Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 22 July 2, 1992 1) Meesa mesheena (Hershele Bolsheviker) 2) Farbissen (Bob Werman) 3) Introduction (Martin Haase) 4) Witches (Ellen Prince) 5) Mendele in the Forverts (J.J. Steinberg) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1992 00:28:17 -0400 From: fishbane@epas.utoronto.CA Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.20 Is everyone satisfied that meesa mesheena does not ever occur in Litvish yiddish? litvishe rebbes always say meshune, meshunedik, when they speak yiddish/gemoro loshen--. It may be that the alliterated sound of mEEsa carried over to meshEEna. but I am certain I heard meshunedick a million times oona sheer in many a babba kama sheer. hershele bolsheviker 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jul 92 7:43 +0300 From: RWERMAN%HUJIVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.21 [Hershel Bershady writes:] A distant second in order of nastiness was the epithet "farbissen" ending with gender ending e or er. More frequently this term too r referred to someone who didn't too often look bitten up, but was a biter! **************** Although farbissene[r] can mean a biter, in my experience - central Polish origins of family - this pejorative referred to a bitter [two "t"s] person, perhaps one who bites her/his tongue, rather than admit appreciation or enjoyment. __Bob Werman rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il Jerusalem 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 02 Jul 92 17:50:20 MEZ From: Martin Haase Subject: introduction Zint nokh-Pejsah hob ikh arejngekukt in Mendele, dokh hob ikh nisht gekunt kejn jidish far zelber cu tun a zog. Un an onfanger bin ikh nokh imer. Ikh bin a "visnshaftlikher asistent" (vos in Amerike iz an "assistent professor") in lingvistik in der universitet fun Osnabrik. Hi hobn mir a jidish-kurs a klejnem, fun vem der melamed iz Utz Maas (a profesor azojner hot nokh nisht kejn "email" in Ejrope). Mit a halbn jor cirik bin ikh gekumen aher nokh Osnabrik. Afrier hob ikh gemakht a Ph.D. iber der baskisher shprokh, vos iz ict gevorn a bukh mit titel "Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel im Baskenland" (Hamburg: Buske 1992). (Ikh hof, ir vilt mir fargebn di reklame.) Mer vel ikh zogn shpeter. Zejt gezunt! Martin Haase (mhaase@dosuni1@bitnet, ...@dosuni1.rz.Uni-Osnabrueck.de) 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 02 Jul 92 16:37:07 -0400 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.21 [Hershel Bershady writes:] >The shames suggested to me that my family used "mise >meshine" to refer to a witch -- shades of Bashevis Singer! >That's certainly possible, considering the variety of ptuis >and knocks on wood that seemed to accompany such >exclamations. Does any one else have an experience similar >to mine? It also seems to me that among the first and >following generations of Jews in America who speak Yiddish >in some form, the farbissen epithet, or its equivalent, is >more commonly invoked than mise meshine. We have fewer >witches among us, perhaps, and more people with >"ressentiment." witches were certainly in in my family, but they were always 'makhsheyfes', not mise meshines. 'farbisene' was also a biggie-- i would translate it as 'embittered', but i'm not at all confident that that's what was intended. (embittered old women are just the type to give you an evil eye, so maybe that's the witch connection.) ellen prince 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jul 92 17:38:17 EDT From: "J. J. Steinberg" Subject: Mendele & the Forvarts The last edition of the English Forward (6/26/92) had an article on mendele from philologos. Congratulations! JJ Steinberg, Albert Einstein College of Medicine J.J. (Yankl) Steinberg [Zogt der shames: a dank, ober vos hot er geshribn?] ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.22 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.