Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.057 July 14, 1994 1) Die sieben "atas" (Frank Boches) 2) The Yiddish Voice (Pinyeh Weichsel) 3) Cholent/tsolent (Chana Luntz) 4) Echad me Yodea (Chana Luntz) 5) Addendum to the Gettysburg Address (Zellig Bach) 6) Theodore Bikel recordings (David Gasser) 7) Yiddish textbooks (David Gasser) 8) Jewess (Harold L. Orbach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 09:06 EDT From: Frank_M_BOCHES@umail.umd.edu (fb30) Subject: Die sieben "atas" Has anyone ever heard of a ditty, entitled "die sieben atas?" The word "atah" refers to the Hebrew word "Atoh" for "you." The song refers to seven times in the various liturgies where a paragraph begins with the word "atoh"--for example, "atoh chonen," "atoh yotzarto", etc.I believe the vocalist uses various tunes to correspond to the various holidays or occasions when the prayers are offered. Frank Boches 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 10:04:16 -0500 From: weichsel@symcom.math.uiuc.edu Subject: The Yiddish Voice I hope that the producers of The Yiddish Voice plan to make tapes available. I suspect there will be a substantial audience, myself included. Pinyeh Weichsel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 12:39:14 -0400 (EDT) From: luntz@panix.com Subject: Cholent/tsolent Thanks for all the people who replied to my question about cholent in Litvak yiddish. You're right, it probably is a better way to transliterate what my folks say as tsolent rather than solent. I guess i didn't do this because the way my folks say it the "s" part of the ts is more dominant than it is in say Tsaddik. In Tzaddik there is more of a plosive at the beginning, whereas the ts in tsolent is more sibulant somehow (if this makes any sense at all), but now that I think about it there is a "t" sound under the s. Anyhow, it is good to know that it is a real dialect, although I don't know that I will ever be able to use it, it is too engrained in me that it is "wrong", which is a shame I suppose. Chana Luntz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 12:25:09 -0400 (EDT) From: luntz@panix.com Subject: Echad me Yodea Thanks to all the people who responded to my Echad me yodea question. I am aware of the other version (although I wouldn't mind a full copy of the words). I had heard the Theodore Birkel (Sp?) tape (although don't have the song book) and that version is not too disimilar to the other version that we sing (we put an oy vey um diti um dum in the first line, but the tune is pretty much the same). What I really wanted to know was about the other version I posted. If you look at it, it really is quite different (the tune is very different too) and much more fun, because it includes the list of whatever it is that is being described. As I have never heard it anywhere else (while lots of people seem to have the Theodore Birkel version), I really wanted to try and find the full words. It would be a shame if this variant tradition got lost because nobody could sing it properly. Chana Luntz 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 17:56:02 EDT From: Zellig@aol.com Subject: Addendum to the Gettysburg Address in Yiddish The Yiddish translation of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (Mendele, Vol. 4.054) is longer than the original text with but 19 words. The reason is that certain Yiddish verbs are periphrastic, that is one part of the verb remains invariant (constant), without any inflections, and always comes in combination with an auxiliary verb, such as "zayn" or "hobn" that changes. (For example: in "lib hobn" lib is the invariant verb while "hobn" changes according to number, tense, etc.) Thus, in the Yiddish translation it was at times necessary to use two words instead of one. In adition it was necessary in some instances to add a preposition, as well as an article where English does without one. Zellig Bach 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 22:46:42 EST From: david_gasser@merck.com Subject: Theodore Bikel recordings After several weeks of observation, I am delighted to be able to contribute. Chana Luntz began a discussion of words to the Yiddish version of Ekhad Mi Yodea. Harvey Spiro (and others) then referred to the Bikel version. Harvey metioned that the recordings were long out-of-print. Fortunately, some of them have been reissued on CD! They are now on the Bainbridge label. 1. Sings Jewish Folk Songs BCD-2507 2. Sings Yiddish Theatre & Folk Songs BCD 2504 3. Songs of a Russian Gypsy BCD 2506 I am under the impression that Bainbridge has released another disc or is planning to do so soon. My interest in Yiddish began when I first heard these songs, two years ago. I am pleased to pass this information along. David Gasser 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 22:49:53 EST From: david_gasser@merck.com Subject: Yiddish Textbooks As I mentioned in a recent posting, my interest in Yiddish began when I heard the music of Theodore Bikel. While my grandparents spoke Yiddish, I didn't know them very well. I certainly had no opportunity to learn from them. Now, I am trying to teach myself. I speak Dutch fluently and, as such, can understand a lot. I would like to find a good textbook. If anyone out there in Mendlespace has some suggestions (along with publishers, etc.), I would really like to hear them. David Gasser 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 00:34 CDT From: HLORBACH@KSUVM Subject: Jewess...Apology for error and addendum Before others correct me, there is/was the term 'pantheress' in English; and Walpole is cited for artistess in 1773. So much for any knowledge offered without checking the OED! Having now done so, an interesting pattern emerges. OED credits the source of both 'Jew' and 'Jewess' to OLD French: juiue, juise. The dates of English usage examples go back to the 13th century for 'Jew' 14th for 'Jewess'. OED traces 'Negress' to "modern" French 'negr`esse'. Similarly, the various terms for women of standing: baroness, countess, duchess, empress, hostess, marquisess, mistress, princess all derive from OF or French in one instance. In the case of feline animals, the same pattern obtains: the ones that have 'ess' forms come from OF or F, the ones that don't have it come from other languages. The OED tells us under 'ess' that this came from OF, was originally 'esse' and by the 15th century had become so common as a feminine ending that it was generally used to replace the older English '(e)ster' which lost its feminine meaning except in 'spinster'; it was then added to previously ungendered English words as well to form feminines (e.g., dwelleress, seeress). OED gives numerous examples of usages, including one that might raise even more hackles -- "Hebrewess." When or where has one last seen this? Can one imagine this in the Forward! Despite an apparently "innocent" linguistic origin, none-the-less, the connotations attached to usage over time and in specific social contexts is another matter. But for the form we can blame it on the French, i.e., the Norman conquerors. Harold L. Orbach ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.057 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. Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu