Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.101 September 9, 1993 1)"Yontevdik" on Yom Kippur? (Amitai Halevi) 2) Authentic pronunciations of _yarmulke_ (Bob Goldberg) 3) An answer and a question (Mottel Lakin) 4) Farsheydns (Dovid Braun) ______________________________________________________ The shames would greatly appreciate your cooperation in these small matters: If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu If you want to discuss personal business, please write to: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Please provide a Subject: line. Please sign your articles. A dank. 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Sep 8 07:46:15 1993 From: AMITAI HALEVI Subject: Re: "Yontevdik" on Yom Kippur? Seymour Axelrod writes: > >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.) The term "yom tov", which has largely fallen into disuse in modern Hebrew, means "festival" at most, and certainly not "holy day" in Biblical Hebrew. Thus, when David's henchmen come to collect protection money from Nabal on the occasion of the of shearing his flocks (1st Samuel 25,8), they say: "for we have come on a `yom-tov'", which literally means no more than `a good day'. In Talmudic Hebrew, it is used primarily as a synonym of "mo`ed", i.e. a religious holiday. For example, the second day of Passover, Succoth or Shavuoth that is celebrated in the diaspora is referred to as "yom-tov sheni shel galuyot". However, it also shows up in the sense of a private celebration, e.g. Rav Yoseph's saying that he would have made a "yama tava", i.e thrown a party, for his colleagues if a particular halakha had been different (Kiddushin 31a). It would seem that, even when the term refers to a religious holiday, it was used to emphasize its festive rather than its ritualistic aspect. Thus, while I can hardly claim to have researched the point adequately, I doubt very much that "yom-tov" would have been applied to days of mourning like Tish`ah B'Av, or to "the Days of Awe". As to Yom Kippur specifically, the Talmud relates (Mishnah Yoma 7,8) that when the High Priest came out of the Holy of Holies unscathed, he " hayah oseh yom yov l'ohavav (would throw a party for his friends)". One might also recall the saying (Ta`anit 26b): "There were no "yamim tovim" in Israel [before the destruction of the Temple _A.H.] to equal the fifteenth of Ab and Yom Kippur when the daughters of Israel whould dress in white ... [and] dance in the vineyards. And what would they say? `Young man, raise your eyes and see what to choose for yourself". However, in neither of these two cases is Yom Kippur referred to as a "yom tov" in the sense of "holiday". In the first, it simply means `a party'; in the second, looking back nostalgically to the "good old days" before the sack of Jerusalem, it means "a GOOD day". Amitai Halevi 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Sep 8 20:48:29 1993 From: xidak!poseidon!bob@uunet.UU.NET (Robert N. Goldberg) Subject: Authentic pronunciations of _yarmulke_ I always heard _yamike_, but have always seen it spelled _yarmulke_. Is _yamike_ an authentic native pronunciation? Does anyone say _yarmulke_? The _u_ to _i_ I ascribe to southern Yiddish, but what happened to the _r_ and _l_? Bob "Nissen" Goldberg 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Sep 10 12:37:53 1993 From: MLAKIN@DUKEMVS.AC.DUKE.EDU Subject: an answer and a question Mein guter chaver Shleymele Axelrod maint az "yomtov" und yomtevdik geheren nor tzu die freiliche yomtoivim, nor ich mein andersh; az Yom Kippur iz takeh oich a yomtov. Und oiich hob nisht kein toes, iz faran oif Yidish a por vitzen vegen dem. Ich mein az men zogt "Gut Yomtov" oif alleh, Nor efsher Tisha B'Av is andersh. Az men lebt iber die "days of awe" und men kumpt tzu tzu Rosh Hashanah, zogt men takeh "Gut Yomtov" und az men lebt iber Yom Kippur, iz takeh a Yomtov! Ich vill shtellen noch a frageh. In mein mishpocha (vos hot zich zeyer gegroist mit yiches) hot men a sach mol geredt vegen "shtellen emetzen - speziel a yingern - oif der "tzimbel", dos haist, shtellen im oder ihr frages kedai tzu baveizen oder zein oder ihr klugshaft, oder vie veinig er oder zie ken. Ich perzelnlich hob dos alleh mofeint gehat-- I ch hob dos feint gehat veil dos iz geven "show off", chotch, ich bin geven oft mol der velcher iz geven oifen tzimbel. Ich farshtei az tzimbel iz takeh "cymbal" . Efsher ken emetzer arein shreiben vegn "nemen oifen tzimbel", fun vanen nemt zich . Efsher hoben andere Mendelnikes dos gehert in zeiyere mishpoches? A groisen dank, Mottel Lakin velche gedainkt noch heint az men hot im genoomen oifen tzimbel und er iz kemat gevoren an antisemite in ain shos! 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Sep 10 15:13:41 1993 From: dovid@Athena.MIT.EDU Subject: farsheydns Catching up on recent postings: 1) Zev, might the town be Zdunske-volye (Polish: Zdunska Wola, with an accent aigu over the "n")? This is in the Lodz area, I think, but I don't have a map in front of me. 2) _za fidele_ is poylish yidish from the area (Lodz, etc.) where _mayn_, _dayn_ and _zayn_ are realized [ma~:], [da~:], [za~:], i.e., a long nasalized [a]. Di mishpokhe Sherman with their Stashever Yiddish speaks this dialect, neyn? 3) Yehupets is, as far as I know, purely oysgetrakht (whence the notion that it corresponds to Kiev?). I don't know whether Yehupets was a creation of Sholem-Aleykhem, but it's used idiomatically to mean 'some far off place', 'some random geographical location' (like Podunk). Boyberik, as Zachary Baker mentioned, corresponds to Sholem-Aleykhem's Boyarka but is also the Yiddish name of (Polish town) Bo'brka. Zachary, you say that the Yiddish is Boyberke. I thought Boyberik, just like in Sh"A's usage. Kasrilevke is Sh"A's creation, a town named after its water carrier Kasriel. 4) "A khasene in birebidzhan" is by Itsik Fefer. 5) Beatrice, yes, v/1 exclamation is available in Yiddish as in other Germanic languages. 6) I re-post my request to all readers: please put me in touch with Yiddish speakers in the Boston area. I've been here a week now and would like to be in touch with some eygene. Dovid Braun ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.101