Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.147 November 28, 1993 1) Scha, schtil (Zachary Baker) 2) Schmuck (Leigh Lisker) 3) Verb-first phrases (Amitai Halevi) 4) "Mayerson" vs. "Mair" (Arre Komar) 5) Videramol sissel bread (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Nov 26 14:42:06 1993 From: Zachary Baker (bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu) Subject: Scha, schtil... I thought I'd put in my two guilders' worth regarding the use of "sch" for "sh": Anyone who has traveled in the Netherlands or has heard a bit of Dutch spoken knows that "sch" is NOT pronounced "sh" in that language, but rather "skh" (to use a YIVO "transcription" from the Dutch). I believe (not being a Dutch speaker, myself) that "sh" is represented by the letters "sj" in Dutch -- the point being that standards for romanization exist for a reason (one of them being to avoid excessive confusion -- why use "sch" when "sh" already does the job perfectly well? I realize, of course, that there has been discussion in MENDELE regarding the "ay"/"ey" ambiguity, at least for English-speakers.) Regarding the use of "ch" in French, at YIVO we have a series published in Paris which bears the title "Domaine yidich." However, these days "Yiddish" is a commonly used spelling in French -- perhaps yet another example of the insidious influence of Franglais on the language of Voltaire, Racine and Finkielkraut. Zachary Baker 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Nov 26 20:34:21 1993 From: llisker@babel.ling.upenn.edu (Leigh Lisker) Subject: on Schmuck The German Schmuck of course rhymes with book, not with buch. To forstall any more such distressing discussing, it should be pointed out that German Putz, with a vowel like that in book, means finery, etc., i.e. semantically akin to Schmuck. It's presumably no problem to figure a semantic connection with the Yiddish words that resemble them phonetically. Leigh Lisker 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Nov 27 11:04:37 1993 From: AMITAI HALEVI Subject: Verb-first phrases Jeremy Stern makes a possible connection between the verb-first feature, e.g. Omer R. ploni, and its occurrence in talmudic Yiddish. Why stop with the Talmud? The verb-first form is ubiqitous in the Tanakh. To cite the granddaddy of them all, a sequence of five consecutive verbs preceding the subject: "...vayo'khal, vayesht, vayaqam, vayelekh, vayivez Esav et habekhorah. (Gen. 25,34). Amitai Halevi 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Nov 28 14:39:14 1993 From: "Dr. Arthur Komar" Subject: "Mayerson" vs. "Mair" A number of people indicated their chagrin at my somewhat insensitive but quite intentional comments concerning the name changes ofthe founders of the state of Israel. Of course my comment was intended to provoke a response. But I don't want it to be misunderstood to imply my lack of affection and support of Israel. It primarily reflects may sadness that the creation of a Hebrew state is leading to the slow demise of the Yiddish culture which I hold very dear. It is just another example of how the state sponsorship of one language and culture can lead to the marginalization of another. In fact if one listens to the Hebrew used in the American synogogues these days one hears how the Israeli sponsorship of the Sephardic prononciation is driving out the Ashkanazic pronunciation used almost univerally in the days of my youth. I have even heard people in one synogogue say that the Ashkenazic Hebrew was "incorrect"! Shades of Louis 14! In the 30's and 40's it was quite common for American Jews to anglisize their Jewish family names. The situation became so egregious that the New Yorker ran a cartoon showing a tomb stone with the inscription "In memory of our beloved father Haymen Cohn. Signed: William Mckenna, George Quesne, ...." My family deplored the shame and self-hate reflected by such behavior. I was therefore equally pained to see similar behavior by the Israeli leadership. I always felt that a far stronger blow against ubiquitous antisemitism would have struck by having the world leaders have to accept as equals the ghetto Jew a Dovid Grinboym (whatever the spelling) than the sanitized Israeli Dovid Ben Gurion for whom they have no preformed biased image. Now the goyim still can retain their schizophrenic dicotomy between "their" Jews, Grinboyn, et.al. and exotic Israelis about whom they have no prior mental associations. Hence my comment re Mayerson used to be a Jew but then she became Mair the Israeli. Fortunately in our hearts she always remained Golda. Moykhl Arre Komar 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Nov 28 14:22:39 1993 From: norman miller Subject: Videramol sissel bread In Vol3.044, Bob Hoberman put to rest the vexing problem of "sissel/sissle" bread, showing once and for all that it was what the rest of the world calls "corn" or "corn rye" bread. The description of how it's made might have daunted some Mendelniks who enjoy baking but don't enjoy working with super-sticky doughs. No longer. In "Secrets of a Jewish Baker" by George Greenstein (The Crossing Press, 1993) there is a recipe adapted for heavy-duty dough-mixing machines. Reports solicited. The author also has what looks like an authentic recipe for sour rye bread. Why "authentic"? Because it contains a substance I never heard of before. He spells it "altus". What is "altus"? A mash made from leftover bread. Might this in nusach YIVO be called "altes"? Noyekh The sissel story has its comic elements; at least we like to play it that way. But it's a sad story as well. Sholem Aleichem, in "Vos iz Khanuke?", saw it. So does the old hasidic story of the song whose words and later melody are forgotten. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.147 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files