Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.359 March 9, 1995 1) Khatskele (Orem iz nit gut) (Arre Komar) 2) Orem iz nit gut (Khatskele) (Bob Rothstein) 3) Bobe-zeyde (Dovid Braun) 4) History of _gel_ 'yellow' and _fuftsn_ (Dovid Braun) 5) Krupin dictionary (Leonard Prager) 6) Yiddish Mac software (Yekhiel-Yosef Reisner) 7) Yiddish greetings (Chane Honig) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 23:41:31 -0500 (EST) From: komar@yu1.yu.edu Subject: Khatskele (Orem iz nit gut) The song or poem requested is a folk song found in a nuber of collections e.g. such as Ruth Rubin's A Treasury of Jewish Folksongs. Then words are: Chorus: Orem iz nit gut, Orim iz nit gut Lomir zich nit shemen mit eygenem blut. 1: Khatskele, khatskele shpil mir a kazatskele khotch an orime, abi a khvatske. 2: Khatskele, khatskele, shpil mir a dume Un khotch an orime abi a frume. 3: Nit kayn gebetene, aleyn gekumen. Khotch an orimke, fort a mume. 4: Khatskele, khatskele shpil-zhe mir a semele Far a drayeerl oyf khatske's kremele. Arre Komar 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 00:23:18 -0500 (EST) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: Orem iz nit gut (Khatskele) Dorian (Dovid Moishe) Goldstein asked in 4.357 about a song that his father remembered in part. Sarah Pitkowsky Schack's collection _Yiddish Folk Songs_ (New York, 1924) contains a similar text (her transliteration standardized): Nit keyn gebetene, aleyn gekumen, Take an oreme fort a mume. Orem iz nit gut, Orem iz nit gut, Lomir zikh nit shemen Mit eygenem blut. Sore di rebetsin, di kales a mume, Take an oreme fort a frume. Khatskele, Khatskele, shpilt mir a kazatskele, Khotsh an oreme, abi a khvatskele. Nat aykh a peyem, shpilt mir a zemele, Khaneles khosele heyst dokh Avremele. (Harkavy defines _peym_ as a 3-groshn coin.) Ginzburg and Marek's _Evreiskie narodnye pesni v Rossii_ (St. Petersburg, 1901; reprinted by Bar-Ilan University under Dov Noy's editorship in 1991) contains several variant stanzas under #254 (with Andrew Cassel's grandfather listed as one of the informants): Nit keyn gebetene aleyn gekumen-- khotz an oreme, fort a mume. [Sorele di rebetsin, di kales a mume, nit keyn gebetene aleyn gekumen.] Gegebn a peymele-- tsugenumen: shpilt a semene far a mumen. [Shpilt mir a semene, nit keyn kazatske, ikh bin an oreme, ober a khvatske! Nat aykh a peyem, shpilt mir a semele,-- Khaneles khosele ruft men Avremele. Nat aykh a peyem, shpilt mir a kazatske, ikh bin an oreme, ober a khvatske!] Bob Rothstein 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 01:22:02 EST From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: Bobe-zeyde Devorah Halperin Biasca: Although the dictionary (U. Weinreich's) lists only _zeyde-bobe_, I've come across _bobe-zeyde_ much more frequently. There's one with the woman first. Dovid Braun 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 01:29:46 EST From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: History of _gel_ 'yellow' and _fuftsn_ Does anybody know how comes it that Yiddish 'yellow' is (in most dialects) _gel_, as opposed to German _gelb_? What's it like in German/Dutch... dialects? And does anybody (it doesn't have to be the same person) know why (Northeastern) Yiddish has [fin(e)f] but [fuftsn], not *[fiftsn]? Thanks in advance! Dovid Braun 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 09 Mar 95 11:03:44 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: Krupin dictionary I have just received a letter from Manuel Krupin, 11431 Clover Ave., Los Angeles, CA. 90066, USA. Tel. No. 310-391-9659, announcing the reprinting of his father N. Krupin's _Hantbukh fun hebreizmen in der yidisher shprakh_ Buenos Aires: IKUF, 1957. He would like advice on distributing the book to interested parties. Mit di beste grusn, Leonard Prager 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 09 Mar 95 12:11:49 CET From: reisner%plearn.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: Yiddish Mac software I know this has been discussed, but I wasn't interested in the subject at the time, so zayt moykhl.... My colleagues at the Jewish Historical Institute are interested in finding out about the availability of Yiddish-language word processing softare for the Apple Macintosh. They have recently acquired their first computers from the Polish-German Foundation and tey are all Macs. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. If they can get these machines up and running, then computer cataloguing of the archives (incl. valuable diaries, Holocaust testimonies and literary works can finally begin in earnest). A sheynem dank un a freylekhn Purim, fraynt! Yekhiel-Yosef Reisner Varshe 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 10:29:09 -0500 (EST) From: ahonig@mailbox.syr.edu Subject: Yiddish greetings In reply to mendelnik Turkel's request for more about "Vos machst du?": When i ask an older friend (a Holocaust survivor) in shul...she always replies "Ich mach nisht visindik" which is such a cute reply.. Several folks i know always answer this one with a frage..." Nu, vos zol machn a Yid?" Some others answer me " Ich mach a lebn, danks Got!". Perhaps we could list all the off-beat replies to "vos machst du"...aside from "nisht azoy gut"..and other more pedestrian returns to this well worn Yiddish greeting!. Chane Honig ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.359 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