[Mendele] Mendele Vol.23.005

[Victor Bers]

Mendele: Yiddish literature and language

____________________________________________________



 Contents of Vol. 23.005



July 18, 2013



1) Ikh hob zey ale in bod (Arnold Richards)

2) Sholem Aleichem's pogrom letters (Michael Boyden)

3) folg mir a gang (Barnett Zumoff)

4) “Sheyn vi di levone” lyrics sought (Sara Wolch-Zuckerbrot)

5) kiemizm (Dina Levias)

6) kiemizm (Mike Koplow)

7) kiemizm (Martin Horwitz)

8) vi halt men shoyn bay zey/kiemizm (Hershl Hartman)



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

Date: June 17

Subject: Ikh hob zey ale in bod



What is the derivation of this term?



Arnold Richards

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

Date:  July 11



Subject: Sholem Aleichem's pogrom letters



I am trying to locate the text of Sholem Aleichem's pogrom letters which  he
dispatched to the Yudishes tageblatt in 1905-6. I would appreciate it if
someone could provide me with a reference or even a (digital) copy.



Many thanks in advance.



Michael Boyden



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

Date: June 18

Subject: folg mir a gang



I'd like to contribute to the discussion about this famous and difficult
idiom. First, regarding the meaning: As Stanley Levine has correctly
stated, the expression refers to getting to a place that is far away and
difficult to reach, or to something very difficult and complicated to do. A
good, short English translation is elusive-let's try “That would be a long,
long trip!” (with the exclamation point a required, integral part of the
expression



) or “That would be some job!” Second, whether it should contain “mir” or
“mikh”-the answer emerges from grammatical consideration: the expression
should be “folg mir a gang,” where the “mir” is what is called in English
“the ethical dative,” meaning “for me” or “for my sake.” A good analogy
would be the expression “zayt mir gezunt.”



Barnett Zumoff



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

Date: June 22

Subject:  “Sheyn vi di levone” lyrics sought



Hello,



I’m hoping that you can please help me.



My mother-in-law is 95 years old.  Recently she recited the opening lines
to a Yiddish poem she learned as a young girl in Brooklyn.



Here’s all that she remembered (phonetics...sorry!):



Shayn vee de

levana,

lichtig vee de shtern

Fuhn himel

ah matana



Hoping you know the rest of the poem.



Thanks very much,



Sara Wolch-Zuckerbrot



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



Date: June 19

Subject: kiemizm





Dear Suzanne,



First of all: your “subject” line indicates the word as “kiemizm”, while in
the text of your

message it is “kiumism” : WHICH IS IT ?



Secondly : It is not just helpful, but absolutely essential to give

the background/the context in which the word you are questioning appears.



Was your “Yiddish-language feature article” published in the States or



another English-language country ? Or in a Slavic-language country? Your
problem word is not authentic Yiddish. It is a borrowing, and to make an
educated guess as to its meaning, it would  be important to know which
language it is based on.



Dina Levias



[Moderator’s note: the word in question stems from the Yiddish word “kiem”
(in Hebrew “kiyyum”) meaning “existence, survival”]



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

Date: July 20



Subject: kiemizm



Suzanne Faigan asked what “kiumizm” is in the context of an article that
also mentions Yiddishism, Hebraism, and culturism. This reply is a guess
that I think may be good.



It sounds to me like the first part is from the Hebrew word “kiyyum,” which
means survive or sustain or the like. It has the same root as in the song
“David melekh yisrael khai **vekayyam**” and in the prayer “shehkheyanu
**vekiyyemanu**.” So my guess is that “kiumizm” is something along the
lines of survivalism or self-sufficiency-ism.



I hope this works in the context of Suzanne's article.



Mike Koplow



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

Date: June 20

Subject: kiemizm





This would probably refer to a group which put the “future,” i.e. kium,

of Yiddish as its chief principle.



Martin Horwitz



8)----------------------------------------------------

Date: June 19

Subject: vi halt men shoyn bay zey/kiemizm



In response to Stanley F Levine, “vi halt men shoyn bay zey”  translates
more accurately as “when is it their time?” or “when do I get to do the
same for them?”



The suggested “how are things progressing with them?” would have been

“vos halt zikh shoyn bay zey?”



And, for Suzann Faigan, kiumizm translates as survivalism or
preservationism -- the post WW II effort to preserve and project forward
the physical and cultural life of the Jewish people. The wonderful new
Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary defines kium

(or kiem, as shown there) as “existence; survival,” and hobn a kium as
“last, endure.”



Hershl Hartman



______________________________________________________

End of Mendele Vol. 23.005



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