Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.236 January 29, 1996 1) Occupational names and women (Zellig Bach) 2) Soviet Yiddish songs (Bob Rothstein) 3) Life and death of Yiddish (Susan Lerner) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 19:44:25 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Occupational names and women As women in the millions entered the work force during World War II, and as societal changes brought about the relatively new phenomenon of two-income families, a new movement for a _gender-neutral_ nomenclature of the professions came into being. The _Dictionary of Occupations_ in the United States revised many strictly masculine titles to reflect the new reality, for instance, "mailman" has become "mail carrier," and many other similar changes. Yiddish never had such a problem, having used identifying names for women's occupations or social status. This factor added richness and color to our language. Herewith a second random list of Yiddish names of professional women, reflecting the new fields into which women entered in the last several decades, as well as some quite very old professions. The first list was published recently (Mendele, 5.225): 1. Advokatin 2. Bas-samkhe (expert, authority). Coinage after the masculine term bar-samkhe 3. Bederin (woman bathhouse attendant) 4. Bederke (bath-keeper's wife) 5. Direktorshe 6. Forzitserin (chairlady) 7. Ployneste (gentle, lighthearted reference to one's own wife or to the wife of a very good friend) 8. Provizorin, apteykerke (pharmacist) 9. Prezidentin (of an organization more formal and probably more respectful than "prezidentke") 10. Dem prezidents vayb (It is my sense that the First Lady of the U.S. should not be referred to as "prezidentke" or "prezidentin" "Dem Prezidents vayb" sounds descriptively correct. Anyone has another suggestion for "First Lady" in Yiddish? 11. Ministorin, ministorshe (member of the President's, or a Prime Minister's, cabinet) 12. Negl-shnayderke (manicurist/pedicurist) 13. Profesorin, profesorshe 14. Sarverin (waitress) 15. Tukerin (woman assisting the ablutions in the women's ritual bath [mikve] 16. Zogerin (woman prompting the prayers for the women worshippers in the _vaybershe shul_ [the women's section in the synagogue) NOTES: (a) This list, nor the one published earlier, is in no way meant to be exhaustive, nor could it be in this space (b) Names with the suffix /-in/ do not have the letter yud in Harkavy's _Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary (1988 YIVO reprint of the 1928 expanded second edition). Since the suffix -in forms a syllable, the /yud/ should be retained. (c) Uriel Weinreich's _Modern Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish Dictionary_ does have the letter yud in all the names of women's professions ending with the -in suffix. Zellig Bach 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 23:01:27 -0500 (EST) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: Soviet Yiddish songs I cannot refuse a challenge from my Brooklyn landsman Shleyme Axelrod (5.235) to come up with more verses to the Soviet song cited by Iosif Vaisman (5.219) and Michael Shimshoni (5.233). there's a version of the song in the Beregovski-Fefer _Yidishe folks-lider_ published in Kiev in 1938, where it's called "Far dem libn khaver Stalin": S'hot gelebt mit undz a khaver, ay-ay, ay-ay-ay, s'iz geven a yat a braver, ay-ay, ay-ay-ay! S'iz geven a yat a braver, ay-ay, ay-ay-ay! Fun der shot aropgekumen, hot er undz tsunoyfgenumen. Hodi kukn af di shtern, a kolvirt zol ba undz vern. Lomir trinken a lekhayim, far dem lebn far dem nayem. Far di felder far di zate, far der nayer hoykhe khate. Lomir trinken a lekhayim, far di kinder far di traye. Far di kinder, far di zkeynim, un far alemen ineynem. Zol der ershter kos zikh khvalyen, far dem libn khaver Stalin. Bob Rothstein 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Jan 1996 00:57:01 -0500 From: meydele@aol.com Subject: Life and death of Yiddish I think Ellen Prince's posting [5.233] is on to something. Certainly, Hitler caused the destruction of Yiddish-speaking Europe. But what about Yiddish-speaking America? The Second Ave. Yiddish stage did not survive the dispersal of Jews to the suburbs and their conscious choice to raise their children as "Americans". I, for one, am the child of an American-born mother, whose mother spoke to her in English, to forster her ability to get on in America, and who can understand a bissele Yiddish, but not very much, and really doesn't speak it at all. When I told my mother of my interest in Yiddish and Yiddishkeit, she the "modern girl" said, "But that's the language of the old superstitious people". Until recently, Yiddish was avoided in official Israel for the same reasons. We and our families voted with our feet. Very typical of first and second generation immigrants, I think. Only now, when we feel somewhat more secure, and there is a renewed emphasis and fashion for "ethnic identity" and "roots" have younger generations from non-Yiddish speaking homes found the old language. I do not suggest that this process is a good thing, but rather a somewhat natural one. How many of us know fourth generation Italian-Americans fluent in Italian? After all, our forebears came here to get away from the Old Country and fell in love with the idea of equality and liberty for all. The pressures to assimilate were fierce - read Yezierska. Of course, if there were still a flourishing European Jewry, some of us could return (as the Italian-Americans, etc. do) with nostalgia for Tevye and all the quaint Yiddish speakers...But that would not change the reality for the vast number of Jews in the US and Canada. Susan Lerner ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.236 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu ****Getting back issues**** 1. Anonymous ftp archives are available. ftp ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files A table of contents is also available, along with weekly updates. 2. 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