Yiddish Mailing List, Issue #41 May 12, 1991 180 lines =============================== Nokh'n mark, un bentshlikht (Raphael Finkel) Nokh'n mark, un Kasrilivker Restoranen (Noyekh Miller) Request for translations (Ellen Prince) Announcing the MENDELE list (Noyekh Miller) Letters from Sedalia, Missouri in 1891 (Nicholas Eshelman) ------------------------ Digest-Message: 41/1 From: Raphael Finkel Date: Thu, 9 May 1991 09:19:07 -0400 Nokhn mark meynt, sdakht zikh, as der mark halt zikh nor af etlekhe teg fun vokh (un efshr nor af eyn tog), un itst iz tsufil shpet nokhdem tsu hofn af frishe fish (nit keyn kelterers in yene yorn!). Agav-mayse, vos zol meynen 'a teretz far di bentshlikht'? In Manger's "Mgilas Itsik", ven Vashti hamalko vil nit kumen a nakete tsu geyn tsum meylekh, zogt zi as se tuen vey di tseyn. Homon horosho entfert, "Adoni keynik, neyn. S'a mayse far di bentshlikht di mayse mit di tseyn". ------------------------ Digest-Message: 41/2 Date: Fri, 10 May 1991 19:14:00 -0400 From: NMILLER@vax1.trincoll.edu Subject: Nokh'n mark Dave, your ear is good, the recording accurate. You'll find the story in the volume Alt-Nay Kasrilevke. The story is entitled Dos Naye Kasrilevke of which Kasrilevker Restoranen is Part 3. Nokh'n mark? means simply: after the market has closed for the day? The book, along with all of Sholem Aleichem, is of course available at the National Book Center. The story in question is one of the best from a writer who seldom missed. A simen, Dovid, az amol ret Macy tsu Gimbel. Noyekh ------------------------ Digest-Message: 41/3 Date: Thu, 9 May 1991 08:55:50 -0400 From: Ellen Prince Subject: request for translations i'd be very grateful if those subscribers who consider themselves fluent in yiddish would translate the following. please send your answers to me at ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu. a hartsikn dank! 1. a child was born every hour. 2. two people live in each house. 3. i went to a few funerals in each city. 4. i meet someone i know wherever i go. 5. all that glitters is not gold. (i'd like a literal translation--it doesn't have to be a proverb in yiddish.) 6. no news is good news. (again, a literal translation, please.) 7. everybody isn't as smart as you, you know. 8. everyone died in each battle. [Please send replies directly to Ellen, with a cc to me if you wish. I won't publish any of the translations until Ellen sends me a summary, listing the translations she received for each sentence and explaining what she was looking for and/or found. -- DS] ------------------------ Digest-Message: 41/4 Date: Thu, 9 May 1991 16:21:00 -0400 From: Yiddish Literature and Language Subject: A new list Announcing the creation of MENDELE, a list for Yiddish language and literature. While the list is dedicated to Yiddish, the language used should be that with which one can work best. Most list members will probably choose to write in English. The list is not (yet) available through listserv. For more information please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Norman (Noyekh) Miller Trinity College ------------------------ Digest-Message: 41/5 Date: Fri, 10 May 1991 09:03:50 -0400 From: Nicholas Eshelman Here is something that will perhaps be of interest to people on the list. I am presently trying to decifer a number of letters written from Sedalia, Missouri around 1891 IN YIDDISH! The letters were kindly lent to me by the great-grandson of their author. Several years ago a rabbi in Kansas city was asked to translate the letters, which he did quite well. He also transcribed them in roman characters, though interestingly enough this proved to more of an (unconcious) translation into his own dialect of Yiddish than a transliteraton. At any rate, the hard part is not understanding the letters but decifering them and interpreting the vowels and diphthongs. There is no telling a vov from a yud or often an alef fron tsvey vovn etc. Spelling is also very inconsistent and there is no punctuation. As a result I have no idea of the actual phonetic values represented by the graphemes for the vowels. For this reason, in the following excerpt I will not try to interpret the value of the vowels, but will represent them as follows: alef: ' , vov: u, yud: y, ayen: e. Tsvey vovn, however is "v" to make reading a bit easier. The consonants are plain old YIVO. I hope this hastily conceived scheme doesn't cause too much eye strain. Sedalia Missouri July 13/91 (in roman characters) Myyn lyber k'zyn 'hrn Lyyzer Shpyler. 'ykh h'be dyyn bryev 'yyte m'rgyn gykrygn 'nd 'ykh denk d's es vyl nykht l'ng zyyn byz 'ykh vyl dykh 'nd dyyn fruy und dyyn t'khter ts' zehyn [...] 'ykh byn f'n U'nuv (Yonev, Galicia?) avek gyk'myn 'yn y're 1855. 'ykh k'm glyykh n'kh Engyl'nd. F'n Engl'nd byn 'ykh 'n shyf gykymyn ts' 'rbyytn myt 20 t'l'r d's m'nyyt 'yn kh esyn fryy. 'ykh v'r 'n mytlershyn mer 'n shvartsyn mer 'yn K'nst'ntyn'pl, fyle pletsn ts' fyel ts' shryybn. 'ykh byn vydyr gyk'myn n'kh England bets'lt gykrygyn 'nd n'kh 'merik' gykumyn 'n tsyytyn t'g Rush Hshnh 1856 'yn der sht't B'ldym're 'yn N'rt Ameryk'. 'ykh v'r d' 'yyn y'r. 'ykh 'n gyf'ngyn ts' 'ndlyn v'ry tsu fyrkufyn klyydyr 'ly 'nd shnyt v'ry. He goes on to say he got married a woman who is "gyz'nt 'nd shtark, vegt 'n gyfehr 200 fund." I would be interested in any comments regarding the language of this excerpt or anything else. (I'm not familiar with manuscripts from this period. Is the spelling always this erratic?) Thanks for your help. ------------------------ Digest-Message: 41/6 Date: Sat, 11 May 1991 14:38:25 -0400 From: Nicholas Eshelman Subject: Letters I forgot to mention several things about the excerpt from the letter I sent you. My brain was somewhat fatigued from trying to decipher 100 year old handwriting (which is also why I'm not writing in Yiddish). Anyway, the town refered to in the letter is possibly Janow Lubelsky, which is about 40 miles south of Lublin. Sedalia, Mo., the town where the letters were written, is about 70 miles east of Kansas City, Mo. There seem to have been a good number of Jews in Sedalia for quite some time. In an 1883-1884 city dirctory of Sedalia I found a number of Jewish organizations including "Bnai Berith." I believe that in Janow there was Jewish presence since the late 1600's. Because I am ignorant of 19th century orthographic conventions I am somewhat puzzled about the language of these letters. To me, judging from the vowels, it looks more like the northeastern dialect than the southeastern. Also, the grammar seems heavily influenced by German and at times even somewhat stilted. Again, any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Nicholas ------------------------ SOF FUN NUMER 41 ------------------------ David (Donyel-Moyshe) Sherman, Toronto Moderator, mail.yiddish dave@lsuc.on.ca attcan!lsuc!dave@uunet.uu.net uunet!attcan!lsuc!dave {AT&T sites}!att!lsuc!dave