Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.127 October 6, 1994 1) Mystery of lamed-sof=tzadik finally solved (Leybl Botwinik) 2) Simchas Torah song (Andrew Cassel) 3) Oranges and pomegranates (Moyshe Taube) 4) Technical Yiddish "Verterbukh" (Shloyme-Khayem Cohen ) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Oct 94 21:10:58 IST From: leybl@telecomm.tadiran.co.il Subject: Mystery of lamed-sof=tzadik finally solved First, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the search for clues on the mystery, of why Yitzkhak Leybush Peretz was listed under the abbreviation "lamed-sof=tzadik" which refers to the first letter of Leybush, and the last letter of Peretz. I managed to track down Mr. Shmuel Ashkenazi (=S.A.) the co-author of the book "Otzar Rashey Tevot" (Treasury of Abbreviations). The two-letter combination was how Y.L.Peretz often signed (or initialized) his works. In fact, the combination spells out "letz" which is 'clown', in yiddish, and according to S.A. in Zalmen Reisen's Lexicon Fun Yiddishe Shray- bers(?) it is mentioned that Peretz refered to himself as the "letz fun der redaktzie" ('clown of the editorial staff/room'). Well, several generations later, that same clown got the better of me, and didn't let me rest until I tracked down the mystery's source and explanation. By the way, Michael Shimshoni in V4.096 solved the mystery, but I didn't catch it, because of the way it was worded: "... as the way a certain writer signed some of his works". In fact, the rest of his response dealing with verses tied to personal names was very informative and interesting. a shaynem dank. un itzter, ken ikh shlofn ruik... Leybl Botwinik 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Oct 94 21:03 edt From: acassel@philly.cerf.fred.org Subject: Simchas Torah song In my grandfather's memoirs I find the following passage, which I've translated except for some of the Hebrew. The scene is Simchas Torah in Keidan, about 1890 ... ... Since it was already beginning to get dark and afternoon prayers were more or less over, they all set off, singing, bringing their gabais to the shul. Henekh the candlemaker walked up front. He wore only the right sleeve of his coat, carrying the left side tucked under his left arm. A top hat, not his own and much bigger than his head, was pushed down over his eyes, so barely the tip of his long nose could be seen.... Henekh led the crowd in singing as they marched: Henekh: Yo Adir, yo adir, [God is great, God is great] The crowd: Adirey amkho yisroel, adirey amkho yisroel. [The greatness of the nation of Israel] Henekh: Adir boneh beysekh, beysekh ibonah. Adir boneh beysekh, beysekh ibonah. [We will build your mighty house] v'shem neshemakh koleynu, koleynu. The crowd: Godolim v'katnim yokhed oteynu [great and small ... Godolim v'katnim yokhed oteynu Yeyru oneynu, v'yeyshemakh lebeynu, v'tagol nafsheynu bimheyro biyomeynu, bimheyro biyomeynu, haleluya. Yo Borakh ... and so forth through the alphabet. I wonder, first, if I've transliterated this correctly, and second, whether anyone can identify this as a liturgical, folk or other type of chant? Since my grandfather was something of a folklorist (he collected about 40 percent of the songs in the 1901 Ginzburg-Marek book) I suspect this might be documented somewhere. But I don't know where. A dank Andrew Cassel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 05 Oct 94 10:43:00 PDT From: taube@hum.huji.ac.il Subject: Oranges and pomegranates I might add another confusing similarity with Italian. Perhaps some of you have experienced, too, turning the tap in an Italian hotel with the marking CALDO on it and expecting cold water. Now the Yiddish word for pomegranate, milgroym, is also of romance origin, and can be reconstructed on the basis of Latin malum (with along a) `apple' and granatum `full of seeds'. Thus, no Slavic provenance, although in one 15th century West Russian translation of the Song of Songs made from the Hebrew by Jews, pomegranates are "margramy". Moyshe Taube 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 10:33:02 EDT From: smc5@Lehigh.edu Subject: Technical Yiddish "Verterbukh" Having seen various words used for modern technological terms, especially the recent "i-post (elektre-post)" and "krikh-post" for English "e-mail" and "snail-mail", I am wondering if there is a comprehensive modern Yiddish dictionary for technological terms. Weinreich's dictionary is now over 25 years old, and, while there are the words for television and radio incorporated into it, we need a more modern update. "Yugntruf" journal carried a computer column for several years, with vocabulary lists, a few years ago. I have about 2/3 of Feinstone's introductory chemistry book (on photocopies), but that was printed in 1920, and I have a biology text in Yiddish from the 1930s. Several years ago there was a note in the journal of the American Chemical Society (C&E News) about an old Yiddish translation of Oswald's chemistry textbook, and through mid-century the Soviets published scientific books in Yiddish. My point is, there ought to a be comprehensive collection of these terms, especially with the rise of computer and engineering technology among the "masses". If there is none as yet, I would be willing to start an "addendum" or "addition" (or whatever it may be called) to Weinreich's dictionary, or, perhaps, put out a separate "Yiddish technical dictionary", if I had lexicological help. I am not a Yiddish scholar (nor tsvey yor in universitet fun pensilveynie) but I have a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. If there are any menshn interested in such a project, shikt mir i-post (smc5@lehigh.edu), zayt azoy gut. Shloyme-Khayem (Steve) Cohen ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.127 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) 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 Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu