Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.374 March 27, 1995 1) Expressions (Rick Turkel) 2) Expressions (Rita Falbel) 3) A ditty for Mashinke (Mendy Fliegler) 4) Are shtrayml and sheytl diminutives? (Shleyme Axelrod) 5) Statistics of Yiddish-speakers (Dovid Braun) 6) Pultusk and bavarka (Harvey Spiro) 7) Request for help (Sholem Berger) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 95 14:49:10 EST From: rturkel@cas.org Subject: Expressions [A]nother amusing direct translation of a Yiddish expression: Sit yourself away. And a Latvian-immigrant acquaintance of mine, on being asked "vos hert zikh?" sometimes answers either "kayn bris nit" or, in the absence of mixed company, "az m'shtinkt on, hert zikh." Be me well. Rick Turkel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 09:52:25 -0500 From: rfalbel@mail.med.cornell.edu Subject: Expressions My father, who was born in Kamionka-Strumilova and grew up in Zamarstynow, a suburb of Lwow, (both shtetls in Galicia) used to answer to "Vos Machst Du" with "Ich mach in di hosen," which roughly translated means "I make in my pants." But that seems to be more an answer to "Vi machst du?" or "How are you doing?" and maybe that was the question. A belated thanks to those who gave me information about Zamartynow. Rita Falbel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 20:03:14 -0500 From: sroolik@aol.com Subject: A ditty for Mashinke Efsher ken eymitzer dos kinder lidele: Sur-e Betrani zeyger akht, oyb mir geyn in shul baynakht, dos benkele shteyt, der rebbe shmayst, Oy vey Mame, der tokhes bayst. Efsher ken eymitzer fun vanen dos iz gekumen? (nisht fun mayn kop) Mendy Fliegler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 21:45:37 -0500 (EST) From: ptyaxel@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: Are shtrayml and sheytl diminutives? _Dos shtrayml_ 'fur-edged hat worn by some khsidim' and _dos sheytl_ 'Jewish woman's wig' look like diminutives. Are they? Neither _shtraym_ nor _sheyt_ appears in Weinreich's dictionary. A dank. Shleyme Axelrod Buffalo, New York 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 03:47:25 EST From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: Statistics of Yiddish-speakers For statistics of speakers of Yiddish and for analysis thereof, Khaver Zimmerman's student should consult the works of Joshua A. Fishman. The two most recent, up-to-date and germane are the volumes he has authored: _Reversing Language Shift_ (the chapter comparing the statuses of Yiddish, Navajo and Spanish in the USA) and _Yiddish:Turning to Life_. The latter is a collection of the author's essays on the sociology of Yiddish written over the past two decades. Both volumes are from the early 1990s; the former published by Multilingual Matters and the latter by D. Benjamins. Does Miriam Isaacs also have a paper out on statistics of Yiddish-speakers in Israel? If she's reading, maybe she'll provide us with some info. This probably exhausts non-anecdotal treatment of the subject. (Of course, I hope I'm wrong.) Dovid Braun 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 22 14:30:35 1995 From: hjs@nrc.gov Subject: Pultusk (Poland) and the drink "bavarka" We've had talk in Mendele about "words only my family uses," and how they often turn out to be regionalisms. My submittal in that category is the term "bavarka," referring to a "hot toddy" that my mother and grandmother prepared frequently. It was simply very hot water spiked with an inch or so of milk. My mother's family is from Pultusk, a town about 60 miles due north of Warsaw. Her Yiddish was native and fluent, but I no longer can remember enough of it to describe it or characterize it. In particular, her pronunciation of Hebrew (e.g., when davnen) was quite distinctive and like none I've heard except from her immediate family. I'd appreciate any comments from readers about the Yiddish from that region, and why the Hebrew might have been so distinctive. I've looked in vain for references to the drink bavarka, but have found none. Might it be a Polish word? Anyone else use that word? Harvey Spiro Vienna, Virginia 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 17:57:50 -0800 (PST) From: zdb@cco.caltech.edu Subject: Watson fellowship, 1995-6: a request for help I'm a newcomer to this list, and I feel somewhat self-conscious about asking for advice when I've only posted once. But here goes. I've received a Watson Fellowship for 1995-6. The Watson Foundation awards stipends for projects during the year after graduation from college (Caltech, in my case). These projects must be undertaken overseas, and they are often off-the-wall. My project? I plan to spend the first six months in Spain, studying how minority languages and cultures (in particular, Gallego, Catalan, and Vasco) are furthered and supported under Spain's autonomous region system. I want to focus on language education. How are parents encouraged, convinced, or otherwise caused to transmit a minority language to their children--especially in a majority culture as pervasive as Castille's? For the second six months, I'll be in Eastern Europe (Russia, the Ukraine, and Lithuania), investigating Yiddish education and the language's future (yes, that old saw). What Catalonian, Galician, or Basque institutions can shed light on what needs to be done in order to transmit Yiddish through the generations? What does cultural planning in Spain tell us about Yiddish revival in Eastern Europe? The histories of Spain's minority languages have more in common with that of Yiddish than one might expect (the differences, of course, are also numerous, but perhaps less significant). I would greatly appreciate (a) any information regarding organizations in Eastern Europe specifically concerned with the preservation and revival of Yiddish culture, and in particular with Yiddish-language education (names, addresses, telephone numbers, would they mind having an ignorant Yiddishist drop in for a few days?, etc.); (b) any information about libhobers fun yidish in Eastern Europe who would be at all willing to put up a (paying) visitor for a couple of months; (c) equivalent help regarding the Spanish side of the project (if there's a subscriber with those interests); (d) any general comments about my project, advice regarding travel in Europe, recommendations for stops on the way; (e) any answers to the following question: "Which is better: Der Nister's 'Di Mishpokhe Mashber' or Moyshe Kulbak's 'Di Zelmenyaners'?" (this question has no relevance to my project, I'm just curious). In short: who should I talk to? where should I go? what shouldn't I miss? If you have any ideas, post them here if you think they're relevant, e-mail me at zdb@cco.caltech.edu, or snail-mail me at MSC 115, Caltech, Pasadena, California 91126-0001. A sheynem un a hartzikn dank. Sholem (Zack) Berger Iker shokhakhti: Ordinarily I would have posted this in Yiddish, but I wanted to reach as many people as possible. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.374 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. 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