Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.289 March 16, 1994 1) Tsvey kashes (Meyshe-Yankl Sweet) 2) Groyser verterbukh fun der yidisher shprakh (Howie Aronson) 3) Unter a grin beymele (Yude Rozof) 4) Graphomania (Bob Werman) 5) Smutshik (David Sherman) 6) Kuni Leml, shmushkele (Michael Steinlauf) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 15 20:34:31 1994 From: Subject: Tsvey kashes 1. Can Ken Maltz or other members of Kapelye on the list tell me if there are any texts available for their albums (IMHO the best of the "Klezmer" revival musically, and for overall wit and tam)? My Yiddish is just not good enough to make out some of the lyrics, despite the excellent enunciation; this is frustrating. 2. What is it with the Yiddish purists, trying to construct a language that was never spoken? Is Yiddish studies the last great bastion of prescriptive lexicography? Isn't Yiddish the language actually spoken by Yiddish-speakers? If so, how can a thoroughly folkstimlekh word like "ekl/ekldik" be considered Daytchmerish, to be replaced by "migldik", a word so obscure it's not even in Harkavy? [I realize this is several questions, but they're all related--so I cheated a little] Meyshe-Yankl Sweet 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 15 23:17:14 1994 From: hia5@midway.uchicago.edu Subject: Groyser verterbukh fun der yidisher shprakh Michael Sweet suggested that Mendelnikes might contribute money to help the publication of the Groyser Verterbukh. I think that this is a wonderful idea and would be more than happy to participate. I also have some questions about the dictionary that perhaps some Mendelnikes can answer. Apparently Yudl Mark began work on the dictionary in 1953. The first volume appeared in 1961. In 1971 the 3rd volume appeared. Mark passed away in 1975. Volume 4 appeared 14 years ago, in 1980, but seems to be still the work of Mark (vol. 4 still has the silent aleph). Three volumes appeared in the first 17 years. None appeared in the last 14 years. What's going on? Is the project dead? Is anyone working on it? Does anyone know when/if another volume will appear? Howie Aronson 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 15 23:22:17 1994 From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Unter a grin beymele Martin Davis cites his mother's song as an instance of beating in Yiddish music. He asks if anyone is familiar with this song. I have heard another version of this song on a record of Yiddish folksongs by Theodore Bikel. I remember only the first few lines: Unter a grin beymele Zitsn yinglekh tsvey Zey redn fun a meydele... An unrelated question: Does anyone know about the card game played by adults on Chanukah while children played dreydl? Is this katoves? What is katoves? What is the origin of this word? Yude Rozof 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 16 01:46:44 1994 From: Subject: Graphomania Entering the literary scene here in Israel more than 20 years ago I found a great concern about graphomanim or graphomaniacs, people without talent who felt the compulsion to write and apparently trouble editors and better writers. This intolerance was strange to me and not something I remembered on the American front. I wrote it off to provincialism [has ve-shalom!] here. But lately I have heard the word in the mouths of Yiddish speakers and find it in the Yiddish Stutchkoff. Can anyone help me with this, Yiddish, Hebrew and cultural origins? Could it be Turkish. __Bob Werman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 16 03:39:11 1994 From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Smutshik > Before Michael Sweet maligns his mother further re "shmushkele" I seem to > recall that the Polish word for "pacifier" (i.e. the gadgets babies suck) > is "shmuchik". I therefore wouldn't vouch for his etymology. We use "smutshik" in Yiddish for pacifier. Or we did, until our youngest got older and the word disappeared from our vocabulary. Is the difference between "smu..." and "shmu..." one of dialect? David Sherman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 16 07:43:29 1994 From: M_STEINLAUF@ACAD.FANDM.EDU Subject: Kuni Leml, shmushkele In response to Dvoyre Halperin Biasca: Kuni Leml, one of Avrom Goldfaden's most popular characters, with his white hasidic stockings, ridiculously long peyes, and stutter ("K-K-K-K-Kuni Leml"), was Goldfaden's incarnation of the long-standing maskilic criticism of arranged marriages. In other words, Kuni Leml was every modern-thinking young Jewish girl's nightmare bridegroom, the khosn from hell. On what Michael Sweet's mother was referring to when she sang of his little sister's shmushkele, Arre Komar's suggestion of pacifier is unconvincing: the Polish word is smoczek (smotshek). Al dos guts Michael Steinlauf ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.289 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. 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