[Mendele] Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
Victor Bers
victor.bers at yale.edu
Tue Dec 21 07:59:25 EST 2010
Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 20.011
November 18, 2010
1) New digitized Yiddish books in JNL (Josh Cappell)
2) befoyr (Marc Caplan)
3) befoyr (Leyzer Gillig)
4) befoyr (Hershl Hartman)
5) "Internatsyonal" (Nikolai (Kolya) Borodulin)
6) kushers (Sema Chaimovitz Menora)
7) horse thief (Evan Fishman)
8) Contemporary Jewish writers from Central, Eastern Europe (Gerben
Zaagsma)
9 Local expressions Aubrey Jacobus
1)----------------------------------------------------
Subject: December 7
Date: New digitized books in JNL
The National Library of Israel (NLA, until recently the Jewish National
and University Library or JNUL) has, at my request, added several more
Yiddish books to their on-line digitized book collection. The most
recent additions are translations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes
stories into Yiddish. These may be suitable for older children or
students learning Yiddish looking for practice material. (Incidentally,
IB Singer mentioned them as among his earliest sources of literary
inspiration). They are also among the few famous literary works that
Haredi Yiddish readers may find acceptable. (I am a pediatrician with many
exclusively Yiddish-speaking patients and was looking for material I can
share with them). They had earlier included two translations of
Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper," one heavily abridged (good for
younger children), the other full length (by Zalman Reyzen, no less).
These are distinct from the one NYBC posted at archive.org (which was by
Wendroff, also a major figure in Yiddish, of course). These were also not
among those included in the online Yiddish children's library of
Florida Atlantic University nor of YIVO.
Please spread word among anyone who may be interested. Obviously, the
more downloads there are, the more they will feel it was the right
decision to include secular Yiddish works as well (most of the digital
library is religious material in Hebrew). The more popular it is, the
more apt they are to add other Yiddish titles. My hope is that in the
future they will include all Yiddish books of which they have copies but
NYBC doesn't. Also, hopefully, they will similarly expand the
collection of online-available digitized "historic Jewish press," which
currently includes several languages but Yiddish itself is not among
them.
zay azoy gut mefarsem tsu zayn di folgende: di national-bibliotek fun
yisroel (bakant mit di roshe-teyves NLA, nor vos getoysht funem
frierdiken nomen yidishe natsionale un universitat-bibliotek oder JNUL)
hot letstns, af mayn bite, tsugeleygt nokh etlekhe yidishe bikher tsu
zeyer internets-zamlung. di anumlt ongeshlisne bikher zaynen yidishe
iberztsungen fun Arthur Conan Doyles mayses vegn Sherlock Holmes. ken
zayn az zey zaynen pasik far gresere kinder oder far talmidim vos
lernen zikh yidish un zukhn materiel far praktik. (agev, Bashevis hot
dermont di dozike tsvishn zayne frierste literarishe inspiratsyes). zey
zaynen oykh fun di veynik algemeyne literarishe verk vos zaynen pasik
farn khareydishn yidish- redendikn tsiber. (ikh aleyn bin a
kinder-doktor mit a sakh patsienten vos redn nor yiidish, hob ikh
gezukht azelkhe materiel). di bibiotek hat frier tsugegebn (oykh af
mayn bite) tsvey iberzetsungen fun Twains "prints un betler," eyne
zeyer gekirtst (gut far kleyne kinder), di tsveyte a fule oysgabe
(ibergezetst durkh zalmen reyzen!). beyde zaynen andersh fun di vos NYBC
hot geshtelt af archive.org (un vos iz fun Vendroff, oykh a barimter
yidishist). zey zaynen oykh nisht in di "online" zamlungen fun
kinder-bikher fun FAU oder funem YIVO. Bite dersteyl yeder vos zol
zikh farinterisirn mit dem. berov am hadres meylekh vayl vos mer me
nutst es, alts mer vet es barekhtikn dem bashlus ayntsushlisn yidishe
bikher un zey veln moysef zayn nokh merer (atsind zaynen kimat ale
andere bikher in der zamlung sforim). Ikh hof az in der tsukunft veln
zey araynnemen ale bikher vos zey hobn yo ober NYBC hot zey nisht un
oykh ale historishe yidishe tsaytungen. (zey hobn shoyn an "online"-
zamlung fun historishe "yidishe" tsaytshriftn ober biz yetst keyn eyn
yidish-shprakhike tsaytung iz tsvishn zey nisht faran, mishteyns
gezogt).
A freylekhn khanuke, hag hanuka sameah,
Josh Cappell
2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: November 20
Subject: befoyr
Noyekh Miller questions the usage of "befoyr" (more likely "befor"?) in
the 1932 novel Yoshe Kalb, stating "the novel was published in 1932, some
years before Singer came to America." Leaving aside the uncomfortable
fact that it was Israel Joseph Singer, not Isaac Bashevis Singer, who
wrote the novel, the novel was written in and of Eastern Europe, and
the borrowing of "befor" most likely comes not from English, but German,
"bevor," which indeed is used similar to the Yiddish "eyder." So the
usage is neither in error nor an appeal to an American readership, but
good, not-yet old-fashioned Daytshmerizm.
Marc Caplan
3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: November 20
Subject: befoyr
"bevor" (pron. Before) is a kosher German word. I know an old woman
in Hungary who speaks only Hungarian and Yiddish, and is thus not
influenced by English, who uses the word "Befor" (she pronounces it be-FUR
- but not befoyr) instead of "eyder." I used to hear Hungarian
Holocaust survivors use "beFUR" as well, but I had thought at the time
(the 1970-s and 80-s) that they were using an Americanism. We
"Galitsyaners" said "eyder." I think it is probably a dialectical
variation.
Leyzer Gillig
4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: November 20
Subject: befoyr
While I cannot provide a definitive answer to Noyekh Miller's inquiry
about Bashevis' use of "befoyr," I would submit that its use in the
1932 novel --before Bashevis' immigration-- does not, in itself,
foreclose the possibility that is was "a gelumpert transcription."
In my many translations of handwritten letters from der alter heym, dating
as far back as the very early 1900s, I have often encountered words
apparently learned from letters received from here (or, perhaps, from
returnees). Among them: "piktshe," "miting," "strayk," etc. Also, in
my childhood I noticed that many conscientious Yiddish speakers
would, inexplicably, use "befor" rather than "eyder." It's not too much of
a stretch to expect that U.S.-based letter writers had written some
variant of "befor" so often to their relatives that it entered some
level of discourse in Bashevis' varshe.
Hershl Hartman
5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: November 24
Subject: "Internatsyonal"
This is in response to Gilda Brodsky's request:
Di dozike tsvey shures zaynen fun "Nayland himn" - der himn fun yidishn
kemp "Kinderland", vos zey hobn gezungen in 1920er loyt der melodye
funem "Internatsyonal":
Der arbet iz dem togs gezangen
Der ru, di troymen fun der nakht.
Gebentsht di zun, vos bakt di zangen,
Gebentsht di levones shtile prakht.
O, Nayland, land fun glaykhe brider
Fun frayhayt, libe, freyd un glik.
Tsu arbet shpanen mir mit lider,
Mit lider geyen mir tsurik.
Oyf zayn plats yeder eyner
Un far alemen plats.
Di erd halt greyt far ale
Ir brokhe un ir shats.
Al dos guts!
Nikolai (Kolya) Borodulin
6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: November 21
Subject: kushers
Martin Jacobs asks about the orgins of the word "kushers" used in the
Tarnogrod Memorial book to describe those who gather and bind wood
bundles. Could "kushers" possibly come from the Hebrew "Likshor," to
bind, to tie together?
Sema Chaimovitz Menora
7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 15
Subject: Horse thief
Hi,
Is there a specific, one-word term in Yiddish for "horse thief"? Thanks.
Evan Fishman
8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: November 30
Subject: Contemporary Yiddish writers from Central, Eastern Europe
Dear Mendelyaner,
I received the following question from a colleague of mine: "we are
preparing an anthology of contemporary writers from Central, Eastern
Europe. We wonder whether you would know contemporary writers writing
in Yiddish and living in Eastern Europe?" Any suggestions would be
much appreciated,
best wishes,
Gerben Zaagsma
9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 18, 2010
Subject: Local expressions
My father was from Skierniewice near Lodz, Poland. Some of his especially
odd Yiddish expressions were
If someone thought he or she was clever, he would say
"klug vi Rokhes ferd"
or if someone made a poor deal, he would say
"Toyteles geshaft"
Were these shtetl characters ?
Also, all the well known characters in the our area (London) were never
referred to by their known real names but by a soubriquet, e.g. The
baker was "Der grula" (Gorilla ?) swarthy complexion and the
waiscot maker (male) was "Di madona"!! My sisters also had
unflattering nicknames (never used to their face) but cruelly fitting to
their characters.
Di Jubba ( Frog ? ) - ready to jump down one's throat
Di Shlung ( Snake ?) - very secretive
Can't vouch now for the grammar.
Most amusing was the name given to a workman with a thick brogue. He was
called Yarragey Farragey."
Aubrey Jacobus
______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 20.011
Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct
your mail as follows:
Material for Mendele Personal Notices & Announcements, i.e. announcements
of events, commercial publications, requests to which responses should be
sent exclusively to the request's author, etc., always in plain text (no
HTML or the like) to:
victor.bers at yale.edu (in the subject line write Mendele Personal)
Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e.
inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature:
mendele at mailman.yale.edu
IMPORTANT: Please include your full name as you would like it to appear
in your posting. No posting will appear without its author's name.
Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email
addresses, as responses will be posted for all to read. They must also
include the author's name as you would like it to appear.
In order to spare the shamosim time and effort, we request that
contributors adhere, when applicable, as closely as possible to standard
English punctuation, grammar, etc. and to the YIVO rules of
transliteration into Latin letters. A guide to Romanization can be found
at this site: http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275
All other messages should be sent to the shamosim at this address:
mendele at mailman.yale.edu
Mendele on the web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/
To join or leave the list:
http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele
More information about the Mendele
mailing list