Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.017 June 21, 1998 1) Kvelling in excelsis (Tamar Fox) 2) a shayle vegn a lerer (Mendy Fliegler) 3) Miraculous Mendele (Louis Fridhandler) 4) _izn_, ober nit _binen_ (Shaya Mitelman) 5) _enk_ (Johannes Seppi) 6) es/dos; izn iz er; khurbn/khorbn; enk(er)/ets (Mikhl Herzog) 7) Chas vechalila (Burton M. (Berel) Leiser) 8) Laas (Avrum-Yankev Amkraut) 9) modern usage of 'shvartser' (Dan Gilman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 15:43:52 -0400 (EDT) From: tamar@fox.ftech.co.uk (Tamar Fox) Subject: Kvelling in excelsis The following extract is from John Diamond's newly published _C: because cowards get cancer too..._(Vermillion, 1998): "I even received a letter from that sweetest of men, the Chief Rabbi, to tell me that prayers were being said in the highest quarters. Well, the second highest anyway. My grandfather would have kvelled, kvelling being the Yiddish word which most precisely describes the emotion of a grandfather on discovering that his cancerous grandson is being prayed for by the Chief Rabbi. There is almost certainly another Yiddish word which describes the act of hypothesising on the possible emotions of dead grandfathers, but it's not one I've yet come across." (pp. 95-6) On the far-off-chance, could Diamond be onto something here? is there such a word (not necessarily for grandparents' emotions...)? Many thanks, Tamar Fox 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 23:30:02 -0400 (EDT) From: emms2@juno.com (marilyn j fliegler) Subject: a shayle vegn a lerer... Tayere Mendlyaner, Ikh hob gefinen a bikhl, 'der Onheyber', a bikhl vus a lerer ken nitsn tsu lernen kleyne kinder Yidish. Dus bikhl is an oytser. Der mekhaber iz Dovid Bridzher. Ikh hob dus bikhl gefinen dus ershter mul in unzer bibliotek. Ven ikh bin geven a kleyn kind in New Jersey un gegangen in Sholem Aleykhem Folkshule Dray, hobn di shule layt aroysgeshikt lerern fun New York tsu di farmers tsu lernen di kinder Yidish. Mir hobn gehat oysergeveynlekhe lerern, eyner a Dr. Shegloff, a tsveytn mitn nomen Dovid Bridzher (azoy denk ikh)! Un an anderer hot geheysn Khanukof... Iz der mekhaber fun bikhl, geven mayner a lerer??? In bikhl shteyt geshribn az er hot balangt tsum Shulem Aleykhem Folks Institute... (mit finftsik yur tsurik)...Der ershter oyflage is geven in 1947! Nu, efsher ken eymitser vegn deym? A groysn dank furoys... Mendy Fliegler. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 00:36:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Miraculous Mendele Two special items show off how the miracle of Mendele works for (at least) me. One: Thanks to Miraslawa Bulat for explaining the origin and meanings of khalaburde (1, 8.012). That puts one finishing touch to my understanding of a light-hearted letter from Sholem-Aleykhem to Mendele Moykher Sforim. All the way from Poland came the clarification of an apparently rare word. The second example is Shaya Mitelman's quotation of Sholem-Aleykhem's letter to Tolstoy (2, 8.013). That helps fill in a picture. I envy those who know BOTH Russian and Yiddish because a letter from Tolstoy in answer to Sholem- Aleykhem is available in both the original Russian (Cyrillic alphabet) and a Yiddish translation. See Dos Sholem-Aleykhem Bukh, ed. I.D. Berkowitz, New York: Ikuf, 1926, 1958, p, 236. Louis Fridhandler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 00:36:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Serge Mitelman Subject: IZN, ober nit BINEN. Elye Falkovich in zayn arbet "O yazyke idish" (veygn yidisher shprakh), in der zamlung "Yazyki narodov SSSR" (di shprakhn fun di felker fun dem FSSR), b.1, Moskve, 1966, shraybt azoy: "[infinitiv nitst men] bam eynfakhn predikat af tsu farshtarkn di ongerufene tuung - der tavtologisher infinitiv, lemoshl: Kayen kayt er zeyer gikh, reydn redt er gants pamelekh (D.Bergelson); infinitiv =91zayn=92 vi a tavtologisher kon oykh hobn di forme =91izn=92, lemoshl: Zayn volt er gedarft zayn a student, nor izn iz er a dantist (Sholem-Aleikhem)." Bikhdey tsu entfern af khaver Maxwells tsveyter frage - fun vos far a oysgang-loshn nemt yidish arayn di-o konstruktsye - s'iz genug tsu batrakhtn Falkoviches an iberzetsung (af rusish) fun zayn ershtn bayshpil:Zhevat'(-to) on zhuyot ochen' bystro, govorit zhe on dovol'no medlenno. Shaya Mitelman. