Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 173 February 16, 1992 1) 'While' (Bob Goldberg) 2) Jewish/Jew (Dovid Braun) 3) Turmoil (Sigrid Peterson) 4) Ludic Yiddish (David Sherman) 5) Farshidens (Yude-Leyb Proger) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 13:46:42 PST From: xidak!poseidon!bob@uunet.UU.NET Subject: "while" in Yiddish I heard Yid. "dervayl" a lot, which I took to mean "meanwhile" when recounting a past event, and a sort-of "while" in the present. (past) ikh bin dortn geveyzn, dervayl mayn shvester iz geforen kayn amerike. (present?) zets-zikh do dervayl ikh makh epes tsu esen. Does that fly, or is it Anglicized Yiddish like "nemen 'care' oyf"? Bob Goldberg 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Feb 92 16:59:21 EST From: David Braun Subject: He's Jewish vs. He's a Jew Re Yude-Leyb Proger's note on "Ginsberg's Jewish background": in English we are more apt to say "(s)he's Jewish" than "(s)he's a Jew", for example. I've noticed people (Jews) bristle when someone talks about so and so as being "a Jew", as opposed to "being Jewish". In general we (at least nowadays) say "he's Chinese (not: he's a Chinaman), she's black (vs. she's a black/Negro), they're Hispanic" -- i.e., the adjective and not the noun form. Why does _Jew_ make some people uncomfortable? I'd like to hear people's feelings about this. One reason, I think, is the phonological markedness of this one-syllable word in English (for non-linguists this means: 'the word sounds funny in comparison with the majority of other sound combinations in the language'). How many other words do we have (in English) with consonant+[u]? Only oddities such as _moo_ (the sound a cow makes), _goo_ (an informal word for sticky, dense liquid), and maybe some more. And phonologically marked combinations are in fact the ones most likely to be exploited by childspeak (_goo_) or onomatopeic lexical items (read: 'words') like _moo_. So the Jew (bristle-bristle), in his/her historically/socially/etc. anomalous position in the world is even treated as an anomaly by phonology! Other thoughts? Dovid Braun 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1992 14:58 MST From: Sigrid Peterson Subject: turmoil words Well, I know that the Hebrew word _megillah_ has a secondary Yiddish meaning of fuss, turmoil, brouhaha, hassle, parental diatribe, etc. I wanted to find a parallel word, also in Yiddish, for a post on IUODAIOS. I came up with _meshugas_. It seems that it could mean the same thing, though the root probably puts it close to _meshuga_, _meshuginer_. Looking at the form, probably _meshugas_ shouldn't be used alone; is it "a whole craziness of ......., or as hersh basser would want it, "a crazy....." As parallels to _megillah_, Noyekh-shames suggested tsimmes or British shemozzle (different from _shlemazl_, or similar, meaning 'the whole luckless mess?'? So what should I know that I don't? Sigrid Peterson sigpeter@cc.utah.edu 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Feb 92 20:20:58 EST From: dave@lsuc.on.CA Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.154 Still catching up on back issues, I've just read Yude-Leyb Proger's very eloquent and thoughtful Part 2 of Ludic Yiddish. I agree with what he says -- in theory. And I'm doing what I can, in practice: our kids are growing up with Yiddish as everyday tongue, and hopefully will be able to relate to mame-loshn in the way described in some of the very touching poetry that Yude-Leyb quotes. But we all have to admit that this is an exception. Except to the extent that Jews who grow up in a Yiddish-speaking Chasidic community turn to the secular literature (which isn't likely to happen anytime soon, but isn't outside the realm of possibility somewhere down the road -- consider where the original secular Yiddish writers came from in the first place!), the large base of native Yiddish speakers is irretrievably gone. And Yiddish as an academic and literary subject of study may thrive, but much as Latin and Greek have thrived in universities over the centuries. Which leads me to wonder. Which is better: for Yiddish to survive as "Ludic Yiddish", or not at all? David Sherman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Feb 92 20:14:57 IST From: RHLE302@HAIFAUVM.BITNET Subject: Salad "YIDDISH" SPELLINGS IN ISRAELI HEBREW In _Maariv, asakim_, p. 24 on 16 February 1988 I noted the spelling of the Yiddish word _gefilte_: gimel, pey, yod, lamed, tet, ayin at end! One usually sees hey for final ayin. Israeli Hebrew often must spell in a Yiddish manner in order to be understood! Hebrew still has no uniform system for writing Yiddish words or words of Yiddish origin (the two should be distinguished: certain Yiddish lexemes have entered Hebrew, hence they are Hebrew lexemes of Yiddish origin; and any Hebrew-writer may cite Yiddish texts within an otherwise Hebrew text). Sometimes Yiddish spelling is followed. Sometimes a Hebrew spelling is improvized. And sometimes the spelling is mixed. Here is an example of mixed spelling: the 29 April 1988 issue of the Netanya-Chadera edition of the _Shevuon Yediot Acharonot_ announces a Yiddish play to be staged on 5 May, _Rozhinkes mit mandlen_. It was spelled resh-vav-zayin-yod-nun-kof-samech mem-yod-tet mem-alef-nun-dalet-lamed-yod-nun. Hebrew now spells Yiddish _altmodish_ 'old-fashioned' _alte-modishe_ (hey at end of both parts of compound), thus creating a new form, one non-existent in Yiddish. ****** ENJOY In April 1988, at the entrance to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem there was a large sign in Hebrew and English which read as follows: "Hapaam -- mevaker, hapaam habaa -- chaver. Lehitraot beagudat hayedidim / This time visit and enjoy -- next time visit and join the Organization of Friends." This (Ashkenazic) Jewish English use of _enjoy_ has penetrated General English in places like New York City and perhaps other American urban centers as well. Since visitors to the Israel Museum come from all over the world, it would have been more appropriate to use General English: "A visitor today, tomorrow a member -- we invite you to join the Organization of Friends." The play on "enjoy / join" is not too good to delete. There is no reason why one can't enjoy being a member as well as being a visitor. ****** SHMALTZ It takes time for a Yiddish word to become a Jewish English word and then become a general English word and different individuals and groups hook into the system at different points. If you are sophisticated, you sometimes miss the fact that what you think is a Yiddishism is already good colloquial English. Isn't _shmaltz_ (< Y. _shmalts_) already well acclimated in general English? Yet William M. Johnston in his -The Austrian Mind; An Intellectual and Social History 1848-1938- (University of California Press: Berkeley/ Los Angeles/London, {1976}, p. 128), writes: "Since World War Two, the waltz, together with Austrian pastry, has become identified with a sentimentality that American Yiddish calls shmaltz." Yude-Leyb Proger ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.173