Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.263 January 6, 1995 1) Heymishe khasene (Michael Shimshoni) 2) Heymishe khasene (Barry Walfish) 3) Litve (Anatole Beck) 4) Verbs in -nen (Mikhl Herzog) 5) Etiquette (Rick Gildemeister) 6) Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (Zachary Baker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 05 Jan 95 16:00:32 +0200 From: mash@weizmann.weizmann.ac.il Subject: Heymishe khasene Andrew Cassel asked for the meaning of a few phrases in Yiddish and alas I cannot help with them. Towards the end he asked: >* four words I in (I presume) Hebrew, spelled: kof-lamed, >daled-kof-fey-vov-nun, yud-vov-tof-alef, vov-yud-alef-kof-lamed. Actually it is not in Hebrew but in Aramaic, and it is a phrase used during the Seder service (in sefardi pronunciation): "kol dikhfin yetei veyekhol", every hungry one should come and eat. Sometimes one uses just the first two words "kol dikhfin" for everyone who needs some help, thus fitting the original Yiddish phrase "fray far alemen". Michael Shimshoni 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 04 Jan 1995 20:07:21 EST From: walfish@vax.library.utoronto.ca Subject: Heymishe khasene Andrew Cassel's four words are: kol dikhfin yete ve-yekhol and are actually in Aramaic and are taken from the beginning of the hagode, from the paragraph which begins: Ha lakhma anya. They mean: let all who are hungry come and eat. Barry Walfish 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Jan 95 20:37:03 CST From: beck@math.wisc.edu Subject: Litve I am astounded by the discussion of the status of the Jews of White Russia. My mothe was from Brest-Litovsk, and always spoke of herself as a Litvak. Can it be that she was mistaken, or is there some sort of particularism surfacing here? Anatole Beck 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 4 Jan 95 22:27 EST From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Verbs in -nen Dovid Braun: Some random comments on your posting of December 29: 1. Without a better understanding of the etymology of "dav(e)nen", we can't be sure whether the variants "davnen/davenen" are the result of epenthesis or syncope. 2. In any event, it's probably not productive to group "davenen", THE universal form in ALL of Southern Yiddish with "lerenen", at most, an occasional variant. 3. The phenomenon you're interested in is NOT restricted to verb stems in /n/; to wit, hargenen, daygenen, eytsenen, paskenen, darshenen, etc. 4. Still, of the verbs just cited, "paskenen" (and, perhaps, "darshenen") can actually be said to have two stems, as evidenced by the third person variants: "pasket" and "pasknt", "darshet" (Dutch Yiddish "darsht"!)and "darshnt" (?). 5. Unlike the Litvish preference for the variant "davnen", in contrast to SY "davEnen", Litvish says "leyEnen", in contrast to Central Yiddish "laynen". 6. Although "ley(e)nen" is an "n-stem" today (always "ikh leyen/layen", by the way (never *layn), it is not an "n-stem" historically; 3rd person "ley-t/ley-en"--no thematic "n". Descriptively, we can speak of the further inflection of the plural to yield the pleonastic plural/infinitive "leyen-en". 7. This doesn't seem to be much different from the process of further inflecting inflected forms to yield words like "vemen(en)", "alemen", even "beydemen". 8. I have recorded the Central Yiddish forms "nayenen" 'to sew', "es shnayent" 'it's snowing', and "zikh unti:nen" 'to get dressed' (in the sentence "ints tinen mer zekh azoy nisht un"). 9. In my study of Markuze's _Seyfer Refues_ of 1790, (Columbia MA Essay, 1960), I tried to explain the origin of this phenomenon as a consequence of contact between Yiddish "n-dropping" and "n- preserving" dialects. I won't have access to a copy till late next week to see whether I still stand by what I wrote then. Happy New Year. Mikhl Herzog 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 05 Jan 95 09:29:20 EST From: eeglc%cunyvm.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: Etiquette In Mendele 4.261 Daniella HarPaz has brought up the issue of etiquette on this list. I, for one, echo her sentiments. In German there is a word "Herzenstakt" the courtesy of the heart, which is based not on a code of manners or etiquette, but on the basic consideration for others' feelings. I am shocked, yes, shocked, at the nastiness of some of the curt messages "correcting" information in others' postings. I've discussed this off-line, and someone justified this saying they didn't want to be long-winded. When you consider how many more keyboard strokes it would take to add the sentiments of courtesy and consideration to some messages, I don't think Daniella, or I, or anyone else, for that matter, if they think about it, would feel it was too much to ask and would welcome a little more "long-windedness". I fear, though, that some people may not know how to respond diplomatically. There are some people who thrive on all-out lambasting. I don't think, though, that they represent the majority. Daniella has done us a great favor by bringing this up. I hope others will join me in saying, "What a relief, I thought I was the only one who felt this way". Rick Gildemeister 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 95 09:08:30 PST From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen [!] The January/February 1995 issue of Congress Monthly has the following article, which may be of interest to some of our more musically inclined Mendelnikes: "The Curious History of 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen'," by Marvin Caplan (pp. 13-16). Mr. Caplan is a Washington-based writer who is working on a series of articles devoted to great Yiddish songs. This song has been discussed previously on Mendele, and I thought it would be a good idea to add to the discussion by mentioning this latest treatment. The same issue of Congress Monthly has an article about the An-sky expedition exhibit, currently on (until early March) at the Jewish Museum, in New York: "S. An-sky: Preserver of Russian Jewish Memory," by Mark W. Kiel (pp. 16-17). Mark Kiel is a congregational rabbi who has a doctorate in Jewish history, as well as impeccable Yiddish credentials. (His father is the writer Khonon Kiel.) Zachary Baker, YIVO Library ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.263 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 Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu