reports that it was not that current a generation ago. Perhaps it has merely spread from middle- class Argentine Jewish speech into more general usage, in ways familiar to speakers of American English who casually employ various Yiddishisms. Zachary Baker, YIVO Library 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Jul 14 22:49:04 1993 From: "Yitzhak Kertesz" Subject: barches To: P. Mett concerning "Koylech (or koyletsh)" 1. > My recollection is that koylech is used only for a -large- > loaf. Can anyone confirm? What is the definition of large? Does this mean larger than a loaf of bread? I think the difference is in the ingredients, namely that koyletch had eggs, raisins, and (in Poland) a little sugar. 2. The notion of the twelve khales goes back to the Arizal. (Artscroll transcription) He had this concept of the Shabbat table resembling the Temple, and therefore had 12 (smaller) khales at his meal, just like the bread that the kohanim used to place on the table of the Temple in Jerusalem. This then became the custom of generations of Cabbalists, and was subsequently adopted by many khasidim. 3. Western Yiddish did not use "khale" in the sense of a loaf of bread/koyletsh, they called it "barches". This word has as many etymologies as "cholent". On the Jewish end there is the Biblical verse "birchas H' ta'ashir", and the proof is that some people called it "Daasher/taasher". On the non-Jewish end scholars mention a certain ritual bread from the German tribal traditions called "Berchesbrot/perchesbrot". And there are many variations on these two themes, conveniently summarized by Herman Pollack in: 'Jewish folkways in Germanic lands.' MIT Press, 1971. Western Yiddish used "khale" in the Biblical sense, namely to refer to the small piece that gets separated from the dough before baking. Yitzhak Kertesz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jul 15 17:14:26 1993 From: Subject: Re: Amish German and Yiddish Living here in Amish country, I can testify that our Yiddish speaking friend has no trouble talking to the Amish in their own language. They regard her as a relative. On the other hand, a speaker of standard German tried to talk to them in German and they refused. We have old order Amish here. No resorts. Just farms. Gerald M. Phillips, Centre Country, PA 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jul 15 18:28:32 1993 From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman) Subject: License plates > Chicago last week and passed a new Jaguar with the license plate > SHIXSA. Deep sociological implications ? For what it's worth, we have MMLSHN (Ontario). At the National Yiddish Book Center's summer program in Massachussetts last week, there was a ZAMLER from New Jersey in evidence. (For those who don't know, a zamler ("collector") is a person who collects old Yiddish books for the NYBC.) Anyone else have Yiddish-related plates? David Sherman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Jul 15 20:08:25 1993 From: KESSLER Subject: re jaguars One might guess that the Jag was given to the lady, not that she is boasting, not necessarily, that is, and by whom? (Cf my Short story in SIREN SONGS, titled "Aeaea," in the book published in November 1992, by McPherson & Co.) It reminds me of a convertible Mercedes that some lady drives on Sunset Boulevard, in Brentwood, with the plate: I KVELL. I used to think of pulling alongside, and asking her if she had the first model with real leather, and not human leather. No bottom to the abyss of vulgarity. And if you want cornbread, with or without caraway seeds, there is plenty to be had in LA, of course, not as dense as what the Bronx had in my childhood, where the loaf weighed 5 pounds and was a foot in diameter if not more, and one could ask for a half loaf cut off, and sliced, or even a viertel cornbread. Jascha Kessler ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.062