Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.189 April 26, 1998 1) yidish af yidish (Noyekh Miller) 2) farshidens (Isak Shteyn) 3) b'revach (Yosef Gilboa) 4) b'revach (Michoel Ronn) 5) "beth, resh, vav, vav alef, khof sofit" (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 6) ployneste (Joachim Neugroschel) 7) the _-te_ suffix (Mikhl Herzog) 8) Ployneste (Shleyme Axelrod) 9) ployne(ste) (Paul Pascal) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 14:08:31 -0400 From: "N. Miller" Subject: yidish af yidish Here's a suggestion for those Mendelists who prefer to read Yiddish in Yiddish, particularly when it comes to something like The Mendele Review, which in Leonard Prager's knowing hands has become such a treasure. This is what I did. 1. From the pages of the most recent issue I _copied_ a few paragraphs, 2. opened up Refoyl Finkel's yidishe shraybmashinke http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/makeyiddish.html 3. and _pasted_ what I'd copied into the box. 4. I added only one line of instructions at the very start (see below). 5. I chose PDF as the format I wanted and pressed "Do It". 6. The shraybmashinke did its part, converted the text into Yiddish, then automatically brought up Acrobat Reader (free for the asking: if you haven't got it, now's your chance.) http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html And that's it. You can even print the result with a laser printer. Beautiful. If you'd like to try for yourselves, copy the paragraphs below beginning with the line "\jerusalem{2000}". The point of the exercise is to remind Mendelists that they can do the same with Yiddish that shows up in the pages of Mendele. Provided of course that what's written follows the YIVO standard. A neat example of how technological innovation constrains choice. Ober nisht dos bin ikh oysn. Zayt mir gezunt. Noyekh Miller ================= \jerusalem {2000} 63 / in april 1881 hot zikh oyfgehoybn in dorem-rusland di pogrom-khvalye, fun velkher es hobn gelitn derhoypt di oremste shikhtn fun der yidisher bafelkerung. dos hot gemuzt shteln unter a gefar di ekzistents fun goldfadns teater. goldfadns teater, vos hot ale mol gehat di lebedikste baheftung mit di oremste shikhtn, hot glaykh gemuzt derfiln di ongekumene faroremung un ruinirung fun di yidishe masn. afn dorem iz nit geblibn keyn ort farn yidishn teater. goldfadns trupe tsit zikh iber in yene gegntn, velkhe zaynen geven mer gezikhert fun der pogrom-khvalye, un in yuli 1881 zeen mir shoyn goldfadns trupe in peterburg. mir veysn shoyn, az peterburg hot fun lang on gehat a bazunder tsutsiung-kraft far goldfadenen. goldfadn hot nit umzist azoy gegreyt zikh tsu zayne gastroln in peterburg. fun danen, fun peterburg, iz in yener tsayt gegangen durkh der rusish-yidisher prese yener yidishlekh-aristokratisher "bon-ton," far velkhn es hobn azoy oft gemuzt yoytse zayn nit nor der yidisher teater, nor oykh di yidishe literatur. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 16:14:55 EDT From: shteyn@juno.com (Isak Shteyn) Subject: farshidens Khushive Mendelianer, Koydem-kol, a gur faynem yasher-koyekh tsu Feygl Infeld Glezer far gebn di standartizirte transliteration fun yidish mit lateynishe oysijes. Khotsh ikh wart oyf der minit ven mir veln kenen zikh farshtendigen oyf yidish mit yidishe oysies. Nor bis ahin, lomir khotsh shraybn oyf a standartnem oyfn. Mikoyexh yidish vi a gehayme shprakh. Gedenk ikh in yidishe kleytn vi men fleg handlen oyf borg, hot men zikh banutzt mit a min zhargon khutze yidish polovine (helft) loshn-koydesh, der goyisher koyne zol nisht farshteyn, vi folgend: a betiakh= a guter tzoler; belam=oyf borg (rushey teyves fun beloy mues); mues khitindiker=a kabtzen wus koyft far nedoves geld (muos Khitin). Shlemiel is sinonim mit shlimazel; un shlimazel kumt mistome fun shlim (shlekht) mazel (glik), in der folksshprakh hot zikh eyn m oyfgegesn. Der oysdruk khone un khone-beyle far an