Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.022 June 13, 1995 1) Introduction (H. Helfgott) 2) Introduction (Kenneth Wishnia) 3) Introduction (Avrum Ber Hoffman) 4) Vaser-treger (Zellig Bach) 5) What's `Tevye'? (Bernard S. Greenberg) 6) Shvarts-kheynevdik (Mikhl Herzog) 7) Shvarts-kheynevdik (David Goldberg) 8) Denver shpitol (Andrew Cassel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 09 Jun 1995 11:33:18 -0400 (EDT) From: st941807@pip.cc.brandeis.edu Subject: Introduction I am a sophomore at Brandeis University. Although I cannot write or speak Yiddish yet, I can read it more or less well. I hope to improve my skills in this newsgroup, as well as to learn more about my Ashkenazic heritage. I regularly post a Yiddish page onto the Brandeis Hillel WWW home page. It can be reached at: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~hhelf (XXXXXX cross last line out) http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~hhelf/home.html or http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~hhelf/yiddish.html H. Helfgott 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 09 Jun 1995 14:29:44 -0400 (EDT) From: kwishnia@ccmail.sunysb.edu Subject: Introduction I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature at SUNY Stony Brook. As the name of the field implies, I have many varied interests, but the relevant one for Mendele subscribers is my work in translation (Yiddish to English). An article on the topic and my translation of Sholem Aleichem's "Mister Boym in Klozet" is now in press at _AJS Review_. Sometime within the next several weeks I will begin a new Yiddish translation project, and I look forward to the advice, insight and experience of the Mendele users to assist me. Credit will of course be given where appropriate. You'll be hearing from me! Kenneth Wishnia 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 23:36:04 -0400 From: avih@inch.com Subject: Introduction Mayn mameloshn iz Yiddish, ikh bin 37 yor alt un ikh bin gaboyrn in di Bronx. Ikh arbet shoyn yorn lang in Yiddishn teater, un ikh hob afile gearbet mit Don Byron un zayn klezmerishe layt. Ikh ken aykh dertseyln a sakh mayses, ober nisht haynt. Ir kent mikh gefinin do, lozt mikh visn oyb alts iz in ordining. Avrum Ber (Avi) Hoffman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 18:50:01 -0400 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Vaser-treger I received a short E-mail letter from Marcia Gruss-Levinsohn and Moyshe Levinsohn (Silver Spring, MD). In it MAshinke informed me that for the past Purim holiday she worked with a group of very young children on a story called "Yentele Royt Mentele." In this kheynevdik (charming) story, Yentele Royt Mentele was bringing shalakhmones to her grandmother. On her way the wolf was about to eat her up, but yankl the _vaser-troger_ (water carrier) saved her and her grandmother. "Here," he said to the wolf, "eat this," and he offered him a homentash. [Shalakhmones -- gifts exchanged during Purim between relatives and friends; homentash -- the traditional triangular Purim pastry stuffed with poppy seeds and honey]. I trust that Mashinke, who once referred to me in Mendele, sight unseen, as zeyde (not having seen my gray hair and my cane-assisted walk), will not hold it against me for making a slight grandfatherly correction: In Yiddish the term is not vaser-trOger but vaser-trEger. The reason is that when some Yiddish nouns are formed from certain verbs, there is no direct vowel transfer, and the vowel changes. For example: Bakn (to bake), bEker; darn (to wither), dEr; tantsn (to dance), tEntser; trogn (to carry), trEger. Similarly with some nouns from singular to plural, as well as to diminutives: boykh (belly), bAYkher; dakh (roof), dEkher; harts (heart) hErtser; hon (rooster), hEner, hEndl; hamer (hammer), hEmerl. This correction, made in public for its instructive value, if any, is offered from the "grandfather" with genuine affection for MAshinke and her family, for her young students, and for the participants in her "mishpokhe Yiddish" activities. The vaser-treger was an important figure in the life of the shtetl. Very often there was only one central pump for the entire townlet where safe, drinkable water could be obtained, and the water carrier, for a very meager pay, brought this life-sustaining commodity into Jewish homes. Note: There is one portion of the Pentateuch assigned for reading during the Sabbath morning services called Emor. (These weekly reading sections from the toyre are often called by the first word of the section.) In this case the first word is Emor, and means in Hebrew "speak." In Ashkenazic Hebrew the accent is on the first syllable, E'mor, and sounds like the Yiddish word *emer* (bucket). According to Max Weinreich (_History of the Yiddish Language_, p. 5), in a township near Rovne (Volhynia), water carriers used to celebrate the Sabbath on which the portion E'mor was read, as if it were a biblical ode to the essential appliance of their trade... Another curious bit of evidence of the basic human need for approval and recognition, for a sense of self-respect and self-worth. Zellig Bach Lakehurst, NJ 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 14:10:39 -0400 From: bsg@basistech.com Subject: What's `Tevye'? What is Tevye the Dairyman's name? For what name is this a diminutive, via what language? Bernard S. Greenberg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 95 15:52 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Shvarts-kheynevdik Peter Kluehs: khes-nun, not hey-nun. kheyn is German Anmut. Together, 'dark and comely', a decided compliment. Mikhl Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 95 15:17:36 EST From: david_goldberg@smtpgwy.mla.org Subject: Shvarts-kheynevdik Peter Klues may be missreading or may have come upon a typo: the expression he refers to in Izi Kharik is shvarts-kheynevidik (khes-nun-ayen-tsvey vovn dik) meaning -more or less- "darkly charming," a common Yiddish expression for an attractive woman (not likely to be used to refer to the beauty of a blond, however). The expression probably is an echo of the words in the Song of Songs "I am dark but comely...." David Goldberg 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 16:34:21 -0400 (EDT) From: cassel@philadelphia.libertynet.org Subject: Denver shpitol In a recent Mendele someone quoted a passage from a poem called (I believe) Song of the Denver Hospital, by (I believe again) H. Leyvik. Since my great-grandfather's treatment there led to much of my family's eventual relocation to Denver, it caught my attention. Can anyone post the full text, or mention where and when it was published? A sheynem dank Andrew Cassel Elkins Park, PA ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.022 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) 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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