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 01:09:44 -0400 (EDT) From: "Johannes + Andrea" Subject: ENK Well, I grew up in the eastern Tyrol, Austria, where "enk" is used to this day. The forms would be: * You (pl) are here = Es saits do * Your (pl) house = Enker haus * I give to you (pl) = I gib enk * I see you (pl) = I sich enk So it seems that all three forms mentionned above could be related to German. There is no distinction between the dual and plural in the dialect, as far as I know. Regards, Johannes Seppi 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 01:09:46 -0400 (EDT) From: "Mikhl Herzog" Subject: 1. es/dos; 2. izn iz er; 3. khurbn/khorbn; 4. enk(er)/ets 1. Peter Klues (08.014) asks about the special Yiddish usage of "es" and "dos" in the sentences "vi tsit men ES vider op, dem gantsn inyen?" "hob ikh zikh dervust, az DOS hot eyner fun mayne gehilfn opgeroymt di roln." Note that the two can be combined in, for example: "hob ikh zikh dervust, az DOS hot ES eyner fun mayne gehilfn opgeroymt di roln." For some wonderful additional examples, see Ayzik Zaretski's _Praktishe yidishe gramatik_, Moscow, 1926. Indeed, anyone with a serious interest in Yiddish should know this still unsurpassed grammar. (The 1926 edition is far superior to the 1929 edition.) For a discussion of the "expletive es" (and other fine points of Yiddish grammar), see the University of Michigan Dissertation by Zelda Kahane-Newman: _An Annotation of Zaretski's Praktishe yidishe gramatik_. (It's available through University Microfilms.) If Zelda is a Mendele subscriber, she may wish to add something to the discussion. 2. Alexander Maxwell (08.014) asks about a rule that governs the unique formation _izn, iz er_. A rule can be formulated concerning a "tautological infinitive" that permits constructions like _tantsn, tants ikh nit, ober zingen, zing ikh yo". ('As for dancing, I don't dance, but, as for singing, I do sing'.) The rule: "infinitive + the appropriate finite form of the same verb. There are a limited number of cases where this doesn't work: _binen, bin ikh_, _izn, iz er_, _viln, vil ikh nit_ (Note that the infinitive should be _veln_), _veln, vel ikh nit_ (Note that, in this case, "veln" is a form of the future auxilliary which has no infinitive.) _veysn, veys ikh nit_ (The expected infinitive is _visn_.) =20 In these case, perhaps we can speak of special "infinitive-like" formations for use exclusively in the context of the cited construction (which we've designated "tautologous infinitive"). Perhaps there is a more sophisticated formulation (Dovid Braun? Ellen Prince?) As for the origin of the construction, the only one I've heard (where??), but would not push too hard, cites the Hebrew construction _hayo haya_ as a model. 3. Fayvel Halpern (08.014) confuses _kharpe, _khurbn_, and _korbn_. Toronto, bless it, is _a shtu:it fin poylishe yidn_, so its no surprise that he hears Hebrew _khurban_ 'destruction' as _khorbn_ in Yiddish (There's that lowering before "r" again.) _Oy a khorbn_!!, Right? And, NOT to be confused with _korbn_ 'sacrifice'. As for _kharpe_, listen for _a kharpe 'n a shande_. 4. Feygl Glezer (8.015) is puzzled about _enk/enker/ets_ in Lodz. These forms were the rule throughout western Poland reaching eastward to Warsaw and then some. Their Yiddish distribution is actually geographically contiguous with their occurrence in Austrian German. I wrote about this on Mendele some time ago (and, I'm beginning to think, even more recently). Suffice it to say, now, that a feature of the same system of the "dual" (imperatives like _kumts, geyts, shraybts_ ) through eastern Poland, as well, and were even known in Vilna in the mid-18th century. Mikhl Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 08:24:30 -0400 (EDT) From: BLeiser77@aol.com Subject: Chas vechalila Irving Young