Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.151 December 19, 1996 1) When is one considered a Yiddishist? (Sarah Benor) 2) Penultimate/farletst (Joachim Neugroschel) 3) "Tsion tsion" (Chana and Yosl Mlotek) 4) Poetry for a beginner (Chava Ermentrout) 5) Rusalke (Perl Teitelbaum) 6) History of Yiddish - materials (Pawel Brunon Dorman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 18:37:17 -0500 (EST) From: seb28@columbia.edu Subject: When is one considered a Yiddishist? Yosele Ford [6.147] asks. I wonder the very same thing as I write a paper on Morris Rosenfeld. I am focusing on his poems about Yiddish, in which he praises the language for its beauty and versatility and attacks opponents of Yiddish in creative and artistic ways. He also criticizes Yiddishists for quibbling about language when so many Jews are left in poverty and without a land. Was Rosenfeld, who created several volumes of Yiddish poetry and prose and became the first Yiddish poet to gain international fame, a Yiddishist? One of my Yiddish literature professors says no... Sarah Benor New York 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 20:24:28 -0500 (EST) From: achim1@cris.com Subject: Penultimate/farletst [See thread "Bakoshes", vol 6.147] The undeclined Yiddish term for "penultimate, next-to-last, etc." is--according to the Weinreich dictionary--"farletst" (mit a trop afn farletstn traf). This is the term that I've constantly found in both linguisitic and poetological texts. I've also found "forletst"--an obvious borrowing from modern German (vorletzt), as indicated by the "o" in the prefix. Purists would consider this "daytshmerish"--so use it at your own risk. (I never get involved in arguments about "daytshmerish"!) Joachim Neugroschel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 00:37:20 -0500 From: chaniyos@aol.com Subject: "Tsion tsion" Norma Rubin from Toronto asked [6.144] for more words of a song "Tsion." in Mendele Vol 6.144. The song is printed in "Kvutsat shirim" Hebrew Publishing Co., N. Y. (I have the 3rd - l924 edition). The title there on p. l82 is "Vayn-lid" by Mikhl Aronson. The words are as follows: 1. Tsion, tsion, land fun yidn, Akh, vi s'tsit tsu dir mayn herts, Ven kh'dermon zikh on dayn sheynheyt, Nemt mir on a tifer shmerts. Yetst, o, zaynen mir in goles, Fun der heymat zeyer vayt, Un dem tseykhn fun farfolgung, Hot geleygt oyf undz di tsayt. Refrain: Heybt dem bekher, Brider, hekher, Trinkt dem gutn karmel vayn, Mir veln nokh in tsion zayn. 2. Kh'volt yetst veln zen dem yardn, In dem vald levonen zayn, Zen dem grinem tol fun shoron, Trinken dort dem karmel-vayn. Kh'volt oykh veln zingen lider, Bay dem oyfgang fun der zun, Vi di alte aker-boyer, Hobn dos a mol geton. 3. Kh'hof, az undzer tsayt vet kumen, Az der kol fun shvakhn yid, Vet zikh hern hoykh in tsion, In a sheynem yubel-lid, Un fun shvern, langen goles, Vet er endlekh vern fray, Un dem gutn vayn fun karmel, Vet er trinken bay derbay! We should appreciate receiving the melody of the song, written out or on cassette. Chana Mlotek, YIVO Institute, 555 W. 57 St., Suite ll00, NYC l0019, or Joseph Mlotek, Jewish Forward, 45 E. 33 St., NYC l0016. Thank you. Chana and Yosl Mlotek 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 00:15:23 -0400 From: cermentrout@infoave.net Subject: Poetry for a beginner Please excuse that I don't write Yiddish: I want to be understood and my written Yiddish level is not so good. Would someone be able to recommend a book of Yiddish poetry (original text, not transliterated) suitable for beginning readers of Yiddish Lit.? I mostly understand Yiddish as long as it's close to the German* and I have Hebrew and Yiddish dictionaries. (*with the addition of what I retain from the numerous new words presented in Mendele list! :-) A bilingual book and/or one with footnotes would be great. A groysn dank if you can help me in this area!! ... un oykh a groysn dank dos zi makhen a yidish shrayb-gruppe oyfn nets. A gut vinter-tsayt un yontev-tseyt ale! Chava Ermentrout 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 Dec 96 10:17:52 EST From: 74031.775@compuserve.com Subject: Rusalke Khane-Faygl Turtltaub fregt [6.147] vegn dem vort Rusalke. Vi ikh farshtey iz es a yam-meydl, a mermaid. Perl Teitelbaum Queens, NY 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Dec 96 15:24:55 CET From: dorman@plearn.edu.pl Subject: History of Yiddish - materials As I see it would be helpful to give here some important sources on subject: origins of Yiddish (also to respond on Barbara Levin's question on Mendele vol. 6.139). The little list is below: S. A. Birnbaum, "The Age of the Yiddish Language", in: Transactions of the Philological Society, London, 1939, pages: 31 - 43. S. A. Birnbaum, "Specimens of Yiddish From Eight Centuries", in: The Field of Yiddish, New York, 1959, vol. II. S. Birnbaum, "Umschrift des altesten diaterten jiddischen Schriftstucks", in: Teuthonista VIII, 1931-1932, pages: 197 - 207. Fragn fun yidisher shprakh, edited by M. Viner and A. Zaretski, Moscow, 1938. L. Fuks, "The Oldest Known Literary Documents of Yiddish Literature", Leiden, 1957. M. Gitlits, "On the Specificness and the Ways of Development of Yiddish", in: Jazyk i myslenie IX, 1940, pages: 47 - 56. J. Gerzon, "Die judisch-deutsche Sprache; eine grammatisch-lexikalische Untersuchung ihres deutschen Grundbestandes", Frankfurt a. M., 1902. J. A. Joffe, "Dating the Origin of Yiddish Dialects", in: The Field of Yiddish, New York, 1954, vol. I, pages: 102 - 121. M. Mieses, "Die jiddische Sprache; eine historische Grammatik", Berlin- Vienna, 1924. M. Mieses, "Die Entstehungsursache der judischen Dialekte", Vienna, 1915. M. Vaynraykh, "Fundamentals in the History of Yiddish", in: Yidishe shprakh XIV, 1954, pages: 97 - 110, and XV, 1955, pages: 12 - 19. M. Weinreich, "Prehistory and Early History of Yiddish: Facts and Conceptual Framework", in: The Field of Yiddish, New York, 1954, vol. I, pages: 73 - 101. Yuda A. Yofe-bukh, edited by Y. Mark, New York, 1958. N. Ziskind, "How Yiddish Originated", in: Yidishe shprakh XIII, 1953, pages: 97 - 108. with cordial regards. Pawel Brunon Dorman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.151 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.cis.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. Mendele archives can also be reached as follows: via WWW: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mewais.html via gopher: gopher://sunsite.unc.edu/11/../.pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele via ftp: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele