Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.345 May 10, 1994 1) Introduction (Ryan Oliver) 2) Shin-vov-lamed-lamed (Arnie Kuzmack) 3) Lesbian klezmorim (Shleyme Axelrod) 4) Birobidzhan (Diane Rabson) 5) Oyverbotl/orembotl (Elye/t Hersh Gertl) 6) A makh ton (Beatrice Santorini) 7) Yiddish word for marry (Zev Kesselman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 09 May 1994 23:24:58 -0400 (EDT) From: RYAN@umiami.ir.miami.edu Subject: Introduction There isn't much to say. My mother speaks Yiddish, eventhough sh is from Cuba. Her parents were from Russia. I don't speak much just know a few phrases and words, but I am interested in learning. I do know Hebrew. i am residing in Miami for a while. Ryan Oliver 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat May 7 00:17:32 1994 From: kuzmack@umbc.edu Subject: Shin-vov-lamed-lamed Dvorah Halperin Biasca asks about the translation of shin-vov-lamed-lamed in the following phrase by H. Leivick: > ver es iz 'sh-v-l-l' di lebedike role fun undzer literatur un fun undzer > yidish, iz 'sh-v-l-l' undzer koym-ideye umetum. Shoylel zayn is derived from the Hebrew root shin-lamed-lamed, meaning to negate or deny (an idea or statement). The Modern Hebrew [shlili], 'negative', is from the same root. Arnie Kuzmack 3)--------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon May 9 14:28:40 1994 From: PTYAXEL@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: Lesbian klezmorim A bilingual gag too good to go unremarked in MENDELE appears in a piece in the latest issue of _Bridges_ ("A journal for Jewish feminists and our friends", whose managing editor, incidentally, is a MENDELEnitse.) The article mentions a klezmer band, whose players are lesbians, named ... Lebedyke un Freylekh. Doubling the pun, the writer points out that "_lebedik un freylekh_ means _joyous and gay_ in Yiddish". --Shleyme Axelrod 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon May 9 15:01:47 1994 From: rabson@meeker.ucar.EDU Subject: Birobidzhan Our Yiddish vinkl may be interested in contributing a book or two to the folks in Birobidzhan. Did anyone get their mailing address? I've sent a couple of messages, but have heard nothing. I assume they were also referred to the National Yiddish Book Center. Diane Rabson 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon May 9 17:39:33 1994 From: EGERTEL@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU Subject: Oyverbotl/orembotl . Kh'veys az in posekh shteyt [OYVERBOT L] taytsh "senil" nor bay uns in der meshpokhe zogt men "OREMbotl" aroysgeredt epes azoyns: [OOrem-bootl]. Nokh emetser? Tsi bin ikh oykhet gevorn ........ (khas-vekholile!)... Agev, hob ikh nisht tsu der hant a Stutshkov do bay mir in byuro (un farkert, nishto keyn kompyuter bay uns in der shtub...). Mit de'kherets, Elye/t Hersh Gertl 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue May 10 00:17:36 1994 From: beatrice@zora.ling.nwu.edu Subject: "a makh ton" hello, i have two questions. one is relatively straightforward, and the other perhaps less so. the straightforward one first. i can't figure out what the following sentence from "grine felder" means. Me tor nisht a makh ton mitn hant oyf a dorf-mentshn. now the second question, which is related a bit to holger nath's recent question about "nas vern/vern nas". the reason i'm interested in the sentence from "grine felder" is that it is an instance of the so-called stem construction---that is, the type "a shprung ton", "a geshrey-oys gebn", etc. in this construction, the stem "a shprung", "a geshrey-oys" and so on usually precedes "ton" or "gebn" (at least when those verbs are infinitives or participles). but there seems to be some word order variation possible. in his insightful article on the construction (word 38 (1987), 13-25), moyshe taube writes that "er hot ir a kush gegebn" and "er hot ir gegebn a kush" are both possible (p.22, fn.3). now "kush" exists as an independent word, but certain stems are not like this. for instance, the list that taube gives on p.15 of his article includes "bombel" (dangle), "koketir" (flirt), "mrike" (grumble), "waks" (grow), all of which are restricted to the stem construction. what i am curious to know is whether it is possible to have, say, "kh'hob dos ershte mol geton a koketir" or "hot dos berdl bay mayn bruder shtark geton a vaks" in addition to the attested examples that taube cites ("kh'hob dos ershte mol a koketir geton" (p.15) or "hot dos berdl bay mayn bruder shtark geton a vaks" (p.20). many thanks in advance for any information on this. beatrice santorini (b-santorini@nwu.edu) 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue May 10 11:05:00 1994 From: zev%hadassah@VMS.HUJI.AC.IL Subject: Yiddish word for marry Has it ever been discussed/determined here, whether the similarity of the word for "get married" (hairaten) to the Hebrew formula ("harei at...") is accidental or not? A native German speaker here claims the word is pure German. If yes, can you cite the appropriate reference? If not, can you post the opening paragraph? Zev Kesselman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.345 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