Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.187 January 6, 1997 1) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Joachim Neugroschel) 2) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Les Train) 3) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Ruth Liberman) 4) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Margaret Olin) 5) Microwave oven af yidish (Doodie Ringelblum) 6) Yiddish/English postings (Icek Mozes) 7) Nevura (Jeff Neiman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 19:46:25 -0500 (EST) From: achim1@cris.com Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" Kenneth Wishnia [Vol.6.186] wonders about the phrase "Lilien's Queen of the Night" in a a 1912 "Forverts" issue. I wonder if that's not simply a typo for "Lilith, Queen of the Night"? Typos, known fondly as "drekfeler(s)" in Yiddish, are not exactly foreign to newspapers, especially Yiddish ones. Joachim Neugroschel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 23:20:24 -0500 (EST) From: ltrain@chass.utoronto.ca Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" Could this Lilien be the very propminent Jewish woodcut artist, whose works graced so many early 20th century Yiddish poetry books? Les Train 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 18:37:01 -0500 (EST) From: rql1220@is2.nyu.edu Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" Kenneth Wishnia asked in Mendele Vol 6.186 who Lilien might be. There is a famous Jewish artist, Ephraim Moshe Lilien, who worked around the turn of the century/beginning of the 20th century. His work is typically Jugendstil (art nouveau). He dealt with a lot of Jewish Biblical themes. Hope this helps. Ruth Liberman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 18:00:30 -0600 (CST) From: molin@artic.edu Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" E.M. Lilien was a prominent graphic artist at the turn of the century. He was Jewish and active in Zionist affairs, but his art centered on both secular and Jewish themes. Martin Buber included him in his 1903 anthology _Juedische Kuenstler_. Surely the Queen of the Night is Mozart's famous coloratura part from The Magic Flute. I am not aware that Lilien made an image of her, but it would have been a natural for his style (art nouveau, or Jugendstil as it was known in Germany), as well as his milieu (Munich and Vienna). You might consult Lothar Brieger's 1922 volume on Lilien (in German) for possible illustrations and further information. If you can't find Lilien illustrations easily, just imagine a kind of Aubrey Beardsley rendition, not a portrait of any particular opera star. I hope this helps. Margaret Olin 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 12:18:32 +1100 From: doodie@melbpc.org.au Subject: Microwave oven af yidish Azoy vi der geshprekh iber "jetlag" iz azoy fartsoygn, vil ikh hern meynungen vegn an onder vort vos felt oyf yidish - vi zogt men "microwave oven"? mikro-khvalye oyvn? sonisher-oyvn? Tzvishn mayne fraynt rufn mir es shpilevdik an "ukakh" - dos iz a kirtzung fun "ultra-kurtze khvalyes". Oyb es zaynen nishto kayn andere forshlagn, vel ikh onnemen alts ofitsieler nomen mit der haskome fun der Mendeler oylem! Doodie (David) Ringelblum 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 20:30:01 -0500 From: imozes@aol.com Subject: Yiddish/English postings Ikh bet aykh foroys, tayere Mendelayner, mir tsu anshuldign far dem fargraystn yidish vos ir vet do balt trefn. A shod vos ikh ken nisht ton beser ...... Nisht lang tsurik hot Mimi Halkin (Vol 6.170) geshribn az zi is zeyer dankbar far di Mendelyaner vos hengen tzu an englishen iberzetsung fun zeyere yidishe "postings" oyf Mendele. Ikh vil tsushteln mayn yasher koyekh tsu ire. Ikh bin zikher az ikh bin nisht der eyntziger Mendelyaner vos ken farshteyn, un efsher oykh redn yidish a sakh beser vi leynen un shraybn. Far mir (undz?) kumt an iberzetsung zeyer tzi nutzs Afile az ikh fartshtey dem merstn tayl yidish vos gefint zikh oyf Mendele, felt mir oft verter vos ikh volt gevolt oyszukhen in a verterbukh (vaynreikh hob ikh). Ober di tsore iz, far dem muz men kenen tzum ershtn oyslaygn af hebraishe oysyes di yidishe verter vos gefinen zikh mit englishe oysyes af Mendele ... un demolt ken men gayn tzum verterbukh! Dos iz a shvere arbet far mayn kleyn kepele! Oyb emitser veys vegn a yidish-english verterbukh vu di yidishe verter zenen arandzhirt loyt englishe oysyes, volt es geven an emese refue. Oyb nisht ... un ikh hob take moyre az azelkhs gefunt zikh nisht ... zayt zikher az ir hot a zeyer dankbar oylem fay ayere tsugetshepete iberzetsungen. **** I ask you in advance, dear Mendelyaner, to excuse the error-ridden Yiddish you're about to find here. It is unfortunate that I can't do better. Not long ago, Mimi Halkin wrote (Vol 6.170) that she is very thankful for the Mendelyaner who append an English translation to their Yiddish postings on Mendele. I would like to add my appreciation to hers. I am sure I'm not the only Mendelyaner who can understand, and perhaps also speak Yiddish much better than I can read or write it. For me (us?), a translation comes in very handy. Even if I understand most of the yiddish that is found on Mendele, I'm often missing (don't understand) words that I would like to look up in a dictionary (I have Weinreich). But the problem is, to do that one needs to first spell out with hebrew characters the yiddish words that are found written with english characters on Mendele ... and then go to the dictionary! That's a tough job for my little head! If someone knows of a Yiddish-English dictionary where the Yiddish words are arranged according to English characters, it would be a real god-send (lit. true cure). If not (and I do fear such a thing doesn't really exist), then be assured that you have a very appreciative audience for your attached translations. Icek (Yitzkhok) Mozes San Francisco 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 02:17:04 -0500 From: neimanj@pathcom.com Subject: Nevura Recently in my communications with mendelyaner, I used the word "nevura" for "truth". I learned the word from my parents, who were Polish Jews, from Lodz, specifically. I was surprised to find that my correspondents had never heard of the word or did not know what the word meant. I then looked for it in my Weinreich dictionary and could not find it, both under the Yiddish and under the English sections (in the latter, I looked under "Truth"). Can someone tell me if the word is common in Yiddish, and if so, what is its exact meaning, and its origin? I look forward to your responses. Jeff Neiman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.187