Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.228 February 15, 1997 1) Hebreyizmen in der yidisher shprakh (Arn Abramson) 2) Hebreyizmen in der yidisher shprakh (Shleyme Axelrod) 3) Hebreyizmen in der yidisher shprakh (Henry Srebrnik) 4) Tevye's quotations (Louis Fridhandler) 5) "A keselgarten!" (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- From abramson@uconnvm.uconn.edu Sat Feb 15 15:32:48 1997 Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 17:32:43 -0500 From: abramson@uconnvm.uconn.edu Subject: Hebreyizmen in der yidisher shprakh I might add to Al Grand's useful information (Mendele, vol. 6.225) on the availability of the 1957 book by Nakhmen Krupin that this book has the virtue of including for each Hebraism a Yiddish orthographic rendering of its pronunciation. As a further response to Bess Katz's inquiry, let me mention another such dictionary that I have: "Yehoyash" (Bloomgarden, S.) & Spivak, Khayem (Spivak, C.D.). (1926). Idish verterbukh. New York: Ferlag Veker. The title is misleading. The long subtitle makes it clear that it is a dictionary of Semitic (Hebrew and Aramaic) words and expressions in Yiddish" "Ale Hebreishe (un Khaldeishe) verter...velkhe veren gebroykht in der idisher shprakh, mit zeyer oysshprak un aksent..." Arn Abramson 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 10:47:57 -0500 (EST) From: ptyaxel@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: Hebrew terms in Yiddish Morrie Feller (5.180) asks about lists of Hebraisms in Yiddish. Two readily available collections are 1. Steven A. Jacobson (a Mendelyaner), "A guide to the more common Hebraic words in Yiddish", 3rd ed., 1994. This book lists alphabetically according to their traditional spelling about 2000 hebraisms, together with their phonetic Yiddish respellings (following the YIVO orthography) and their English glosses. A second section lists the same expressions alphabetized by the phonetic respelling, together with the traditional spelling and the glosses. Available from Steven Jacobson, P.O. Box 82849, Fairbanks Alaska 99708. 2. Nakhman Krupin, "Hantbukh fun hebreizmen in der yidisher shprakh", 1957. This book lists hebraisms and their phonetic respellings (no English). There is also a brief section on words having hebraic roots and non-hebraic prefixes or suffixes (e.g., _shadkhn, shadkhnte, shadkhenen zikh..._), and finally examples of the use of hebraisms by _di klasiker_ and others. Available from the Jewish Book Center of the Workmen's Circle, 45 East 33 St, New York NY 10016. My own early Yiddish education gave short shrift to _loshn-koydesh_-derived lexicon, and I've found both the Jacobson and the Krupin quite useful in playing catch-up. Shleyme Axelrod Buffalo, New York 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 03 Dec 1995 15:15:49 -0400 (AST) From: hsrebrnik@upei.ca Subject: Hebrew terms in Yiddish Morrie Feller asks for a reference to a book listing Hebrew words used in Yiddish. The _Verterbichel fun hebrayishe-yidishe verter_, by Yacov Levin (New York: Cyco Froyen Central, 1958) is one such book. Henry Srebrnik 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 14:44:47 -0500 (EST) From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Tevye's quotations Mechl Asheri contributes yet more substantial material (6.227, 3) to the task of appreciating, in depth, Sholem Aleichem's genius in playing with language. Reading Sholem Aleichem is rewarding even if the reading is only superficial. However, go beneath the surface and explore glorious complexities. But about Tevye's clever mistranslation, most of us (who don't know Hebrew) need help like that provided by Mechl Asheri (who is at home in both Hebrew and Yiddish). I would also draw attention to Shimen-Elye Shema Koleynu's mistranslations (in Der Farkishefter Shnayder). They are not at all clever. Shimen-Elye is (in some ways) Tevye's cracked-mirror image. Incidentally, as to Mechl Asheri's assumption that I know what his reference means: I deserve maybe half the compliment, maybe less. Further, this is how I understand his comments which read "And that goes to show what I've been saying all along: you can have Idishkayt without Idish, but you can't have Idish without Idishkayt -- at least not the kind Sholom Aleichem writes". That seems to say that only the religious life can provide a suitable perspective for Yidishkayt. Am I right? For some that may be true. I cannot agree with it as an absolute. We are no doubt a pluralistic and individualistic group, and I celebrate that. Ale brengen zeyere zakhn, fun zeyere eygene kukvinklen. Mir hobn fun vos tsu trakhtn, amol fun di tifenishn, un s'iz a fargenign farn moykh, vos makht freylekher afn hartsn. Yiddishism and Yiddish literature (both in Europe and Amercia) flourished in a largely secular arena, but not exclusively. At the same time it should be noted that efforts in America (1890s and early 1900s) to absolutely disengage Yiddishism from Judaism didn't work. See Gerson Winer's article, _ The religious dimension of Yiddish secularism_, in Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought, Winter 1992 v41 n1 p80-95. Louis Fridhandler 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 From: nmiller@shakti.trincoll.edu Subject: "A keselgarten!" Hershl Hartman disagrees (6.221) with an earlier post by Charlie Millman (6.208) regarding the pronunciation of "keselgarten" or "kestl garden": Not quite. Convinced that much of the immigration process was dominated by those who preceded them, the Yiddish-speaking immigrant flood at the turn of the century quite naturally and simply concluded that New York's reception center was named _kestl gartl_: a belted box or a belt for a box. Makes sense: immigrants were detained (boxed-in and "belted") there. And as evidence he offers a line from _Motl-Peysi dem Khazns_. I'm not sure from this whether khaver Hartman means that "kestl gartl" was yet another nusekh or _the_ nusekh. If the latter then it's my turn to disagree. For "keslgard" (or some variant thereof) was how I heard my family and others refer to the place. But one name or five, the more interesting question is how and why "keslgard" got to have such a long post-mortem career. Consider: my mother was 7 years old when Castle Garden ceased to be an immigration center in 1890. Some 30-odd years later she arrived in America. To the child (me) she describes the arrival at For years afterward she talked of her misadventures in "elisAYlond". And for those same years she talked about the advice she got when still in Europe: "ven di kimst un in keslgard zolste zugn/tin azoy un azoy..." I heard her too often to be mistaken about the names, particularly because I erected my own childish notions about the awesome keslgard. Since I knew where Ellis Island was it followed that keslgard was a way-station in Europe, a redoubt on the river Rhine complete with guards wearing Kaiser Wilhelm moustaches. Blaybt fort a kashe: thirty years closed down and people in der heym still didn't know about Ellis Island? Of course they did. Why then retain the older name? Veys ikh nisht. Maybe because "keslgard" sounds germanic and carries at least vague associative meanings and "elisAYlond" is an empty name? Or was the free and easy tradition of Castle Garden--whereby everybody just walked off the boat--a happier one than the prospect of uniformed guards segregating the steerage passengers for a further selektsie? Maybe. Then again, is such a thing unique? How many New Yorkers call Sixth Avenue the "Avenue of the Americas"? Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.228