umerlikher froy is ungenemen in yidish. Oyf di fragen "vus makht ihr,vus makhst du, vus makht a yid" zaynen di entfern: ikh makh zikh nit visendik; fun a laybl broyt an okraytshik (fun a gantz broyt-a reyftl); mir lebn un Got mutshet zikh; ikh makh a gutn ayndruk; kayn bris nit; borukh hashem; ikh makh mit di hend; fun a lefl a krizhik(a rund breytl aroys tzu varfn oyf dem a mamalige); ikh makh mit di lipn; geld fun tinef; tinef fun geld; ikh makh mit di zayten; shoyn khasine gemakht in umgang in Bukovina, Basarabia, Ukraina, Rusland, efsher in gantz Mizrekh-Eyrope. Enlekh zaynen di entfern oyf "vus hert zikh?" men golt zikh un men shert zikh; fun oyvn shit zikh, fun hintn molt zikh; loy s'hert zikh (a perefrazirung fun'm seksten gebot loy sirtzakh = zolst nit hargenen); men razirt zikh un men shert zikh un der moyekh kert zikh; vus men redt; as men shtinkt on, hert zikh; di velt kert zikh; men zogt a lign un men shvert zikh. Shmuesn kumt mistam fun ivrit: shmuot = nayesn. Odom a mentsh un katshke rik zikh vert genutzt in Mizrekh-Eyrope vi a fargleikh as afilu a mentsh mit vintziger mayles farshteyt oykh epes un kon oykh epes. Men nutzt in Bukovina dos vort grays say far a tues say far an altn man. Harkavi brengt nor grayz mit a zayen far a feler. Grays=an alter man kumt mistam fun daytsh. Oyf oysdrikn di hartkeyt fun vinter, nutzt men in der filshprakhiger Bukovina aza vertl: "shvat nie svat(mekhutn), mart nie brat, uder nie bruder und april tut vas er vil". Der oysdruk "glitshn zikh oyf'n ayz" meynt a geferlekhe unternemung. Yaknehuz iz a ivrit abbreviation far yayin (vayn), kiddush, neyr (likht), havdole, zman (tsayt). Ahora iz mistam a git-oyg, oyf nit tsu zogn a shlekht oyg. Grishe is russish far Gershon. A grishe is a froy, velkhe hot gekrugn a get (divorce). Hesse-bet is fun ivrit hesev-bet, oyf velkhn men shpart (lent) zikh un baym seder. Ya-tebe-dam is oyf etlekhe slavishe shprakhn a droung, un badayt "ikh vel dir gebn"! Mit der tsayt is es gevorn sinonim far a takif, eyner far vemen me darf moyre hobn. Nisht gestoygn-nisht gefloygn, meynt a lign, vos shtaygt nit(barg arof) un flit nit. Rikhtig-"ployneste" meynt a vayb, un kumt fun ivrit ploni vus meynt der un der, NN, un dos vord gefint zikh in Harkavi farn yor 1988 oyf zayt 372. Mayn shayle fun vanen nemt zikh "haytukhn" un vos dos batayt, leyg ikh nokh a mol for di khushive Mendelianer, heyoys keyner hot mir oyf ir nit geentfert. Blaybt gezund un hot a gringen zumer. Isak Shteyn 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 11:28:58 -0700 From: AJ Gilboa Subject: b'revach Rita Falbel asked about an unknown word [07.188]. It sounds to me as if her grandfather was transliterating the Hebrew word b'revach (beis reish vov (vov) ches), meaning "abundantly" or "with ease". Since Hebrew words are usually spelled in their original spelling when imported into Yiddish, either he was unaware of the source or he assumed that the reader might be unaware, and considerately spelled it phonetically. By the way, how does one spell "af ts' lochis" in Yiddish? As far as I know, this is a "hybrid" of "af" (Hebrew) "tsu" (Germanic) "l'hach'is" (Hebrew). Does one spell "lochis" lamed heh khaf 'ayin yod samech? Yosef Gilboa 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 07:29:26 EDT From: chromelion@juno.com (Michoel Ronn) Subject: b'revach It is a misspelling of the word "b'revakh," which means "in abundance." The word is spelled in Hebrew as beys, reish, veis, ches. Yours Truly, Michoel Ronn 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 14:04:59 EDT From: Gevaryahu Subject: "beth, resh, vav, vav alef, khof sofit"? Rita Falbel asks (07.188) about the meaning of "beth, resh, vav, vav, alef, khof sofit" which 'usually follows sentiments like "Hashem zol vayter helfen az mir zollen hoben parnosse" '. The abbreviation "bet, resh, vav, resh, vav, khet" though not exactly the one questioned but probably a first cousin of it, means: "berov rakhamav ve'khasadav"; which typically will follow the name of God and it literally means "in the abundance of His grace and charity". Gilad J. Gevaryahu 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 09:19:58 -0400 (EDT) From: ACHIM1 Subject: "ployneste" I was rather surprised by Harvey Spiro's desgination of the suffix "te" in "ployneste" as being of Slavic origin. so far as I know, there is no Slavic component language of Yiddish that contains the feminine suffix "te." Yiddish linguists generally see it as probably deriving from the Aramaic suffix spelled "tov-alef" as opposed to the Yiddish spelling "tes-ayin". This Semitic origin is bolstered by the fact that the feminine suffix "te" is, with very few exceptions, normally added to masculine Yiddish words of Hebrew-Aramaic derivation: i.e. "balegole-te" "khaver-te" etc. An interesting exception is "poyer-te"--"poyer" presumably coming from German (cf. modern German "Bauer," English "boor," Afrikaans "Boer" etc.). However Yiddish treats "poyer" virtually as a Hebrew borrowing: the plural being "pOyerim," so that the (presumably) Aramaic suffix "te" fits in with that usage. (The fact that the plural stresses the first syllable rather than the penultimate is mirrored by the identical first-syllable stress in "bOkherim.") Harvey Spiro may have been misled by the Yiddish feminine ending "ke", which is certainly of Slavic origin. Incidentally, both Yiddish and German have a special term for a feminine noun based on a masculine noun (such as "master-mistress" in English). The German term is "das movierte Femininum" and the Yiddish term--visibly taken over from German--is "der movirter feminin". There's no equivalent term in English, so far as I know. Or does anyone know of one? Joachim Neugroschel 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 09:54:24 -0400 From: "Mikhl Herzog" Subject: the _-te_ suffix. Several correspondents suggest that Yiddish _ployniste_ consists of the Hebrew origin feminine _ploynis_ + a suffix _-te_, ostensibly, of German or Slavic origin. Not likely! German? Can someone cite examples FROM German? Slavic? Aren't you confusing it with agentive feminine _-ke_: _lererke_, _shnayderke_, _shoykhetke_, etc? If we examine the distribution of the -_te_ suffix in Yiddish, we find that it occurs ONLY with words of Hebrew origin: _ployniste_, _makahateneste_, _tsadeykeste_, _negideste_ (in each of these cases, it's a pleonastic suffix; i.e., it duplicates an already occurring feminizing morpheme);_gvirete_, baleboste_, _roshete_, _mekhutnte_, _katsevte_, _ganevte_(in these cases, it's simply added to the masculine); others? I'd feel safer if the Semitists among us were to take it from here. Mikhl Herzog 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 11:48:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: Ployneste My embarrassed thanks to those who responded to my inquiry. _Ployneste_ does indeed appear both in Harkavy (1898, 1928) and in Weinreich, but not where I thought it would be, i.e., not beginning with pe-lamed-vov-YUD-nun...; as in the Hebrew _ploni_, there is no yud between the vov and the nun. I should have read further. Shleyme Axelrod Buffalo, New York 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 22:43:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Pascal Subject: ployne(ste) In response to a request on the origin of _ployneste_, Kenneth Wishniac speculates that the male form, _ployne_, or _ploni_ in Hebrew (and Aramaic, I believe, since this was Talmudic/Gemaraic usage to start with)--is cognate with the Arabic _fulan_, and that it therefore probably has a proto-Semitic root. Myself, I had mused that Ploni was of Roman origin, Greco-Roman names being common in the Talmud, even for rabbis. Ploni was, I imagined, a truncated Apollonius. Paul Pascal Toronto ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.189 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html