Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.263 March 12, 1997 1) "The Star-spangled Banner" oyf yidish (Kalman Weiser) 2) "Afn Fidl" publishing date (Henik Sapoznik) 3) Shtif translation (Bitzalel Trachtenberg) 4) Tish un benk (Refoyl Finkl) 5) Tsholnt (Robert Shapiro) 6) Bankes (Les Train) 7) Pareve (Les Train) 8) Keseyder immer (Arre Komar) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 15:11:50 -0500 (EST) From: kiw2@columbia.edu Subject: "The Star-spangled Banner" oyf yidish Tsi veyst emetser fun a yidisher iberzetsung funem "Star-spangled Banner"? A dank. Kalman Weiser New York, NY 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 15:58:52 -0500 (EST) From: sapoznik@aol.com Subject: "Afn Fidl" publishing date Could someone tell me the publishing date of Sholem Aleichem's serial novella "Afn Fidl"? And while we're on the subject: aside from his "Stempenyu" and "M'hulyet" and the Odessa stories of Isaac Babel, what other literary depictions of klezmorim are Mendelyaner aware of? Henik Sapoznik 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 16:02:45 -0500 (EST) From: btrachte@zoo.uvm.edu Subject: Shtif translation Is anyone familar with an English translation of Nokhman Shtif's essay "Vegn A Yiddishn Academishn Institute"? If so, can you please send to me the citation? Bitzalel Trachtenberg 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 16:18:30 -0500 (EST) From: raphael@cs.uky.edu Subject: Tish un benk ikh halt in iberzetsn an avtobyografye (vi zogt men? a zikhroynes?), un men nitst dem oysdruk "af tish un benk". tsi ken dos meynen "a shtub ongepakt mit mentshn", oder "a moyshev mit shmuts", oder vos? der shrayber shtamt fun dombroven, besarabye. Refoyl Finkl 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 15:36:59 -0500 From: shapiror@ramaz.org Subject: Tsholnt [see 2.261] Cholent is called hamim (hot [foods]) in Hebrew, designating a dish that is slow-cooked and kept hot from before the arrival of Shabbat/Shabes until the Saturday mid-day meal after kiddush. The etymology of cholent may derive from the French words for hot (chaud) or to heat (chaloir). It's pronounced like the YIVO transcription tsholnt, but the spelling cholent would recall the French or Romance origin of the term. Perhaps this word is one of the proofs to be cited for the origins of Ashkenazic Jewry in western Europe. Robert Shapiro 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 00:31:02 -0500 (EST) From: ltrain@chass.utoronto.ca Subject: Bankes [see 6.260] Perzenlekh, hob ikh keynmol nisht gehat di hanoe fun shteln oyf zikh bankes, ober do in Toronto, ken men koyfen a gantsen komplet bankes - fun kleyninke biz groyse - ba di Polyaken un Ukrayner in mayrev - Toronto. Mayn shvester, a meditsinishe dokter, hot zey oykh ba zikh in kontore, un khotsh zi aleyn nutst zey nisht, a teyl fun ire poylishe un russishe patsientn nutsen zey biz haynt. Zay Gezunt Les Train 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 01:02:11 -0500 (EST) From: ltrain@chass.utoronto.ca Subject: Pareve [see 6.261] I understood that pareve came from Old Czech or Old Polish, and ultimately from the latin parus - meaning equal, neither more to one side than to another (latin par- and slavic ov-/ev- suffix). Thus, pareve means neither here nor there; just as much milekhdik as fleyshik. Les Train 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 18:33:16 -0500 (EST) From: komar@suhep.phy.syr.edu Subject: Keseyder immer Generally when there are synonyms in a language their meanings are not quite identical. In Yidish we have the synonyms keseyder (from the hebrew) and immer (from the german). Perhaps some can argue that immer is a daytchmerism, but be that as it may, it is used widely in Yidish, and I detect a subtle difference in meaning. I write to inquire whether others detect the same shift that I sense. Er iz keseyder do.: He is "always" here in the sense of coming and going very frequently. Er iz immer do.: The sense "always" now seems to be that the presence is continuous rather than intermitant albeit very frequent. It seems to me that the multiple roots to the yidish language is what gives it its tam.....also the modalities contained in the voiced inflections which the written language cannot capture. Witness the current discusion of the meanings of "folg mir (mikh) a gang". For example the recent case of the little boy who survives from "folg mikh a gang", in that context I would interpret it to mean "who the hell knows" or "I should know?" (with a strongly rising inflection.) Arre Komar ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.263