Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.100 September 7, 1993 1) Rivkele di shabesdike (Ellen Prince) 2) "Yontevdik" on Yom Kippur? (Shleyme Axelrod) 3) Yiddish studies (Jonathan Glasser) 4) Du or ir? (Bob Hoberman) 5) Verb in first position in exclamations (Jack Feldman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Sep 6 13:26:48 1993 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: rivkele di shabesdike bob rothstein: thanks for the correction and explanation. i just checked the only published copy i have of the song, in shoshana kalisch's _yes, we sang_, and there's no mention of a child there, either. here's the text of the song as recorded by sarah gorby: rivkele di shabesdike arbet in fabrik, zi shpint a fodem nokh a fodeml, flekht tsunoyf di shtrik. oy di geto, di fintstere, doyert azoy lang, 'vert mayn harts farumet, tut mir azoy bank.' zifst zikh rivkele fun benkshaft, oy oy oy farshmakht, vegn ir tayer hershele shtendik nor zi trakht. 'oy vi biter iz im dort, fintster iz mir do, zint fun yenem shabes, zint fun yener sho.' zitst zikh rivkele un treyst ir eyn-un-eyntsik kind, 'kumen vet der tate, kumen vet geshvind. brengen vet er esn, gor a sakh broyt.' nit gevust hot rivkele az hershele iz toyt. ellen prince 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Sep 6 19:45:06 1993 From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: "Yontevdik" on Yom Kippur? In Yiddish, at any rate, the word "yom-tov" [yontev] means "holiday, festival", according to A. Harkavy's (1928) and U. Weinreich's (1968) dictionaries. "Yontevdik" means "festal, festive, joyful, lively, gala." The tone is light and happy. The question: Is "yom-tov" applicable to awesome "holidays", like Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur? How about Tisha B'Av? Do Yiddish and Hebrew differ in this regard? (I assume that "yontevdik" is not applicable to either the Days of Awe or Tisha B'Av.) --Shleyme Axelrod 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Sep 6 20:40:07 1993 From: GLASSER@ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU Subject: Yiddish studies. I am a senior in high school who would like to hear of universities with good Yiddish studies. I'd also like to hear of any programs geared to people of my age-group(seventeen-eighteen) with little knowledge of Yiddish. A sheynem dank. Jonathan Glasser Columbia, Connecticut 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Sep 7 10:33:52 1993 From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: Du or Ir? I've never "lived in Yiddish" in any situation in which the appropriate choice between du and ir wasn't obvious. Now I'm supervising an independent study student who will be reading Yiddish literature (poems of Itsik Manger from Howard Aronson's draft textbook), and who speaks Yiddish better than I do, though far from natively. He asked whether he should address me as du or ir, and I don't know what to recommend, nor what I should call him. My professorial style is generally very informal, I teach in very colloquial language (English or Hebrew), and I often have a close acquaintance with individual students, though at this university students are very reluctant to call a teacher by his/her first name even when urged to (I wouldn't mind at all). An additional factor: he knows the du/dir/dayn forms well and has had very little experience with the ir/aykh/ayer set; eventually he'll want to talk with people whom he MUST address as ir. I realize it's my choice, but what should I choose? What do the Mendelnikes more sociolinguistically experienced than I am recommend? What's generally done in university-level Yiddish classes? Bob 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Sep 7 16:26:05 1993 From: feldman@math.berkeley.edu (Jacob Feldman) Subject: verb in first position in exclamations To what must be a resounding chorus of yesses, I'll add a couple of lines from leftish childhood memories which were jogged by Beatrice Ssantorini's question. This is from "A khasene in Biro-Bidzhan", whose author I've forgotten. "Ai, iz dos a khasene a freiliche geven! Di velt hot aza khasene nor keinmol nisht gezen." And then there's always the Yinglish example "Oy vas I toisty!" Jack Feldman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.100