inquires about the derivation of "Khas vekhalila," often used in the sense of "God forbid." Both words are Hebrew and both are found in Tanakh. "Khalilah" makes its first appearance in Avraham Avinu's negotiation with one of the three "messengers" (malokhim) sent to announce the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nearing the end of his bargaining session, and appearing to speak directly to God, he says that if there are 20 righteous persons in those disreputable places, "Khalilah l'kha"--It would be unworthy of you, God, to exterminate the righteous with the wicked. Such khutzpah! "Khalilah" obviously can't mean "God forbid" when one is speaking directly to God. So its meaning must be something more or less similar to the English "unworthy" or possibly "desecration." Along the same lines, we have "Khilul shabbos" and "Khilul hashem," the desecration of shabbos or of God's name, in which the first word is simply another form of "khalilah." "Khas" is also found here and there, and always, if I'm not mistaken, as an interjection at the beginning of a sentence that deals with some highly undesirable situation--the destruction of a city, for example. It's almost as if the author were trying to say, Hush, let it not be said that such-and-such might happen. "Khas" is related to "Khus," which is found, for example, in the High Holiday liturgy, "Khus vrakhem aleynu,"--Khus and be merciful to us--suggesting that "Khas" and words related to it are more or less synonymous with other words having to do with compassion, mercy, etc. And of course, in common parlance we have "Khas v'sholom," with the same connotation. A gut vokh alle. Burton M. (Berel) Leiser 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 12:51:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Amkal@aol.com Subject: Laas Sam Kwesner mentions a language called laas (loos?),as an alternate jewish language. Laas is used frequently by Rashi as a language into which he translates words from Hebrew or Aramaic. We have always read this as an abbreviation of "Lashon Am Zar (or Am ZU) presumably referring to the French of his era. Is there a distinct jewish language corresponding to this designation? Avrum-Yankev Amkraut 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 13:24:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Pasha256@aol.com Subject: modern usage of 'shvartser' Sholem-aleykhem, khaveyrim; I have a question for anyone interested. I am researching a sociology project on the usage and received understanding of the word 'shvartser' by English-speaking Americans. As a sidebar, I wondered what the Mendeleyaner think about how to name African-Americans in Yiddish. Referring to Weinreich (yes, it's still the only Yiddish dictionary I have, but I'd rather concentrate on spoken language anyway), I can only find 'shvartser' and 'neger' as translations for a black person. Since that dictionary was published before black Americans began referring to themselves through their geographic background, and since it's meant to be a normative catalog of written Yiddish, I wanted to get feedback about how Americans actually use it. In Yiddish, 'shvartser' is a perfectly ordinary, neutral word. In English, though, there is often the perception that it is derogatory -- why else use a Yiddish word when an English one is readily available? And I've never even heard anyone actually say 'neger' in conversation. Did this just fall by the wayside by itself, or did people ever mention its disturbing similarity to the English pejorative 'nigger?' Moreover, I would prefer to bring Yiddish vocabulary up to speed on sociological developments. On those rare occasions when I speak about African-Americans in Yiddish, I use a word that I suppose I have coined: 'afrikan-amerikaner.' Does anyone else use this, or some other similar construction? Is there an official lexical entry like it? Please send me anything you would like to contribute to my research. A sheynem dank. Dan Gilman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.017 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