Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 178 April 20, 1993 1) Introduction (Annette Fashing Safer) 2) Etymological Dictionary Study (AJHyman) 3) Ti nash (Mottel Lakin) 4) Dos vort "tsart" bay Mangern (Shleyme Axelrod) 5) Menakhem Mendel, the play (Pierre Lewis) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Apr 19 14:42:21 1993 From: ASAFER@WCHESTER.BITNET Subject: Introduction I am new to the Internet and was browsing through some listservs and chose to s ign up to yours because of personal interest. I work for New York State's Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Regional Information Center. We support 67 school districts in Westchester, Rockland a nd Putnam Counties in computer/educational technology. We set up networks, pro vide teacher training in software applications and create educational programs using the latest in educational technology including multi-media and telecommun ications. Internet is one of our new projects. I look forward to hearing more from your group and hope to be able to contribute. My Yiddish education is informal. Yiddish was my first language. It was spokent in my home when I was growing up. Annette Fashing Safer 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Apr 19 14:43:42 1993 From: AJHYMAN%UTOROISE.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: Etymological Dictionary Study Further info on current research in a project to produce an Etymological Dictionary of the Yiddish Language By Gurion J. Hyman, Ph.M.B., M.A., A.B.D. Using multiple resources to 'best estimate' origin of word (Germanic, Se mitic, Slavic, other), an intensive study of the 'word' in original language is made. After compiling 'all' information available, the material is separated into three sections (a) Dictionary Entry with evolutionary path (b) Cross-referenced to Dictionary of Indo-European Roots and cognates, where applicable (in planning is a similar section for Proto-Semitic roots) (c) A definitional section of Yiddish-English correspondence. Presently completed are words starting with 'aleph-bais', also prelimina ry work on words starting with 'aleph-yod', as well as some with 'shin-aleph'. Any information on Yiddish etymological studies would be appreciated. A t present, the works of Weinreich, Wexler, Herzog, Katz, Hill, etc.are proving most useful. G.J. Hyman is a retired linguist and former lecturer of Yiddish at the University of Toronto AJHYMAN@UTorOISE.bitnet 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Apr 19 14:48:59 1993 From: MLAKIN%DUKEMVS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: Re: "Ti nash" Manger's sonnet. The words "Ti Nash" are indeed Slavic. The meaning is "You are ours, or in Unzere Loshen, Du bist eAIL: Unzererer. With respect to the second question raised by mein alter chaver, the word *tsart*, the word as my parents used it and as I believe most literate Yiddish redendige used it was an adjective "tender" or something like movingly vulnerable. However I defer to my learned colleague az es kumpt tzu Yiddische vissenschaft.--Ich hof az alle hoben gehat a freilichen yomtov! Mottel Lakin 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Apr 20 10:33:44 1993 From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: dos vort "tsart" bay mangern Many thanks to Reuven Rachlin, Alan Rutkowski, and Bob Rothstein for clarifying "... gotenyu ti nash..." in Manger's sonnet. Can I now get help on the "tsart"? I still don't know what part of speech that is. Weinreich gives "grief, sorrow" for tsadek-ayin-reysh (TSAR). Has Manger here made up an adjective meaning something like "grief-stricken"? Or could "tsart" be a verb, "grieves"? The punctuation suggests the former. R'meyerl fun premishlan oyf zayn altn shtekn ongeshpart Shteyt un vart, fiberndik un *tsart*: "Raboysay, lomir zogn ale oyf a kol: Bashefer fun di veltn ... ... mir di galitsianer mekn dikh oyf eybik oys Fun der eyde emese `oyeve yisroel'." Vider a dank. --Shleyme Axelrod 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Apr 20 11:43:07 1993 From: "Pierre (P.) Lewis" Subject: Text for "The Adventures of Menakhem Mendel" In June, the Montreal Yiddish Theater will present a play called (in English) "The Adventures of Menakhem Mendel" (approx.) by Sholem Aleykhem. Would anyone know where I can find (buy) the Yiddish text for the play (not the correspondence). I think if I read it beforehand I'll get much more out of the play when I attend. A groysn dank, Pierre ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.178