Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.190 January 7, 1997 1) Nevura (Mikhl Herzog) 2) Hebrew borrowings (Joachim Neugroschel) 3) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Hugh Denman) 4) The Mendele Review of Books? (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 97 09:18 EST From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Nevura? Jeff Neiman's _nevura_ [6.187] is a bit of a puzzle although I've come to "know" Lodz Yiddish pretty well. Let's speculate. Consider the following possibilities: 1. Perhaps _nevura_ is "like" _neveyre_ (Lodz: _nevayre_); i.e., it's the result of the metanalysis of the noun phrase _an aveyre_ 'a transgression' which is reanalyzed as indef. article _a_ + _neveyre_. This is a frequent process in many languages. In Yiddish it yields such regional forms as _a ney_ 'egg', _an ul_ 'zero', _a nam_ 'wetnurse'. In English, _a nickname_, _an adder_, and _an apron_, to say nothing of the popular _a nother_ ("That's a whole nother thing"), illustrate the same thing. What does that say about _nevura_? I still don't know! What would _a nevura/an avura_ mean? 2. Perhaps we should add to the mix that _nevura_, which Jeff says meant 'truth' in his parents' speech, contains the syllable _vur_, the expected variant of _vor_ 'true', (in Lodz, probably more like [vUe], with the dropping of postvocalic "r" and the "diphthongization/breaking" of the vowel "u"). I'd expect _siz vur_ or _siz vue_ 'It's true', but I'm not sure yet how to make the leap to _nevura_ 'truth'. What am I missing? Anyone else? Mikhl Herzog PS: The metanalysis of Yiddish noun phrases with variants of the definite article is a chapter unto itself--a whole nother thing! 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 11:45:26 -0500 (EST) From: achim1@cris.com Subject: Hebrew borrowings In R. Frankenstein's posting (6.188) on the pronunciation of "khezbbm" in Yiddish, he points out that Bernstein offers the pronunciation "kheshboyn" (for simplicity's sake I'm using our normal transliteration rather than Berstein's German spelling). This is, as we know, whole Hebrew, and unfortunately these whole Hebrew pronunciations are often (mis)used in regard to Yiddish. For example: Kadia Molodowsky called her poetry journal "Sevivah" (in its English transliteration) even though she, like just about most Yiddish speakers, pronounced that word "svive". I'd rather not get into the whole whole-Hebrew quicksand, but I think it relevant within this context to quote Benjamin Harshav's _The Meaning of Yiddish_, which points out that even "ideal Hebrew" was subject to regional Yiddish pronunciation--as demonstrated by certain rhymes in Hebrew poets--and Max Weinreich's History provides a detailed discussion. In fact, as Harshav indicates, the neo-Hebrew poet Bialek used "Hebrew" (indeed "Yiddish") rhymes. Thus he rhymed "Oylom" with 'gOylem"--whereas the Israeli pronunciation would be "olAm/gOlem". Unfortunately Harshav doesn't cite the text he took this example from. In regard to "yontev" the Yiddish pronunciation doesn't follow any general Yiddish phonetic rule. so far as I know it's an indvidual development of that noun. Furthermore the Yiddish male name is pronounced "Yomtov". For a more detailed discussion of the name check Weinreich's History--and also Paul Wexler's outrageous yet beguiling theory (in The Ashkenazic Jews). One excellent guide to pronouncing Hebrew/Aramaic borrowings is Soviet Yiddish writing, which, although not necessarily using the same letters, spells those loanwords phonetically. Granted, Soviet Yiddish publishing was more and more de-Hebrew-ized. But there are enough borrowings, especially secular ones like "khezhbm", to offer tremendous help in pronouncing that component of Yiddish. Joachim Neugroschel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 17:57:03 +0100 (MET) From: h_denman@maier.vol.at Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" E.M. Lilien (1874-1925) is one of the better known among the many distinguished illustrators of Yiddish books. One of the works adorned by his highly stylised art nouveau drawings of the toiling Jewish proletariat that I happen to be able to name accurately was Berthold Feiwel's translation of Moris Roznfeld's "Lieder des Ghetto", Berlin-Wien: Benjamin Harz, n.d. However, I know that I have seen his illustrations in many Yiddish books, both originals and translations. The fact is, that the quality of art work in Yiddish books is often extraordinarily high and this is a topic deserving of greater attention. It would be interesting to hear of further bibliographic references to Lilien's work in other Yiddish books. Hugh Denman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 From: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu Subject: Book reviews for Mendele For a long time now Mendelistn have been asked to keep our readers posted about developments in the world of Yiddish and related fields and indeed we've received valuable reports over the years. The amazing thing is how much has been allowed to slip by unnoticed, unreported. For the world of Yiddish letters is wonderfully alive and our readers deserve to know it all. So we're starting a book review supplement. It is not _yet_ the New York Review of Books or the TLS, but given the roster of distinguished scholars and writers among our subscribers there's no reason to expect anything inferior. Since Mendele is a volunteer operation the shames can use all the help he can get in setting this up. Advice and suggestions are hereby solicited. Here are some of the things we need: 1. An expanded list of possible reviewers. In addition to the obvious candidates there are surely dozens of others among our readers who are qualified to review books and journal articles. Please send a brief statement of the particular areas you feel comfortable with. 2. An expanded list of publishers and journals. Addresses please. 3. An expanded list of books and articles that have appeared in the last two or three years that would be suitable for our purposes. NB: _Please do not send your suggestions to Mendele_. Please send them to: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu A sheynem dank aykh. Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.190