Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 86 October 30, 1992 1) Khurbm (Ellen Prince) 2) Khurbm (Zachary Baker) 3) Various (Leonard Prager) 4) Bloyz and nor (Khaim Bochner) 5) Columbia Yiddish Course (Debra Halperin Biasca) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 13:27:52 EST From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: RE: Khurbm (David Neal Miller writes:) > >I was surprised to come upon the term "Hitler-khurbm" as >early as 1941 in Maks Vaynraykh's paper on "Di yidishe >visnshaft in der hayntiker tsayt": > >"Nor mir gleybn dokh in dem groysn natsyonaln un >mentshlekhn koyekh fun der yidisher shprakh far yidn afile >nokh dem Hitler-khurbm un afile in Amerike" (Yivo-bleter >17:7, based on a talk presented on 3 Jan. 1941 at the 15th >annual Yivo Conference in New York). that's remarkable...SO remarkable in fact that i'd wonder if it wasn't added later. note: '...based on a talk...' you might want to see if there's a text of the original talk around before you draw too many conclusions. (with all due respect, it's not that unusual for yivo to be a few years behind in publication, even in peacetime!) ellen prince 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 29, 1992 From: Zachary Baker (bm.yib@rlg.bitnet) Subject: Khurbm In MENDELE vol. 2.29 David Neal/Dovid Noyekh Miller asks: "Has anyone an earlier cite for the use khurbm = Holocaust" than a 1941 reference to the "Hitler-khurbm," by Max Weinreich. This is a potentially deep question, semantically speaking, because what we know and understand by the term "Holocaust" is unlikely to have been understood as such, even by Max Weinreich, in the year 1941 -- when the systematic annihilation of European Jewry was only beginning (mobile killing operations in the western Soviet Union, starting in July; gas chambers at Chelmno, starting in December). The early years of the war were horrific, with ghettoization and mass starvation in Warsaw and other Polish cities, but the consequences had not yet reached the point, I suggest, that "khurbm" = "Holocaust," according to our present understanding, or indeed, that which one might attribute to Weinreich only a year or two later. Khurbm (Heb.: Hurban) is the term applied to the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem, of course. In the early twentieth century it was also applied to such traumatic periods as the First World War (see S. Ansky's 3 volumes, "Der yidisher khurbm fun Poyln, Galitsye un Bukovine," published as part of his "Gezamlte shriftn" in 1921-22) and the post- war pogroms in the Ukraine ("Khurbm Proskurov," published in 1924 -- the prototypical yisker-bukh, or community memorial volume). My thesis is that, in 1941 at least, Weinreich was applying a commonly used (alas) term to a situation whose ultimate magnitude was still as yet unrevealed. Zachary Baker, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 15:40:00 IST From: Leonard Prager Subject: various 1) Re 2:84 no. 2: not Itskhik, but Itsik (rimes with _shpitsik) 2) For Zachary Baker, but might interest others: a) Where can one find a copy of Khaym Grades's "Mayn krig mit Hersh Raseyner"? I mean the Yiddish original. b) What are the bibliographical details for that excellent Polish geographical work on one of the desks at Yivo, where the article on Siemiatycze begins on p. 280? I lost the reference. 3) I would appreciate the help of _Mendele_ readers in locating references to drink, drinkers (=shikoyrim), distilling and innkeepers in Yiddish works. The amount of material is immense yet specific references elude one. Leonard Prager (Haifa) 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 18:06:01 -0500 From: bochner@das.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: bloyz and nor Just a little clarification: "bloyz" as an adverb is very rare in textbook Yiddish, and also in the usage of the authors I've read. So it tends to be downplayed in dictionaries. But it's very common in some dialects, including my parents'. I agree with Ellen that there's no obvious difference in meaning between "nor" and the adverb "bloyz". Interesting point, Ellen, that "bloyz" can't be used as a conjunction, the way "nor" can be. On the other hand, "bloyz" is also an adjective (meaning 'bare') and a noun (meaning 'gap'). -- Khaim 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 18:31:09 MST From: BIASCA DEBRA HALPERIN Subject: Columbia Yiddish Course (Jeff Finger) Jeff, I will respond to your inquiry after a set of mid-term exams next week. If you provide me with your e-mail address, I will respond there. Debra Halperin Biasca ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.86 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu or mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu If your node is Bitnet-only and is not connected to the Internet, please send your message to: mendele@trincc or mendele@yalevm If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu or nmiller@trincc Please sign your articles.