[Mendele] Mendele Vol. 21.013

[Victor Bers]

Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________

Contents of Vol. 21.013
February 23, 2012

1) farsmalyet (Barnett Zumoff)
2) farshmayet (Eliezer Greisdorf)
3) farsmalyet/shibelnitse (Zulema Seligsohn)
4) farshmalyet/shibelnitse (Berta Kipnis)
5) kolbatshikes/naberdikes/kutatshkelekh (Khane-Faygl Turtletaub)
6) "Khanele lernt loshn-koydesh" (Shloyme-Khayim Cohen)
7) Yiddish cabaret music (Milna Kartowski)
8) Age of Yiddish (Charles Nydorf)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 2
Subject: farsmalyet

The word you ask about is probably "farsmalyet," which means "scorched." 
The expression was commonly used in cooking (referring to searing meat), 
and the author Tsvi Eisenman published a short-story collection called 
"Bleter fun a farsmalyetn pinkes" (Pages from a Scorched Record Book), 
which I translated and published.

Barnett Zumoff

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  February 18
Subject: farshmayet

If you look in Uriel Weinreich's dictionary, you will find that 
"farshmayet" means busy, bustling.  In the English section you will also 
find it under "busy."

Eliezer Greisdorf

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  February 2
Subject: farshmalyet/shibelnitse

"Farshmalyet" is a variant of "farsmalyet" (Harkavy) meaning singed or 
burnt.
As for "Shibelnitse," referring to tall buildings, I wonder if the 
derivation is from the Russian verb "shiebel" and its own derivative 
"shiebelnit," meaning to rouse, to stir-up, applied to buildings that soar 
into the sky.

Zulema Seligsohn

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 2
Subject: farshmalyet/shibiltnise

I am happy to answer Jan Jonk:

"shibilnitse" is a word in Ukrainian, means a window pane

"farshmalyet" means dirty as a result of long use, rarely or never washed, 
being in contact with grease, as an example - work clothes of a garage 
mechanic

Berta Kipnis

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  February 8
Subject: kolbatshikes/naberdikes/kutatshkelekh

I am in the process of editing the Byten Yizkor Book and have come across 
several words related to horses that I can't find anywhere. Perhaps the 
Mendelists can help.

  1) kolbatshikes
  2) naberdikes
  3) kutatsheklekh (some sort of decoration hung on the horse collars)

The context: fun farsheydne erter kumen on rimers un hengen aroys khomotes 
mit kolbatshikes un naberdikes. Di khomotes zenen oysgeputst mit 
kutasheklekh un tsatskes, loytn geshmak fun di goyish koynim.

A dank in foroys,
Khane-Faygl Turtletaub

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  January 29
Subject: "Khanele lernt loshn-koydesh"

Tayere Mendelyaner:

Ikh zukh di verter funem lid "Khanele lernt loshn-koydesh," dakht zikh fun 
A. Almi. (Un ver hot oysgetrakht di muzik?)

A dank,
Shloyme-Khayim Cohen

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 23
Subject: age of Yiddish

We frequently hear that Yiddish is a thousand years old. The reality is 
actually more interesting and more impressive. Yiddish is well documented 
as a written language after about 1400 but that time it had already 
existed for about a thousand years. I sketch the early developments in the 
language in my latest post at www.gothicyiddish.blogspot.com

Charles Nydorf
______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 21.013

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