Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.098 November 18, 1996 1) Vi zogt men yidish af rusish? (Arnie Kuzmack) 2) Viazoy shraybt men "khanuke"? (Hugh Denman) 3) Viazoy shraybt men "khanuke"? (Sholem Berger) 4) Interview with Aaron Lansky (Mark David) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 19:42:00 -0500 (EST) From: kuzmack@cpcug.org Subject: Vi zogt men yidish af rusish? In response to the question about Welsh, Iosif Vaisman [6.096] refers to the practice in Russian and other Slavic languages of using yevreiski yazik and its congates. Unfortunately, it is problematic in the same way. Although yevrei is the normal, socially acceptable word for Jew, it is a cognate of 'Hebrew', so yevreiski yazik literally means Hebrew language, not Jewish language. I believe that novoyevreiski yazik (new Hebrew language) was used somewhat but did not catch on. This problem arose because the word zhid came to have an unacceptable connotation, so anyone using it labelled him/herself as an anti-Semite. Were it not for this history, one could say zhidovski yazik in distinction to yevreiski yazik. I am sure Iosif could clarify, but I thought the preferred practice nowadays is to use idish and ivrit. Arnie Kuzmack 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 12:48:14 +0100 (MET) From: h_denman@maier.vol.at Subject: Viazoy shraybt men "hanukkah"? As has already been remarked, the putative YIVO card would presumably be bilingual and the English text might well employ one of a number of traditional spellings. However, since the topic has been raised, were a transcription of the Yiddish word called for, it is as well to remember that, pace Ellen Prince, as far as the loshn-koydesh component is concerned, it is customary to represent post-tonic vowel reduction. The Weinreich dictionary has [kha'nike]. [kha'neke] might be equally acceptable, while the full realisation of the vov will only reappear when under stress (or at least secondary stress) as in [khanukes-haba'yes]. Hugh Denman London 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 18:23:43 +0000 From: bergez01@mchip00.med.nyu.edu Subject: "Khanuke" is Hebrew? Sure, but .. Ellen Prince, in a response [6.097] to a posting about the correct transliteration of "khanuke" for holiday cards and the like, makes the reasonable point that "Hanukkah," "Chanukah," etc., being widely accepted English spellings, are perfectly appropriate for English-language cards. She then goes on to say, however, that Yiddish in general and the Yiddish transliteration of "khanuke" are irrelevant, because the word "comes" from Hebrew. This strikes me as unnecessarily broad. Sure, I'll agree that the word "khanuke" in Yiddish derives from its Loshn-Koydesh component, and I'll grant the obvious point that the word itself, as applied to the holiday, first came about in (I'm guessing here) Mishnaic Hebrew. But I'm not sure I accept the implication that "khanuke" is, because of its etymology, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hebrew language, with Yiddish therefore in second place and "really irrelevant." To start with: how do you think the word got into English to begin with? Not from Hebrew, I would think, but from Yiddish--to which "khanuke" belongs just as much as to her more prestigious brother. I guess the point here is that tracking down etymologies is enlightening, but assigning individual words to individual languages is at best a uselessly imprecise endeavor. (Try this exercise: to what language does the prefix "bar-" belong, as in "bar-mitsve," "bar-mazl," and other formations? Well, it "comes" from Aramaic, I suppose, but one might as well say that it comes from Hebrew or Yiddish, for these languages together created "bar-"-containing compounds that never would have arisen in Aramaic, or in Hebrew alone. Weinreich's _geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh_ has an excellent treatment of this topic.) As for the claim that the transliteration of the word is irrelevant: would that it were so! But a considerable number of people (yours truly included) go through the daily headache of writing Yiddish-language e-mail in Roman-character text-editors. YIVO transliteration is the way to do it-- nine out of ten Yiddishists agree. When Meshiekh rides through the door he'll undoubtedly be carying in his saddlebags a worldwide standard for the e-mailing of graphics files, but until then... Khence "khanuke," and the observation that irrelevance is always in the eye of the beholder. Sholem (Zackary) Berger 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Nov 96 03:50:38 EST From: mhd@gensym.com Subject: Interview with Aaron Lansky Interview with Aaron Lansky, National Yiddish Book Center's Founder On The Yiddish Voice, WUNR 1600 AM, Weds., Nov. 20, 1996 Boston's Yiddish-language radio program, The Yiddish Voice (WUNR-AM, 1600 in Brookline, MA), will feature an interview with Aaron Lansky, the founder of the National Yiddish Book Center, on its upcoming program, Wednesday, November 20, 1996. Aaron Lansky is founder and president of the National Yiddish Book Center, a nonprofit organization for the preservation and revitalization of Yiddish culture. Over the years this group has won international recognition for its dramatic campaign to rescue unwanted and discarded Yiddish books and return them to active use. Mr. Lansky and his co-workers have saved more than one million volumes, often racing through the night to rescue books from basements, attics, garbage dumpsters and demolition sites. The ongoing educational and cultural work of the National Yiddish Book Center has fired the imagination of thousands. The Center is now the fastest growing Jewish cultural organization in America. A native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Aaron Lansky holds a B.A. in Modern Jewish History from Hampshire College, an M.A. in East European Jewish Studies from McGill University and is a graduate of the Uriel Weinreich Yiddish Program at Columbia University. A popular lecturer throughout the United States, Canada and Israel, he has taught courses in Yiddish literature at Hampshire College, The University of Massachusetts, and the Yiddish Book Center's many educational programs for college students and adults. Mr. Lansky has received numerous awards and recognitions for his practical work on behalf of Yiddish culture. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1989. This exclusive interview, conducted entirely in Yiddish, is by Yiddish Voice regular contributor and cohost Hasia Segal, well known in Boston as a lecturer and educator. The Yiddish Voice features music, poetry, comedy, interviews, news, commentary, and announcements of current events. Additional contact information: dos yidishe kol / The Yiddish Voice WUNR Radio International 160 North Washington Street Boston, MA 02114 Voice: (617) 738-1870 / Email: yv@world.std.com Web: http://world.std.com/~yv/ Broadcast: WUNR 1600 AM / Wednesdays 7:30-8:30pm Mark David ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.098