Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.233 February 20, 1997 1) Jewish geography (Zachary M. Baker) 2) Place names (Harold L. Orbach) 3) Bney Odom (Mendy Fliegler) 4) Shimelekhl (Sylvia Schildt) 5) Shimelekhl (Al Grand) 6) Regional variations (Sholem Yafe) 7) Oysyes gedoyloys af yidish (Sholem Yafe) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 17:13:44 -0500 (EST) From: yivo1@metgate.metro.org Subject: Jewish geography Some years ago I wrote two articles on the subject of Jewish toponymy: "Eastern European 'Jewish Geography': Some Problems and Suggestions," in Toledot, vol. 2, no. 3 (winter 1978-79), pp. 9-14, and "More Eastern European 'Jewish Geography'," in Toledot, vol. 2, no. 4 (Spring 1979), pp. 2-5. The articles were specifically aimed at addressing problems encountered by genealogical researchers in locating information about their ancestral shtetlekh, and included extensive bibliographies on the subject. From the perspective of Yiddish linguistics, the most important citation, in my opinion, is Edward Stankiewicz's article, "Yiddish Place Names in Poland," in The Field of Yiddish: Studies in Language, Folklore, and Literature; second collection, edited by Uriel Weinreich (The Hague: Mouton, 1965), pp. 158-181. Zachary M. Baker 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 16:20:36 -0600 (CST) From: hlorbach@ksu.edu Subject: Place names Having been brought up as the child of Lodzers, and having spoken Lodzer yiddish as a child and always since referred to landsmen as lodzers, I was at first taken back by Polish friends and colleagues who always, politely, corrected me to inform me that the city's names was pronounced VWodz... Memory becomes history when it is enshrined in place names and linguistic usage carries it forward until the memory carriers are no more, political change creates a new name and the printed records of the past become mysteries for historians to explain to those who stumble upon them. Now, how many times have you wondered whether to fly overseas from Idlewild Airport in New York, or would you prefer to use Kennedy? Harold L. Orbach Manhattan, Kansas 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 15:59:53 EST From: emenems@juno.com Subject: Bney Odom... Es kimt take a dank tsu Noyekhn vus er hot gefinen dos shtikl diamant geshribn bay Khayim Grade... Nu, yetst, efsher ken ikh epes araynvarfn vegn hiner un honer... Mayn mishpokhe hot gehat a farm in New Jersey, un mir hobn gehat a sakh Yidishe shkheynim...Un a sakh hiner un vintzige honer, vayl hiner leygn di eyer, nisht honer. Veyst dokh az a hon (hun) ken gibn a kik(oder a kuk--ober ikh bin nisht kayn Litvak), un der hon epes shteyt a lange tsayt un kikt.... biz... biz.... er kikt arayn vi in der vaytns in der luft vi a 'tam', (mir hobn gezugt az er iz geven a tamotz). Ober m' ha'stam kikt er take biz in Gan Eyden vi Odom un zayn mishpukhe voynt, un efsher dus veltl nukh Odom un zayn yerishe. Azoy kikt der khevreman....dortn in Khayim Grade's maynse... Mendy Fliegler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 18:00:48 +0100 From: creativa@charm.net Subject: Shimelekhl [Re: Gene Sucov's query about "shimmalekhl" (6.231):] Ikh hob amol gekent a shrayber mitn nomen "Avram Davidson" vos er flegt haltn a lange droshe af der teme fun "kinder shpiel als iberblaybekhtz fun kishuf un ibergleybn." Loyt zayn droshe iz "shimelekhl" a "gilgul" funem lateynishn vort "simulacrum" vos iz azaymin farkishefter ringl oder kreyz. Tzi dos iz emes tzi nit, veys yakh nit ... ober nu ... lomir zen vos di andere greyse kep veln ba-arbetn ot-di frage. I once knew a writer named Avram Davidson who used to discourse on the theme "children's play as a remainder of magic and superstition." According to his discourse, shimelekhl was a creature in transition from the Latin word "simulacrum" which is a kind of magic ring or circle. If it's true or not, I dunno ... but nu .... let's see how other great minds will work out this question. zayt ale gezunt un shtark un klug, sylvia schildt baltimore, maryland 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 18:39:09 -0500 (EST) From: savoyid@aol.com Subject: Shimelekhl In regard to Gene Sucov's query about the meaning of the "full word" _shimelekhl_ my guess is that the _shime_ segment of the word has no meaning. Its function is to supply an extra two syllable beat to the word _lekhl_ so that it can fit in metrically with the chant "I make a shimelekhl, and someone sticks it in!" _Shimelekhl_ played a dual role in the East New York section of Brooklyn where I grew up: It helped to determine who was next person to be "it" when, in the last round of the game "Hide-and-go-seek" (or "Hango-seek" as we called it) the last "it" person would lean against a tree or a wall with eyes closed and head buried in her arms while one of us would draw a little circle (to represent a _lekhl_) on her back and recite the chant. If the last "it" person would guess who's finger was poked into the imaginary _shimelekhl_ then the poker was "it". If she guessed wrong she was "it" again. The other function for _shimelekhl_ was to give a name to a four inch diameter hole that was dug into the ground and which was used for a hazelnut throwing game on Passover. To play the game you'd grab a handful of hazelnuts and get ready to toss it into the _shimelekhl_ . Your opponent would call out "odds!" or "evens!" You'd then stand about six feet back from the hole and toss the handful in. A count was then taken and if your opponent's call of an odd or even amount was correct he'd win the nuts. If his call was wrong, he'd give you the same amount of nuts as you tossed. This game was also played with marbles at other times of the year. Al Grand 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 03:18:48 -0500 (EST) From: lakejaffe@aol.com Subject: Regional variations Farvos klingt es mir azoy modne, ven ikh leyen "ikh veys, du veyst, er veyst"? Ikh bin zikher az mayne eltern flegn zogn "ikh veys, du veyst, er veys." (Di mame iz geven a Kletsker, der tate a Vilner.) Tsi iz dos a dialektisher inyen? Tsi iz zeyer forme a daytshmerizm? Un, ba mayne eltern, iz eyn lerer geven "a lerer". Un oyb es iz geven a tsveyter lerer, voltn zey gezogt "es zaynen dort faran tsvey lerer". Dialektish, tsi daytshmerish? Sholem Yafe 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 03:18:48 -0500 (EST) From: lakejaffe@aol.com Subject: Oysyes gedoyloys af yidish A frage: Mir nutsn do di lateynishe oysyes -- se nito keyn breyre. Ober farvos nit oysnutsn di capital letters? They are highly advantageous, and not to use them simply because they don't exist in the Hebrew alphabet is silly, in my opinion. Sholem Yafe ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.233