Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.128 October 2, 1995 1) Yiddish literary translations (Ken Wishnia) 2) Zooish Jewish (Miriam Isaacs) 3) On hearing Yiddish dialects (Miriam Isaacs) 4) "Rumenye, Rumenye" (Arnie Kuzmack) 5) "Rumenye, Rumenye" (Ellen Prince) 6) "Rumenye, Rumenye" (Charles Kent) 7) "Rumenye, Rumenye" (Bob Rothstein) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 12:38:25 -0500 (EST) From: kwishnia@ccmail.sunysb.edu Subject: Yiddish literary translations About a month ago I alerted Mendele that I would be researching and translating to lesser-known works by well-known writers, a short play by Morris Rosenfeld, "Rent Strike," and a short story by Jacob Gordin, "Jesus Christ and Karl Marx on the Streets of New York," for a presentation at the MLA Conference in December in Chicago. Since my goal is academic, non-commercial publication, the issue of securing the rights to translate these works should not be a problem. However, if anyone knows of a significant reason why either of these works may not be published in translation, please let me know. I expect to begin the actual translations shortly, and I look forward to being able to turn to Mendele for help if I need it. Ken Wishnia 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 13:58:21 -0400 (EDT) From: miriamis@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Subject: Zooish Jewish I would like to invite those who live in the Washington DC area or plan to be visiting to join me on an intergenerational Yiddish language tour of the National Zoo, reviving a year old tradition. Di khayes farsteyen azoy git English vi Hebraish oder Yidish. Tsum sof Sukes veln mir esn a piknik vos ir vet darfn aleyn mit brengen. Mir veln zikh trefn baym groysn zeyger, nont tsu di laybn, 10:30AM. Groyse megn oykh kumen. Az ir hot frages kent ir mir iberlozn a frage oyf (301) 405-0466. Miriam Isaacs 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 14:28:24 -0400 (EDT) From: miriamis@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Subject: On hearing Yiddish dialects Ikh vil a dank gebn Sholem Yafen [5.124] vos er hot a git vort gegebn vegn Yidishe dialektn. Thank you Sholem Yafe. I am relieved to hear someone happy about Yiddish dialects. As a speaker of Galitzianish, I am weary of prescriptivists telling me that I need to sound like the Yiddish equivalent of an Oxford don if I am not to be considered a "yahoo". My parents came from the Carpathian mountains, which, in many ways were not unlike the Ozarks. When I try to speak standard Yiddish it sounds like I am being a grade A phony. The only other time I ever was encouraged to sound like myself in Yiddish was, happily, by Avrom Sutzkever, who looked at me in surprise when we met and said, "Du redst an emesn Yidish?" I once pointed out to our esteemed editor that electronic mail, as a medium lies, somewhere between speech and writing, according to scholars of the communications medium. Let us enjoy the benefits as well as the limitations. For instance, some students of Yiddish, who were limited to "standard" cannot understand the classic Yiddish films or songs sung by people who did not learn Yiddish from YIVO. Yiddish dialects are rich and lovely and, happily, still spoken by those who learned their Yiddish from their homes. Miriam Isaacs 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 15:48:41 -0400 (EDT) From: kuzmack@umbc.edu Subject: Y'kum purkan min shamaya Shleyme Axelrod asks about several phrases in "Rumenye", mostly related to food, but there is one I do know: Y'kum purkan min shamaya is from the siddur. It means "may salvation arise from heaven" in Aramaic and is the beginning of several prayers said Shabes morning after the blessings following the haftore. Arnie Kuzmack 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 12:58:08 EDT From: ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu Subject: kashtaval? i too thank milt eisner for the lyrics to _rumenye, rumenye_. one question: is the yiddish word really _kashTaval_? there is a cheese popular in the eastern mediterranean named /kashKaval/. my husband ate it while growing up in egypt, where it was imported from bulgaria, but he believes it was made elsewhere as well, romania being one likely site. and it's available in the middle eastern groceries in brooklyn, don't know from where. anyway, this is the pronunciation i've always thought/assumed i heard in the song. ellen prince 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 Sep 95 16:33:32 EDT From: 102253.2241@compuserve.com Subject: Rumania,Rumania I too wish to thank Milt Eisner (5.124) for the words to Rumania, Rumania. Having been brought up in a Rumeynishe household I can help out with but 2 of your queries. Karnatsele is a 1/2 to 3/4 inch round,hard dried out vursht-like delicacy.Usually comes in lengths of 6 to 8 inches. One bites off a small piece and chews and chews Take a mekhaye. It could almost be called a Jewish version of beef jerky, however I think it predates the latter. Patlozhele in our house was primarily eggplant, roasted over an open flame-the insides removed and mashed, oil,onion and vinegar added;depending on taste. However a red tomato was also called patlozhele. I guess you just had to be there. A thanks too to Ariane Zwiers for also sending the words to my third natsionaler imen. 1 Hatikvah.2 O Canada. 3 Rumania Rumania. Charles Kent Toronto 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 01 Oct 1995 00:22:36 -0400 (EDT) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: "Rumenye, Rumenye" One correction (based on sheet music from Metro Music) to the text of "Rumenye, Rumenye," as posted by Milt Eisner (5.124): instead of In Rumenye iz dokh gut, fun keyn zorgn veyst men nit; Vayn trinkt men iberal, me farbayst a kastravet. the third line should be: Vayn trink men, s'meg zayn shpet. This rescues the rhyme that Shleyme Axelrod was worried about (5.127). Of course some of the rhymes work in theater-Yiddish (SE) but not in YIVO-Yiddish (NE): git/nit, mamelige/meshige. Reb Shleyme also asked about some words in the song: _karnatsele_, _kashtaval_, _kastravet_ and _patlozhan_ [probably should be _patlazhan_]. Romanian _carnat_ [diacritics missing] means 'sausage'; at Moscowitz & Lupowitz, the long-departed Romanian-Jewish restaurant in Manhattan (and I don't mean Kansas) _karnatslekh_ were the grilled sausages that Romanians call _mititei_ (a national specialty). Romanian _cascaval_ is a sheep-milk cheese that is sold in this country as "kashkaval." Romanian _castravete_ means 'cucumber'; _castravete murat_ is 'pickle'. Finally, _patlagea vanata_ means 'eggplant' and _patlagea rosie_ is 'tomato'. The word _patlagea_, like Russian _baklazhan_ 'eggplant' come from Persian via Arabic and Turkish. The same Arabic etymon gave Catlan _albergina_, whence French _aubergine_. Bob Rothstein ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.128