Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.232 February 19, 1997 1) Place names (Ronald Florence) 2) Place names (Mendy Fliegler) 3) Place names (Bernard katz) 4) An overlooked masterpiece (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 11:41:28 -0500 From: ron@mlfarm.com Subject: Place names (was Keselgarten) Noyekh Miller [6.230] writes: Or Preshburg, which everybody else called Pressburg until about 1919 when it became Bratislava ..and continues to be assigned to Hungary in the bargain? Bratislava (Preshburg) became part of Czechoslovakia, or in more recent political geography, the Slovak Republic, at the end of the World War. As a graduate student in the late 1960s, I spent some time there. Yiddish- and German-speakers I met still referred to it as Preshburg/Pressburg, but only privately. Lemburg (Lvov, then Lviv) will forever be immortal if only because the first war bulletin issued by the Austrian General Staff in 1914, after the Russian Army had overrun Galicia, began with a masterpiece of understatement perhaps unequaled in war reporting: `Lemburg is still in our hands.' -- Ronald Florence 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 17:30:52 EST From: emenems@juno.com Subject: Place names (was Keselgarten) To add to Noyekh's name survivors, mayne eltern (o.h.sh.) hobn geleybt in Poyln in di fargangene tsaytn demolts. Yetst zaynen di shteytlakh in Ukrayine. Mayn mame hot gevoynt in Zaleschik (Zalescziki) un mayn futer Horodenke (Gorodenka), oyb di shteytlakh ekzistirn nokh .... I am sure there are many cases like this. Mendy Fliegler 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 18:02:27 -0500 (EST) From: bkatz@uoguelph.ca Subject: Place names (was Keselgarten) Noyekh Miller relates several geographical name changes that stubbornly have refused to find their way into Yiddish. I have always wondered why the Polish town of Ilze (south of Radom) was known in Yiddish as "Drildz". I am aware of the meaning of Ilze in Polish (tears) and how the town got that name, ober s'helft mir azoy vi a toyten bankes tsu farsheyn farvos yiden zogen Drildz un nist Ilze. Kon eymetzer farlangen der antfor? Bernard katz Guelph, Ontario 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 From: nmiller@trincoll.edu Subject: An overlooked masterpiece Mechl Asheri and Dovid Herskovic, having offered (6.227,230,231) us "kukn vi a hon in bney-odom" a lovely expression that isn't exactly used every day of the week, I thought to take advantage of the occasion to reproduce here an excerpt from one of my favorite books by Chaim Grade, one that has not yet been so far as I know translated. Maybe this will remind one of our distinguished translators of the existence of this gem. [Borukh-Leyb Vitkind, a glazer who has taught himself palmistry (khokhmes ha-yad), is arguing with R' Dovid-Aren Hokhgeshtalt, the Verzhebelover porush. The scene is Vilne, 1938.] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "farvos zol men in shtumen minyen nit davenen b'tsiber? oyf dem iz dokh a mokm-koydesh! anustn hat r'dovid-aren geredt kegn brengen karbones, vayle er iz kegn blut-fargisung. ober er ken dokh nit zayn kegn dem, az yidn zoln betn af gezunt un parnose, yidn zoln danken dem riboynoy-shel-oylom far arayngebn in zey a neshome, far bashafn di zun mit di shtern. "ikh bin kegn!" shpringt oyf der porush mit kaz un oykh fun freyd, vos der frumer trefer tsitert azh tsu hern azelkhe apikorsishe reyd. borukh-leyb kukt take mit shrek in di tmimesdike oygn oyfn porush, vos dreyt meshune-vild dem kop un krimt dos ponim. zayn bord zeyt oys vi a hakn mit a sharfn shpits un oyf zayne lipn shoymen treyfene reyd: di yidn hern den vos zay preplen? iber dem iz er dokh ale mol a kegner fun davenen b'tsiber un iz b'khlal a kegner fun davenen, ven s'vilt zikh nit oder ven men hot kayn tsayt nit. di mispalelim shoklen zikh, shoklen zikh, murmlen, murmlen, un der kop trogt zey ergets andersvu. zey shrayen "shema koyleynu!" b'eys zey aleyn hern kayn vort nit fun dem, vos zeyere mayler zogn. un der verzhebelover nemt zikh opshpiln a stsene tsu bavayzn, vi di yidn davenen on kavone. er farrukt an arbl in an arbl, farvarft dem kop, murmlt mit di lipn gikh-gikh, un b'eys mayse zukht er mit di oygn in ale zaytn a vant-zeyger, elehey a kremerl, vos preplt di tfiles un tsitert derbay, er zol, kholile, nit farshpetikn tsu zayne gesheftn. "dos iz nor in mitn vokh. roshashone un ver redt yom kiper davent men andersh, in gantsn andersh," bet zikh borukh-leyb mit a shvakh kol. "yom kiper davent men pamelekh in men zingt oys di tfiles, men zingt un men veynt." "a lign! oykh yom kiper kukt men oyfn zeyger tsu visn, ven der tonis endikt zikh, men zol megn geyen fresn," git zikh der verzhebelover raptum a shtel-op in mitn arumloyfn ibern shtibl vi a vikher; un mit veykhinke tritelekh, mit an oysgeboygenem rukn un mit a khitre-farsodet shmeykele, shart er zikh tsu tsum khiromant. "ir veyst ver ikh bin? ir zayt dokh a trefer, iz treft ver ikh bin?" "ver zayt ir?" glatst borukh-leyb oys a por gelblekhe vayslen. "ikh bin an anarkhist!" glaykht zikh oys r'dovid-aren hokhgeshtalt. "fun dem kniaz kropotkin hot ir gehert? ikh bin fun zayne mentshn, an anarkhist!" "di anarkhistn hobn dokh, dertseylt mem, gevorfn bombes oyfn keyser, to vi kent ir zayn fun zeyere mentshn?" kukt borukh-leyb naygirik oyfn verzhebelovers hent, vos er holt farrukt in di arbl, elehey er volt dort farshtekt an anarkhistish meser. "fun karbones halt ir nit, zogt ir, vayl ir zayt kegn blut-fargisung. fun davenen b'tsiber halt ir oykh nit, un fun varfn bombes halt ir yo? der verzhebelover tut umgeduldik a tupe mitn fus: borukh-leyb redt vi an am-orets gomer. er iz, zogt r'dovid-aren eydes oyf zikh, fun dem kniaz kropotkin's kheyder, az der kniaz kropotkin k'sh'hu l'atsmoy hot kayn bombes nit gevorfn. kniaz meynt a firsht. nokh a hor -- un der kniaz kropotkin volt aleyn gevorn keyser, ven er vil nor. iz b'eys er komt arayn in strashun-bibliotek, dertseylt r'dovid-aren vayter vegn zikh, leyent er dort nor dem kniaz kropotkin. der yid, vos derlangt di sforim, kukt oyf im vi a hon in bney-odom; der yid der biblioteker iz nit toyfes, vi azoy a porush, anshtat araynkukn in rabonishe shalyes-utshuves, in kabole oder in khkire, leyent gor azelkhe geferlikhe bikher. un an anarkhist iz er gevorn, zint der tate zayner hot im gefrosket un getsvungen khasene hobn mit der arure. zi iz dokh bay der khupe geven elter fun im oyf gants tsvantsik yor! an anarkhist halt nit fun tsvingn, an anarkhist halt b'khlal nit fun tun epes vos vilt zikh nit. un mekhmas der zelber sibe, vos er iz a farzikhnik, an anarkhist, iz im tomid gefeln tsu zitsn b'yekhides in shtumen minyen, vu men hot nit gedavnt ineynem, nit gelernt bay di tishn ineynem, nayert itlekher iz gezesn in zayn vinkele un zikh gefirt, vi im gefelt... Chaim Grade, _Der Shtumer Minyen_, New York, 1976, pp.112-113. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.232