Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.326 April 22, 1994 1) Mountain Jews (Leah Zazulyer) 2) Finger games (Leah Zazulyer) 3) Loshn-koydesh words vs Germanic (Rick Gildemeister) 4) Introduction & gzhibe (Perl Teitelbaum) 5) Re: me tut fregn (Khayem Bochner) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Apr 21 12:56:14 1994 From: WATSON@UNO.CC.GENESEO.EDU Subject: Mountain Jews It is my understanding that the socalled Mountain Jews. speak Tat, a Persian languagesome 1500 years old. Their true connection to Judaism is not clear anymore. Leah Zazulyer 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Apr 21 14:05:02 1994 From: WATSON@UNO.CC.GENESEO.EDU Subject: Finger Games Can anyone add to my memories of a phrase something like "chip-chip, belalach", said while two people alternatingly pinch the skin of the other person's hand, palm down, followed by some other phrase and a scrambling of hands, or some such? Leah Zazulyer 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Apr 21 13:13:16 1994 From: EEGLC%CUNYVM.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: Loshn-koydesh words vs Germanic I often find myself wondering why a loshn-koydesh word would have entered Yiddish when Germanic equivalents exist. I've not read anything on the subject, but I have a few hunches. Words relating to religious practice, of course, abound (interesting exception is Yortsayt, which I read somewhere wended its way into the speech of Bukharan Jews). The category that I couldn't get were these everyday words like meyle, efsher, mistome, etc. It occurred to me finally that these words serve to qualify or distinguish. I've had occasion to listen to "religious discourse Yiddish" on WEVD, and it occurs to me that there may lie the origin of these words. Words like probably, necessarily, perhaps, even, etc., which are used in Talmudic discourse could have received a "Jewish" colorization in the popular mind and be perceived, therefore, as different from their Germanic equivalents, or have a Jewish nuance to them. These words were, then, introduced by men? Someone on Mendele said a few weeks ago, "I don't write about what I don't know," so I think I'll sign off this subject and let the khakhomim un gelernte layt bay undz in Mendele tell us the real scoop on this, if there is one. Rick Gildemeister 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Apr 21 19:23:59 1994 From: 74031.775@CompuServe.COM Subject: Introduction & gzhibe Ikh heys Perl Teitlboym/ Paula Teitelbaum un ikh bin geboyrn gevorn in poyln nokh der tsveyter velt milkhome. Keyn amerike bin ikh gekumen in 1967. Mayn yidish iz fun der heym un fun shul. Ikh ken oykh poylish, rusish, shpanish un a bisl hebreish. Howie Aronson shraybt "A student of mine recently heard the Yiddish word 'zhibe' which is said to mean something approximating hair coming down over the forehead.....The question arises, where does it come from?...." >From Polish. The word "grzywa" ( rz = z as in azure ) means a horse's mane, and "grzywka" means bangs. Thus the Yiddish "gzhibe" - to mean both. The second one is frequently used in our family. My six-year-old daughter is always told, "Kem tsu di gzhibe!" Look at the Polish spelling, and you can see why it was impossible to find in a Polish dictionary. Perl Teitelbaum 5)--------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Apr 22 09:43:04 1994 From: bochner@das.harvard.edu Subject: Re: me tut fregn Arayngekukt in Vaynraykhs _Geshihkte fun der yidisher shprakh_ tsu zen vos er shraybt vegn "a kuk ton", hob ikh gefunen epes interesants vegn "me tut fregn". Dos hob ikh gefunen in di heores ("footnotes"), vos zenen nishto in der englisher iberzetsung. Ikh tsitir fun dem fertn band, zaytl 252: "Mitn aspektoidn furem _(ikh) tu a shprung_ tor men nit tsunoyfmishn di perifrastishe konstruktsye _(ikh) tu shpringen_, vos zi vert oft genitst in tkhine-loshn un oykh ertervayz in tsentral-yidish in der geredter shprakh. Beetsem iz _(ikh) tu shpringen_ = _(ikh) shpring_, mernit vos di forme iz lenger un bemeyle hot zi mer vog in zats. Dos iz efsher der tam, vos zi hot gefunen an akhize in tkhine-loshn (6.9); a mol iz zi mashmoes geven mer farshpreyt in der reydshprakh oykh." Heyst es az M. Vaynrakh hot gemeynt az dos iz poshet a stilistishe zakh (un iz ale mol geven azoy?). Yudl Mark un andere hobn ober gemeynt az s'iz do a taytsh fun aspekt. Fun vanen shtamt dos khiluke-deyes? Ikh heyb nisht on tsu visn. Khayem Bochner ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.326 A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu