Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.010 May 21, 1993 1) Introduction (Benjamin Elkins) 2) Vegn yidisher literatur (Moshe Waldoks) 3) Vyechere; Yiddish literature (Bob Hoberman) 4) Literature/fools in Riga (Victor Bers) 5) Idioms (Eli Katz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu May 20 15:53:00 1993 From: bjelkins@mksol.dseg.ti.com (benjamin j elkins) Subject: Introduction My name is Benjamin Elkins (Baruch) and I live in Dallas, Texas. I am 28 years old, single (but looking) and work as a Mathematician for Texas Instruments. I am a PhD candidate in Statistics at University of Texas (Dallas). I am originally from Savannah, GA and still have much family there. Besides speaking, reading, and writing fluent Yiddish, I have studied Russian for 7 years and also I am a long student of Esperanto. During a recent trip to Eastern Europe, I traveled thru Poland to visit the shtetele where my family is from and many museums. I looked for and found all (not too much) the Yiddishkeit in Poland. My Yiddish was invaluable because there is no English in Poland. I used my Russian, Polish phrase book, and my Yiddish exclusively. Oh yes, I did use my Esperanto in the Hotel once with the manager! I welcome all personal notes and correspondences. I am a very good and reliable e-mailer. I can be found at the following: bjelkins@mksol.dseg.ti.com Zayt gezunt un shtark! Bennie 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu May 20 15:54:37 1993 From: WALDOKS@BINAH.CC.BRANDEIS.EDU Subject: Vegn yidisher literatur es dacht mir az mir muzn oysnutzn yeder shteger to ibergebn unsere reiche yerusha tsum kumendike doros. Yidishe dikhter un shriftstel- lar bregn azoi fil inhalt tsun di algemeine diskusyeh vegn unsere tsukunft als yidn un mentshn. Reb Mendele Mokher Seforim is nisht nor geven a maayseh zoger ober a gantse vichtig yidisher denker. kurtzn der zach loz a toizent blumen blien oyf unsere "Mendele" mit kuvid, Moshe Waldoks 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu May 20 18:22:08 1993 From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: Vyechere; Yiddish literature My friend David Ebin, who knows little Yiddish but a lot of Russian, came up with a beautiful suggestion about "beyze vyechere": the original Russian word in the phrase must have been NOT vecher 'evening, evening party' but rather veter 'wind', which is pronounced in Russian with "soft", palatalized v and t, something like vyetyir. Then the expresssion, meaning 'evil wind', is a translation of the familiar Hebrew term ruakh ra'a. In Hebrew ruakh means both 'wind' and 'spirit', so if this is all correct then the original source of the Yiddish expression is a Hebrew one meaning 'evil spirit', translated, who knows why, with a Slavic word for 'wind', reinterpreted in Yiddish as the similar-sounding word for 'dinner'! On the subject of Yiddish literature: as a few people have commented recently, it's true, and regretable, that we discuss literature so much less than language. In my case, I read the other people's postings about literature with a great deal of interest. I haven't read a lot of Yiddish literature, and what I've read I've read mostly in English, but recently I'm been very impressed and moved by much of the 20th century Yiddish poetry collected in the two fairly recent anthologies. As it happens, though, I'm a linguist by profession, and often feel I can make a contribution to discussions of the language (don't know whether anyone else agrees, but I'll continue nonetheless), and in most cases don't have anything to add to discussions of literature. To those who are knowledgeable about Yiddish literature: please keep it up, and don't think the rest of us are ignoring you! Bob 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu May 20 20:37:40 1993 From: Victor Bers Subject: Literature/fools in Riga 1. Indifferent to literature? I can assure the troubled Bob Werman that in our leyn kreiz at Yale we spend >90% of our time reading Yiddish texts of various periods and genres. Not only is the activity edifying per se, it also keeps a (loosish) lid on the ideological differences that, if fully expressed, could require the intervention of the Yale Police and turn into a veritable shande far di goyim. 2. "Fools" in Riga. Somebody (I apologize for not remembering who) asked about "naroyim" as the plural of "nar" in Riga. I tried this out on my Riga-bred mother, one of Mikhl Herzog's informants for his dialect atlas. Without, of course, leading the witness, I asked her for the merzal of "nar." Her first answer was "naroyim," but then "correcting" herself she produced "naronim." Victor Bers 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu May 20 23:55:17 1993 From: katz@Sonoma.EDU Subject: idioms A lebn oyf shleyme akselrod un b. kats far zeyere tsushtayers tsu der idiomen zamlung. Some remarks: 1. a beyze v(y)etshere - I think this is used to intensify the phrase "ikh zol azoy visn fun beyz" which literally means "may I know as much about evil" but which pragmatically means something like "beats me!" "you got me", or "don't ask me". It also occurs as "ikh zol azoy visn fun shlekhts". Another way of expressing the same sentiment is "freg mir b'kheyrem" which implies "even if you demand that I answer under threat of the ban, I still don't know the answer". I have only heard the phrase as part of the expression "ikh zol azoy visn fun a beyzer vetshere". 2. folg mir a gang - also used to express disinclination to undertake an effort disproportional to the result. "The doctor will be able to see you, but you will have to wait two hours." "Folg mir a gang!" 3. a glik iz (we say 'hot') mir getrofn - a (possibly stronger) variant: a glik hot mikh batrasket. 4. Shleyme's pungent "zikh arumdreyen vi a forts in rosl" is an intensification of "zikh arumdreyen", "to wander around aimlessly" but also "to hang around aimlessly". 5. "dreyen" is at the core of many idioms; for starters, "drey mir nit keyn kop" or "drey mir nit keyn spodek" 'don't bother, annoy, pester me' (this applies only to verbal bothering or annoying); "fardreyen dem kop" 'to bother, confuse'. Eli Katz ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.010