Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.007 May 17, 1995 1) Yenem tsu kritikirn iz laykht (Zellig Bach) 2) Yiddish in Netanya (Miriam Isaacs) 3) Anniversaries (Fishl Kutner) 4) Miuskeit (Berel Leiser) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 02:41:03 -0400 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Yenem tsu kritikirn iz laykht, ober... In Mendele 4.417,3 I published a post called "The _Forward_ needs an in-house Yiddish consultant," with examples of incorrect transliteration of Yiddish words and its general ignorance of Yiddish (for example, "sheygetzes" instead of "shkotzim"). Now comes the Forward's Philologos, its language commentator, and criticizes the New York _Times_ for its haphazard attitude towards Yiddish words. In his column dated May 12, 1995, p. 10, he wrote: "The New York Times checks its reporters' English with a fine-toothed comb, but when it comes to Yiddish... its copy editors simply flag through what comes along." He specifically refers to an article by the _Times_ correspondent in Israel who interviewed the Mayor of Jerusalem Ehud Olmert, and quoted him as saying ,with reference to demographic policy matters in the city, "I have to show who is the balabuste [of this city]." The correspondent added the explaination that "the Yiddish word means master (sic) of the house." Was it a verbatim quote? Highly unlikely. Jerusalem has a large Yiddish-speaking population. Besides, there is a gender confusion. It is very doubtful that Mr. Olmert would have referred to himself by the feminine "bal(e)boste," instead of the masculine "balebos." Philologos then goes on to say: "... One wonders whether the Times would have let such an error slip by unnoticed had it been in French or Spanish... It is a sign that [Yiddish] is still regarded in some circles as a quaint folk dialect, a _zhargon_, to use the old word, that has no real rules and needn't be held up to elementary standards of correctness. From the Times one expects a less cavalier attitude." Well, there is a Yiddish saying "khesroynes zet men nor af yenem" (one readily finds faults in others). What about his own bailiwick? It would be of singular interest if Philologos would address the same criticisms he leveled at the Times to the _Forward_ as well. Since the _Forward_ is a Jewish paper, it would equally be called for, if not, indeed, more so. Zellig Bach Lakehust, NJ 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 09:07:09 -0400 (EDT) From: miriamis@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Subject: Yiddish in Netanya Ikh bin tzufriden tzu heren az dor hemshekh halt aktiviteten in Netanya. Ikh fleg forn kayn Netanya tzu bezukhen mayn foter, Isroel Gottdank fort un er iz gevezn a Yiddish reder un leyner. Er hot oyzgelezn ale Yidishe bikhen in bibloteg dort un geshmist mit di andere Yidlekh dort un geyn mit mayn shtif mamen, Shoshana Gomerov, tzum moadon. Dort hot men im gelernt az se passt nisht tzu redn Yidish oyfn gas, men darf es shtil redn men zol nisht hern un kinder flegn ins nokh loyfn un khoyzik makhn mit "vus vus". Er iz goforn keyn Isrol in di zibitziger yorn un nokh azoyfil mitmakhn fun antisemitn in Poyn un vi nokh iz ironish az men hot nisht golost Yidish redn in a Yidish land. Er ligt itst in Vatikim in Netanya. Ikh hof men vet im gedenken in dor hemshekh amol. Miriam Isaacs, nee Gottdank 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 06:14:25 -0700 From: fishl@well.sf.ca.us Subject: Anniversaries The recent posting on Mendele of its outstanding growth is due mainly to the conscientious effort of our list moderator Noyekh and to Dave Sherman our Toronto friend who started it all with his predecessor, Mail Yiddish. No better award can be given to Noyekh than to tell our Yiddish-loving friends about Mendele. Along with this growth of Yiddish online, has been that of the International Yiddish Club Conferences. Groups in varied forms called a club, vinkl, leyenkrayz, or even shmoozkrayz are coming together. The Miami event next March 1-4 will be the Third and is expected to be the largest one. Origin of these Conferences can be dated back to the cooperation of the editors of the four Yiddish club newsletters extant in North America at that time. Recently we welcomed the newest newsletter from Houston Texas. This upcoming January marks the fifth anniversary of DER BAY, and a limited, special fifth-anniversary edition will be published. It started as a local, single-sheet issue listing Yiddish events in the San Francisco area. Today's database is shown below. Our society seems to be interested in statistics. :-)~ US 1280 US online 141 Canada 210 Others 156 US "clubs" 285 US teachers 351 US klezmer groups 135 It has been the unselfish sharing of information among the groups that has made all this possible. Yiddish is finding its new strength in new technology and new geographic areas. While email still will be received at fishl@well.sf.ca.us the new addresses are: fishl@well.com or fishlfishl@aol.com Fishl Kutner 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 May 95 11:34:18 EDT From: leiser@pacevm.dac.pace.edu Subject: Miuskeit Louis Fridhandler (Mendele 4.419) recently asked about the origin of "Mieskeit" or, as I have often heard it pronounced, "Mie-us-keit," and related words such as "Mies" and their relation to German. The Hebrew origin of these terms is quite simple: The root is mem, alef, samekh. The word "ma'as" and its many derivatives appear frequently throughout the Tanakh, always with the implication of despising, rejecting, or repudiating som ething or someone. So far as I can determine, the Biblical uses of the word ar e all verbs, never nouns or adjectives. In the Talmud and other rabbinic literature, however, the noun form appears, us ually as "mi'us," spelled mem, yud, alef, vov, samekh (the yud added to aid in pronunciation, but often omitted). It was a short step from "mi'us" (or mi-usa in Aramaic) to "mies" and its derivatives in Yiddish, which clearly didn't have to turn to German (high, middle, or low) to learn how to refer to what is ugly, gross, or despicable. Berel Leiser ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.007 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. 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