Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 2 no. 104
December 1, 1992
 
1) Sneezes (Bob Hoberman)
2) Sneezes (Adam Albright)
3) Non-Jews/sneezes (Mikhl Herzog
4) Hersh Rasseyner (Bob Berk)
5) Khaleria (Margaret Mikulska)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: 30 Nov 1992 12:47:54 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert D Hoberman <RHOBERMAN%SBCCMAIL.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>
Subject: RE: sneezes

The discussion of sneezes reminds me....: When I was a kid,
whenever my grandmother, who was from near Minsk, would see
me drink a glass of milk down to the bottom (there must be
a one-word way of saying 'drink down to the bottom' in
Yiddish -- what's the perfective of trinkn? -- oystrinkn?)
she would say, or almost sing, "Gor tsu (a) gezunte yor".
The "gor" was very drawn out on a high pitch.  Is this
familiar to anyone else?

Bob

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1992 13:37:06 -0500
From: aca1@cornell.edu
Subject: nissen

Sholom Aleychem!   I am an 18-year old freshman at Cornell
University, un bin freydik un mole simcha to find a mailing
list for mameloshn!    For my first post, I'll add my own
schtickel to the sneezes discussion:  in our family, the
traditional response was, "tsu gezunt, tsu mazel, tsu lange
yorn, tsu vaksen in breyt un heych" ("tsu mazel" is
sometimes replaced with "tsu lebn", as echoed in previous
posts) - for practical reasons, this response is shortened
to "tsu gezunt" or "gezuntheit"  - the full version is
reserved for the last sneeze...

Adam Albright

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92  14:37 EST
From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.Columbia.edu
Subject: Non-Jews and sneezes

On the subject of designations for "non-Jews", in Moslem
countries there (?) a distinction between Moslems (goyim)
and Christians (areylim) 'uncircumcised'.

Does anyone know the origin of the Western Yiddish term for
"non-Jew": ze(y)g, fem. ze(y)gest(i)n?
 
On sneezes: tsum gezunt, tsum lebn, tsu lange yor As for
Debra Halperin Biasca's grandmother, if she said "tsim
libn" she surely from Volhynia. No?

Mikhl Herzog

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1992 15:09 EDT
From: BERK%ZODIAC.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: RE: Hersh Rasseyner

prof. curt leviant [my colleague at rutgers - who
unfortunately does not have access to e-mail] has
communicated to me the following:

in the sample 'mendele' letter that you sent me, i noticed
a query re where chaim grade's story/essay 'my quarrel with
hersh rasseyner" was originally published in yiddish.

a yiddish version of 'mein krieg mit hersh rasseyner'
appears (together with his long poem 'musarnikes') in a
booklet published by the dept. of yiddish language and
literature of the hebrew university, jerusalem, 1969.
musarnikes appears first in the title, followed by mein
krieg mit...

bob berk

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 92 14:37:01 EST
From: Margaret Mikulska <mikulska@astro.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: RE:  Khaleria

It is indeed the name of the disease (cholera); the word
itself and a similar phrase ("niech cie cholera wezmie",
literally, "let cholera take you [or him/her/etc.]" is very
commonly used in Polish as a curse (metaphorically).  I
think it is also used in Russian and Ukrainian; anyway, the
pronunciation I infer from your posting indicates Russian
or Ukrainian influence rather than Polish.  Whatever the
direct influence, the original meaning of the word is
certainly "cholera", the disease.

-Margaret Mikulska mikulska@astro.princeton.edu

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End of Mendele Vol 2.104