Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 1 no. 95
November 11, 1991
 
1) Binde (Dovid Braun)
2) Bostoner Yiddish (Harry Bochner)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 91 16:45:18 EST
From: braund@linc.cis.upenn.edu
Subject: binde and other items

"Binde" is the word also used in my Yiddish (Northern
Poland/White Russia [between Grodne/Grodno and
Byalistok/Bialystok]) for 'necktie'.  It's not a calque
from English.  It is in Harkavy's 1928 Yiddish-English
dictionary.  It's always good to consult Harkavy 1928 in
cases where U. Weinreich's dictionary is missing the term.

Scenery is a major theme in Yiddish poetry (as in the
poetry and literatures of many peoples). Scores of poems
and poetry books have the word "harbst"('autumn') in them.
They should be consulted for the relevant terminology (as
well as a dictionary).

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 91 18:30:51 -0500
From: bochner@das.harvard.edu
Subject: RE: Bostoner Yiddish

With respect to "Sissel": Some Boston friends with roots in
Providence R.I. use "Sissel Seeds" in English to refer to
caraway seeds, and "Sissel Bread" to refer to dark ryebread
with seeds. They were surprised when I said I had never
heard the term before, either in English or in Yiddish; in
fact they were surprised when we couldn't find the word in
English dictionaries.

One co-worker here, with local roots, tells me that she's
familiar with the term, but for her it means "sesame"
rather than "caraway". Another tells me he learned it in
Madison Wisconsin, and he thinks there it can mean either
"caraway" or "sesame". He associates its use there with New
York style delicatessens; I never, however, heard it used
in Buffalo, NY. (But maybe it's used in Buffalo English,
and I just heard too many deli conversations in Yiddish to
learn this obscure English word?)

Both of these co-workers are non-jewish, so if the word is
indeed of Yiddish origin, this shows that its penetration
into at some regional varieties of English is pretty
complete. Maybe the Dictionary of American Regional English
is the place to look; anyone have a copy?

I will attempt to gather more data, and will be interested
to hear anyone's insights into the origin of this word.

-- Harry
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End of Mendele Vol 1.95