Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.236 February 14, 1994 1) Fishman papers (Cecile Kuznitz) 2) Vos meint "intermarriage"? (David Sherman) 3) A query (Mikhl Herzog) 4) Ludwik Zamenhof's Yiddish grammar (Zachary Baker) 5) Indian Jewry (Meylekh Viswanath) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Feb 14 01:45:21 1994 From: Cecile Esther Kuznitz Subject: Fishman papers The Fishmans have asked me to post the following: Stanford University has recently acquired the Papers of Dr. Joshua A. (Shikl) Fishman and Gella Schweid Fishman. Dr. Fishman is a noted sociolinguist and activist in the field of Yiddish language and culture. His papers include materials from his courses, lectures, and research projects, as well as published and unpublished works. Mrs. Fishman's papers pertain primarily to her work in the Yiddish secular school movement in the United States. Also included are manuscripts of the Yiddish poetry of Rukhl Fishman, Dr. Fishman's sister. The collection also comprises professional and personal correspondence, as well as other materials pertaining to Yiddishist activity among five generations of the Fishman family. For further information, please contact Margaret Kimball, Head of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, at (415)725-1161. Cecile Kuznitz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Feb 14 03:53:44 1994 From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman) Subject: Vos meint "intermarriage"? Dan Leeson writes: > There are certain areas of Europe where the intermarriage rate was > so high (and for generations) that the presence of diseases > transmitted genetically... Dan goes on to use the term "intermarriage" extensively to mean "marrying relatives". I've always known the term to mean "marrying out" (i.e., marrying a non-Jew). Is its use in Dan's terms common? And, to bring us back to an appropriate topic for MENDELE, what are the Yiddish words for (1) marrying out, and (2) "intermarriage" in the sense that Dan uses it? David Sherman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Feb 14 08:19:41 1994 From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU Subject: A query I need an authoritative spelling with nikud for the Aramaic feminine of "roshe"; i.e. for Yiddish "rOshete/reshAnte". Much obliged. Mikhl 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Feb 14 14:13:02 1994 From: "Zachary M. Baker" Subject: Ludwik Zamenhof's Yiddish grammar In the Feb. 4 and 11 issues of the "Forverts," Dovid Katz has two articles on Yiddish and Esperanto -- specifically, on Dr. Ludwik Zamenhof's relationship to the predominant language of his native Bialystok (a city that was well over half Jewish in his day). A portion of an otherwise unpublished Yiddish grammar by Zamenhof was printed in "Dos naye leben" (NY) in 1909; at the conclusion of his second article Dovid Katz asks the following question: "Tsi hot zikh amol ergetsvu oyfgehit a kopye fun Zamenhofs keynmol nisht farefntlekhter gramatik fun yidish, vos er hot geshribn mit an erekh 120 yor tsurik? ... Tsi hot es mitgenumen in Amerike A. Litvin? [der aroysgeber fun 'Dos naye leben' -- ZB] Nokh zayn toyt in 1943, zaynen zayne papirn ariber in arkhiv fun der Yivo. Darf men zukhn." Regretfully, it appears that A. Litvin did not have a copy of the Zamenhof manuscript. I have checked the inventory to the A. Litvin Papers in the YIVO Archives (Record Group #206) and did not find any mention of a manuscript meeting that description. It is conceivable -- though not likely, since the inventory is quite detailed -- that the grammar might yet be located among Litvin's papers, but that would require more time and effort that I am able to devote at this time. Liber Hirshe-Dovid, kh'veys nit tsi du krigstdem MENDELE. Tomer nit, bet ikh bay ayere noente in England oder Veylz, zey zoln dir ibergebn dem toykhn fun mayne bamerkungen. Zachary Baker, YIVO Library 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Feb 14 16:05:27 1994 From: VISWANATH@draco.rutgers.edu Subject: Indian Jewry In discussing the origin of European Jews, Ellen Prince interjects (in a much earlier issue of Mendele--I was out of town): >furthermore, >we know that it was entirely male migration in the case of the jews >of india, and yet these communities have managed to keep a strictly >jewish identity to the present day. I would appreciate it if Ellen could provide a reference to this point. Are we talking about the Cochini jews, or the bnei israel? Meylekh ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.236 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU 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