[Mendele] Mendele Vol. 20.020
Victor Bers
victor.bers at yale.edu
Tue May 31 17:52:31 EDT 2011
Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 20.020
May 28, 2011
1) leytsan (Aubrey Jacobus)
2) Der eybeshter iz der mekhutn or mazl-tov (Dafna Sheinwald)
3) Yiddish in the writings of Rav Hutner (Gershon Freidlin)
4) Yiddish proverb (Lyubov Dukker)
5) Jerusalem Zoo (Alex Manaster Ramer)
6) shlepe-bobe (Mekhl Zlotowski)
7) shlepe-boble (Perl Teitlbaum)
8) Rivka Basman Ben-Haim (Zelda Kahan Newman)
9) Matla (Zachary M. Baker)
10) tsugl (Irwin Mortman)
1)----------------------------------------------------
Subject: leytsan
Date: May 19, 2011
The word LEITSAN appears in my research of a Dutch Askenazi family. It is
suggested that it means Clown. Early Dutch Yiddish did have a special
vocabulary. Has anyone come across this word as an entertainer of some
sort?
Aubrey Jacobus
2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 17, 2011
Subject: Der eybeshter iz der mekhutn or mazl-tov
Perhaps the song can be found here:
http://faujsa.fau.edu/jsa/find_albums.php
Dafna Sheinwald
3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 16, 2011
Subject: Yiddish in the writings of Rav Hutner
Abraham was the first Jew by choice; his son, the first to be born a Jew;
Jacob--from him onward, Jewishness could not be revoked.
Gershon Freidlin
4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 16, 2011
Subject: Yiddish proverb
Re: "Der khazer zol hobn herner, volt di velt keyn kiem nit gehat."
(Ignaz Bernstein, "Juedische Sprichwoerter und Redensarten").
"Ven a khazer zol hobn herner, volt er ibergekert di velt." (Israel
Furman, "Yidishe shprikhverter un rednsartn)
I believe it is meant as derisive response to somebody expressing
malicious intentions, but not having - thanks God - any means to fulfill
them. It has exact counterparts - or very similar ones - in Slavic
languages, like: "Ne dal bog svin'e rogov - a bodushcha byla!"
Regards,
Lyubov Dukker
5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 17, 2011
Subject: Jerusalem Zoo
Hi all, "The Economist" magazine claims, a few weeks ago now, that the
Jerusalem zoo hasput up a sign in Yiddish on the cage of some animal that
looks like a pig but isn't (peccary, I think) saying "dos iz nisht a
khazer." Since this is not good Yiddish, I was wondering whether the story
is just a typical Israeli joke that the reporter took to be a fact.
Alex Manaster Ramer
6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 17, 2011
Subject: shlepe-bobe
"Shlepe-bobe" is the Yiddish pronunciation of the Polish "Slepa Baba," a
game called "Blind Man's Buff" in English and "Colin Maillard" in French.
"Slepa" means "Blind" in Polish and "Baba" is "Bubbe" or "Bobe" according
to the various Yiddish pronunciations.
A grys fyn Pariz,
Mekhl Zlotowski
7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 16, 2011
Subject: shlepe-bobe
Perla Sneh asks about a children's game in the geto called shlepe-bobe.
In this case, I think shlepe is the Polish word Blepa [blind]. It's a
game where you put a blindfold on a person and spin him/her around. The
person then tries to catch one of the other players while blindfolded.
I've also heard the game called blinde ku (blind cow).
P. Teitelbaum
8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 23
Subject: Rivka Basman Ben-Haim
Please announce to the list-serve the appearance of a blog on the
prize-winning Israeli poet, Rivka Basman Ben-Hayim. There one can hear
the poet reciting her own poetry. (Comments and/or suggestions can be
left at the site or addressed to me at
zelda.newman at lehman.cuny.edu) The blog can be found at:
http://yiddishpoetry.commons.gc.cuny.edu
Thank you,
Zelda Kahan Newman
9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 16
Subject: Matla
Alexander Beider, in his Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names, correlates
Matla to the name Meyte, which derives ultimately to Meytin, meaning
"maiden" or "girl." In addition, he writes, "The forms starting with Mat-
could also be influenced by the existence of the common German Christian
name Mathilda or its Czech and Polish forms,
Matylda. "
Zachary M. Baker
10)----------------------------------------------------
Date: May 14
Subject: tsugl
Maybe you can assist me in this odd query.
A friend asked me the other day if I know the meaning of the Yiddish word
"tsuggle" (the transliteration is questionable). I did not know its
meaning and the friend said it means fellatio. My first attempt was to
determine if there is a Yiddish word for fellatio and I was not
successful. Then I tried to find a meaning for tsuggle also without
success.
I hope that you can assist me in this odd query.
Very truly yours,
Irwin Mortman
______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 20.020
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