[Mendele] Mendele Vol 23.13

[Victor Bers]

Mendele: Yiddish literature and language

____________________________________________________

Contents of Vol. 23.13


December 25, 2013


1) vakanas (Dina Lévias)


2) Mendele's "Dos Kelbl" (Dov Dukhovny)


3) kupkes/kufkes in Yizker-bukh (Leyzer Gillig)


4) kupke as headgear (Leyzer Gillig)


5) shtikhl (Leybl Goldberg)


6) kupke/shtikhl (Zulema Seligsohn)


7) shabash (Alexis Manaster Ramer)


1)----------------------------------------------------

Date: November 29

Subject: vakans


Regarding Seth Weisberg query about "vakans": "Keep it simple!"


This lady is using the French word, as you gathered, because she couldn't
remember, or didn't know, the proper Yiddish word.  Many of us do it: I
heard an American Jewish lady telling her visitor:


- zets dikh ahin, nim a "chairke."


There are no hidden meanings or sinister implications in her statement.


It is clearly factual:they wanted to take a vacation in Israel, but
couldn't go, because the Polish Consulate refused to renew their passports,
which had lapsed.


Mit a grus,


Dina Lévias



2)----------------------------------------------------

Date: December 7


Subject: Mendele's "Dos Kelbl"


Hello all,


I was referred to the listserv regarding the following query.  I recently
read a translation of Mendele's "Dos Kelbl" in an anthology called "A
Treasury of Yiddish Stories." It was done by one Jacob Sloan, who I see
from a few searches was quite active in translating Yiddish stories.


Without getting into protim, I'm not so happy with the translation. What
I'd like to know, O list, is this: were there different editions of "Dos
Kelbl?" There's only one available at the Yiddish Book Center, but I
thought perhaps the translator was working with another one.


Thank you for your time,


Dov Dukhovny


3)----------------------------------------------------

Date: November 25


Subject: kupkes/kufkes in Yizker-bukh


I think that the word is "kopekes, kopekes" --- i.e., penny by penny. A

Kopek is one 100th of a ruble.


Leyzer Gillig


4)----------------------------------------------------


Date: November 25


Subject: kupke as headgear


Yes, I have heard "kupke" referring to a headscarf that is tied with the
knot in the front, not in the back. It looks sort of like a turban with a
bump. Some Hungarian-Hassidic ladies used to wear them (Maybe some still
do.)  Something like this picture, although not quite:


<http://www.etsy.com/listing/166276105/rayonroyal-bluefallwinterfashionvintage?ref=market>

http://www.etsy.com/listing/166276105/rayonroyal-bluefallwinterfashionvintage?ref=market


As for shtikhl, are you sure you didn't mishear "tikhl"? Tikhl means
kerchief and can be other small pieces of cloth. (a diminutive of "tukh,"
which means cloth, as in tishtukh, a tablecloth, or fartukh, an apron.)
However, the kerchief we called a "tikhl" was generally tied behind the
head.


We called a scarf tied under the chin a "babushke" but I think that's

Polish. (Babushka means grandmother in Russian.)


Leyzer Gillig


5)----------------------------------------------------


Date: November 26


Subject: shtikhl


Regarding Joel Maxman's question, I never heard SHTIKHL for a kerchief.
Perhaps it was TIKHL "handkerchief"?



Leybl Goldberg


6)----------------------------------------------------


Date: November 24

Subject: kupke/shtikhl


This is in regard to Joel Maxman and Leybl Botwinik questions about KUPKE,
and also Joel's about SHTIKHL.


Kopke is in Harkavy as woman's cap but not under kupke. Whether a native
Galicianer would pronounce kopke as kupke, I would think it possible but I
am not sure about this.


Now, Kupa does mean a pile, heap, mound, could be of excrement in both
Polish and Russian, so kupke would be a proper diminutive of it.  This
meaning would have no relation to Joel's mother's meaning, but might to
Leybl's, since the context pointed to some kind of unpleasantness.  As for
shtikhl, Harkavy has it meaning engraving, so that doesn't provide an
answer.


Zulema Seligsohn

7)----------------------------------------------------


Date: November 30


Subject: shabash


Does anybody know such a word in Yiddish and if so from where?


Alexis Manaster Ramer

______________________________________________________

End of Mendele Vol. 23.013




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likely to interest the membership in general, should be sent to

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 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:

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