[Mendele] Mendele Vol. 23.011 (traditional format)

Victor Bers victor.bers at yale.edu
Mon Nov 25 20:27:49 EST 2013 

Mendele: Yiddish literature and language

____________________________________________________



Contents of Vol. 23.011

November 22, 2013



1) New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands (Marion Aptroot)

2) Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt” (Catherine Madsen)

3) “I should hope to smoke a fish.” (Elizabeth Zimmer)

4) Manger’s “Ovtnlid” (Hirsh Perloff)

5) vaybertaytsh font (Jerold C. Frakes)

6) kupke (Joel Maxman)

7) kupke/kufke (Leybl Botwinik)





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

Date: October 23

Subject: New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands



In May, Evi Michel's richly illustrated catalogue of Yiddish manuscripts
written in the Netherlands was published:



Evi Michels

Jiddische Handschriften aus den Niederlanden

Leiden: Brill 2013

ISBN: 9789004251014

E-ISBN: 9789004251236

http://www.brill.com/jiddische-handschriften-der-niederlande=20



The preview on Google books unfortunately does not show sample pages of the
catalogue itself.



Marion Aptroot



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

Date: October 18

Subject: Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt”



The play is in this volume of Peretz's complete works, in the Yiddish

Book Center's Spielberg Digital Library:



http://archive.org/details/nybc209345



These sets can be quite tricky to negotiate, given the limitations of
Library of Congress cataloging, so Mendelyaners (and others!) should always
feel free to contact me with any questions.



Catherine Madsen

[Moderator’s note: the writer is the bibliographer of the National Yiddish
Book Center.]



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

Date: November 16

Subject: “I should hope to smoke a fish.”



Hello!



“I should hope to smoke a fish.”



Hoping you can help me figure out the meaning/context of this phrase, and
whether it originates in Yiddish.  My mother, who was born in 1915 and was
a native Yiddish speaker, used it all the time. I can't recall the context,
but I know she said it in English, in the late '40s-early '50s.



Many thanks,

Elizabeth Zimmer



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

Date: October 22

Subject: Manger’s “Ovntlid”


In response to Helene B. Katz's query about Manger's “Ovntlid”:



Dictionaries generally do translate butterfly as zumer-feygele, not
zumer-foygl. Indeed, butterfly would be problematic here as, firstly, there
are not grey and golden winged butterflies where Manger lived. Secondly,
butterflies need the midday warmth of sun to be active and are not seen at
dusk whereas birds are often active then.



There are various possibilities; some finches and buntings have yellow and
grey in their wings but one feels that the poem requires them to be
striking such as the Golden Oriole, Yellow Hammer or Goldfinch, all of
which have bright yellow and black wings which can look gold and grey in
the setting sun and all are migratory and so could be described as summer
birds.



But perhaps Manger, though, is intending symbolic imagery rather than an
actual description.



Hirsh Perloff



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

Date: November 19

Subject: vaybertaytsh font



I would like to use a vaybertaytsh font in an introductory language
textbook of Old and Middle Yiddish that I am preparing for publication. Do
any Mendele subscribers know if there is such a font available in a
standard Windows True Type format that is downloadable or available for
purchase?



Jerold C. Frakes



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

Date: October 18

Subject: kupke



My mother is a native Yiddish speaker from Galicia (Tarnopil oblast).  I
recently visited wearing a headscarf that is a cross between a bandana and
a doo-rag.  My mother referred to it as a KUPKE.  A discussion of kerchief
ensued.  My mother said that a kerchief tied under the chin was referred to
as either a SHTIKHL or a FATSHEYLE, but a kerchief tied behind the head,
under the hairline, was a KUPKE.



My mother said the word KUPKE also means piles (mounds), but didn't believe
the two senses were related.



I found one on-line reference to a Red Buttons character called The Kupke
Kid, which stated that KUPKE was Yiddish for a stocking cap.  However, I
was unable to find KUPKE or SHTIKHL in Uriel Weinreich or any other on-line
sources.



Has anyone heard either KUPKE or SHTIKHL used to connote kerchief or
headscarf?



Joel Maxman



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

Date: November 9

Subject: kupke/kufke



tayere khaveyrim,



ikh darf hilf mit a vort. zayt moykhl, vayter shrayb ikh alts oyf english:



I'm translating a scene from a Yizkor book of a Litvak shtetl Divenishok.
The whole scene is very confusing and in one place a word repeats itself
twice - with almost no context to go with it. Since there are almost no
nekudes, it may be a pey or fey:



Word or Phrase: Kupkes or Kufkes

Location: (http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?=id=3D2031) Image 453, Last two
words on the page



The scene is in a synagogue, but the word probably has nothing to do with
religion. Some people in the back are mumbling faintly understood words and
partial sentences, and end with “kupkes/kufkes.”  They are complaining of
some mistreatment or injustice:...Suddenly, from the other side of the
heating oven there is a murmur, mumbled words:

We will not allow them to carry away cut off a livelihood gradually, one
another kupkes kupkes



Now, someone suggested the following: Niborsky's dictionary says that kupke
is related to kopke, ladies' cap. Do they make caps or something?... but I
don't have the dictionary so I can't verify that. My response: Thanks, but
I don't think so. The whole article is very unclear about what everyone was
protesting about. It seems that the butchers in town were either at fault,
or the ones faulted.



Something about meat being sent out of the shtetl, and the butchers
collecting money. Those protesting in half-mumbled sentences end their
words with “kupkes kupkes” or possibly “kuFkes kuFkes.” I don't see how
hats or head-coverings would be involved, unless it was somehow used as a
symbol of protest (maybe something “socialist,” like waving the flag, or
similar to the Bund motto: sher un ayzn [scissors and iron]) or something
like throwing down a gauntlet (in this case a hat - maybe like the Muslims
throw shoes...) in protest...or used as a swear word or curse... and
someone else suggested a typo (twice?) ... bubkes ... but a Litvak would
probably pronounce it bobkes...Please share clues or intuitions



a sheynem dank,

Leybl Botwinik



______________________________________________________

End of Mendele Vol. 23.011



Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct
your mail as



follows:



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.





Mendele: Yiddish literature and language

____________________________________________________



Contents of Vol. 23.011

November 22, 2013



1) New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands (Marion Aptroot)

2) Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt” (Catherine Madsen)

3) “I should hope to smoke a fish.” (Elizabeth Zimmer)

4) Manger’s “Ovtnlid” (Hirsh Perloff)

5) vaybertaytsh font (Jerold C. Frakes)

6) kupke (Joel Maxman)

7) kupke/kufke (Leybl Botwinik)





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

Date: October 23

Subject: New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands



In May, Evi Michel's richly illustrated catalogue of Yiddish manuscripts
written in the Netherlands was published:



Evi Michels

Jiddische Handschriften aus den Niederlanden

Leiden: Brill 2013

ISBN: 9789004251014

E-ISBN: 9789004251236

http://www.brill.com/jiddische-handschriften-der-niederlande=20



The preview on Google books unfortunately does not show sample pages of the
catalogue itself.



Marion Aptroot



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

Date: October 18

Subject: Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt”



The play is in this volume of Peretz's complete works, in the Yiddish

Book Center's Spielberg Digital Library:



http://archive.org/details/nybc209345



These sets can be quite tricky to negotiate, given the limitations of
Library of Congress cataloging, so Mendelyaners (and others!) should always
feel free to contact me with any questions.



Catherine Madsen

[Moderator’s note: the writer is the bibliographer of the National Yiddish
Book Center.]



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

Date: November 16

Subject: “I should hope to smoke a fish.”



Hello!



“I should hope to smoke a fish.”



Hoping you can help me figure out the meaning/context of this phrase, and
whether it originates in Yiddish.  My mother, who was born in 1915 and was
a native Yiddish speaker, used it all the time. I can't recall the context,
but I know she said it in English, in the late '40s-early '50s.



Many thanks,

Elizabeth Zimmer



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

Date: October 22

Subject: Manger’s “Ovntlid”


In response to Helene B. Katz's query about Manger's “Ovntlid”:



Dictionaries generally do translate butterfly as zumer-feygele, not
zumer-foygl. Indeed, butterfly would be problematic here as, firstly, there
are not grey and golden winged butterflies where Manger lived. Secondly,
butterflies need the midday warmth of sun to be active and are not seen at
dusk whereas birds are often active then.



There are various possibilities; some finches and buntings have yellow and
grey in their wings but one feels that the poem requires them to be
striking such as the Golden Oriole, Yellow Hammer or Goldfinch, all of
which have bright yellow and black wings which can look gold and grey in
the setting sun and all are migratory and so could be described as summer
birds.



But perhaps Manger, though, is intending symbolic imagery rather than an
actual description.



Hirsh Perloff



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

Date: November 19

Subject: vaybertaytsh font



I would like to use a vaybertaytsh font in an introductory language
textbook of Old and Middle Yiddish that I am preparing for publication. Do
any Mendele subscribers know if there is such a font available in a
standard Windows True Type format that is downloadable or available for
purchase?



Jerold C. Frakes



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

Date: October 18

Subject: kupke



My mother is a native Yiddish speaker from Galicia (Tarnopil oblast).  I
recently visited wearing a headscarf that is a cross between a bandana and
a doo-rag.  My mother referred to it as a KUPKE.  A discussion of kerchief
ensued.  My mother said that a kerchief tied under the chin was referred to
as either a SHTIKHL or a FATSHEYLE, but a kerchief tied behind the head,
under the hairline, was a KUPKE.



My mother said the word KUPKE also means piles (mounds), but didn't believe
the two senses were related.



I found one on-line reference to a Red Buttons character called The Kupke
Kid, which stated that KUPKE was Yiddish for a stocking cap.  However, I
was unable to find KUPKE or SHTIKHL in Uriel Weinreich or any other on-line
sources.



Has anyone heard either KUPKE or SHTIKHL used to connote kerchief or
headscarf?



Joel Maxman



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

Date: November 9

Subject: kupke/kufke



tayere khaveyrim,



ikh darf hilf mit a vort. zayt moykhl, vayter shrayb ikh alts oyf english:



I'm translating a scene from a Yizkor book of a Litvak shtetl Divenishok.
The whole scene is very confusing and in one place a word repeats itself
twice - with almost no context to go with it. Since there are almost no
nekudes, it may be a pey or fey:



Word or Phrase: Kupkes or Kufkes

Location: (http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?=id=3D2031) Image 453, Last two
words on the page



The scene is in a synagogue, but the word probably has nothing to do with
religion. Some people in the back are mumbling faintly understood words and
partial sentences, and end with “kupkes/kufkes.”  They are complaining of
some mistreatment or injustice:...Suddenly, from the other side of the
heating oven there is a murmur, mumbled words:

We will not allow them to carry away cut off a livelihood gradually, one
another kupkes kupkes



Now, someone suggested the following: Niborsky's dictionary says that kupke
is related to kopke, ladies' cap. Do they make caps or something?... but I
don't have the dictionary so I can't verify that. My response: Thanks, but
I don't think so. The whole article is very unclear about what everyone was
protesting about. It seems that the butchers in town were either at fault,
or the ones faulted.



Something about meat being sent out of the shtetl, and the butchers
collecting money. Those protesting in half-mumbled sentences end their
words with “kupkes kupkes” or possibly “kuFkes kuFkes.” I don't see how
hats or head-coverings would be involved, unless it was somehow used as a
symbol of protest (maybe something “socialist,” like waving the flag, or
similar to the Bund motto: sher un ayzn [scissors and iron]) or something
like throwing down a gauntlet (in this case a hat - maybe like the Muslims
throw shoes...) in protest...or used as a swear word or curse... and
someone else suggested a typo (twice?) ... bubkes ... but a Litvak would
probably pronounce it bobkes...Please share clues or intuitions



a sheynem dank,

Leybl Botwinik



______________________________________________________

End of Mendele Vol. 23.011



Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct
your mail as



follows:




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.



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)



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 [interim address]:
https://sites.google.com/site/mendeledervaylik



To join or leave the list: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele







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 [interim address]:
https://sites.google.com/site/mendeledervaylik



To join or leave the list: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele

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