Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.293 March 18, 1994 1) Dem Yomervokhetz (Jaberwocky) (Sheldon Benjamin) 2) YomervokheKHts (David Neal Miller) 3) Unter a kleyn beymele (Arre Komar) 4) Unter a grin beymele (Khayem Bochner) 5) Klal Yidish un di yidishistn (Meyshe-Yankl Sweet) 6) Puristn un anti-puristn (Khayem Bochner) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Mar 17 18:00:56 1994 From: sbenj@MIT.EDU Subject: Dem Yomervokhetz (Jaberwocky) I believe the text of Jaberwocky was published in Yiddish, even in a version which needed to be held up to a mirror to be read, in Yugntruf (?) in the 70's. Somerwhere I have a copy, but I will try to produce the text from memory: S'iz brilig geven Un di slikhteke toves hobn gevirt un gevimlt in vaben Ganz mimzish geven di borogovess un di momeh rotn hot oysgegrobn: Dokh hitzikh far dem yomervokhetz Tseyn vos zeh khapen, kreln shpitz Farn yobyob foygel hitzikh vayt fun fremdikn bandershnitz Er nemt in hand zayn vorplen shvord Dem soyneh hot er layng gezukht Gerut arum an eytz tumtum, fartrakht hot er gedukht Eyns tsvey, eyns tsvey, mit vey, mit vey Mit der vorpler klingt er shnak er shnik Er shekht im op, un mit zayn kop, hot er gegangen gelumphendik tsurik Geteyt hostu dem yomervokhetz? Nem ikh arayn mayn beymish kind A yomtov froym, khaleym khaloym, er chortelt un er zingt S'iz brilig geven un di slekhteke toves Hobn gevirt un gevimbelt in vabben Ganz mimzish geven dem borogoves un di momerotn hot oysgegrobn. __________ Admittedly, it's a bit hard to recall the exact spelling, but I believe this to have been the text. Moshe Waldoks will recall my brother and I doing a simultaneous English/Yiddish recitation of this poem one Shabbat afternoon at his home a few years ago....The effect is increased with simultaneous renditions in Spanish, German, etc (as can be found in the book Godel, Escher, Back). Sheldon Benjamin 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 01:34:01 1994 From: Subject: YomervokheKHts Moyshe-Zkharye Baker (to the chorus of beamish praise of whom I add my grateful voice) inquires about Lewis Carroll in Yiddish. Refuel Finkel, who taught Stanford University's computer to sing "Oyfn pripetshik" in Yiddish back when his contemporaries dreamt of someday owning an IBM Selectric, did a memorable "Yomervokhekhts" which, if I am not mistaken, appeared in _Yugntruf_ sometime in the late 1970s. Fun untern eyts-tamtam, David Neal Miller 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Mar 17 20:19:54 1994 From: Subject: Unter a kleyn beymele Unter a kleyn beymele Zitsen yinglakh tsvey Zey redn fun a meydele Keyn zakh kimert zey. Dertselt eyner di nisimlakh Vos er hot gehat Khapt der andere aroys Dertselt es akurat. [take vi do bay mendele] Er flegt, zogt er, gantse teg Umgeyn nit gegesn Dortn vu zi hot geveynt Sheyn opgesessen. Shturim, vinden, regn, shney, Keyn zakh opgeshroken, Un di mame inder heym Gevart hot mit a flokn. Kinder shlogn zikher, ober vaib shlogn? Nishto! Ober ikh hob keyn mol nisht gehert di verter vos Martin Davis hot uns geshribn. Ikh hob es zeyer interesant gefunen. Eyn zakh mer: In Frankraykh villen zey itste a gezets makhn farbietn az men meg English oder Franglais am radio, TV, zhurnalen, conferantsen, uzv. banutsen. Tsi mir vollen az mir Yidn zollen di zelber mishugas tun far Yiddish? Ikh find es zeyer sheyn az Yiddish blaybt a kurmishe mishung fun Daytsh, Russish, Hebreyish, Poylnish, English, usv. Yo Yiddish iz a zhargon un ikh lieb es azoy. Mir hobn keyn mol nisht an Army gehot un mir darfen nisht a shprakh hobn mit shtrenge regln un gezetse. Arre Komar 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 12:23:55 1994 From: bochner@das.harvard.edu Subject: Unter a grin beymele Me hot gebetn di verter funem lid "Unter a grin beymele". _Pearls of Yiddish Song_ (Khane un Yosl Mlotek) hot a variant, mit "kleyn" anshtot "grin". Ot zenen di verter fun zeyer variant: unter a kleyn beymele zitsn yingelekh tsvey, zey redn fun a meydele, keyn zakh kimert zey. dertseylt eyner di nisimlekh, vos er hot gehat, khapt der anderer aroys, dertseylt es akurat. er flegt, zogt er, gantse teg, umgeyn ugegesn, dortn, vu zi hot gevoynt, shoen opgezesn. shturem-vint un regn-shney - keyn zakh nit geshrokn, un di mame in der heym, gevart hot mit a flokn. un der tate tsu dertsu, mit dem pas dem groysn, oysgeklapt di beyndelekh, aroysgeyogt in droysn. Khayem 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Mar 17 21:19:19 1994 From: Subject: Klal Yidish un di yidishistn Hope we can continue this dialogue on the tensions between standard and spoken language. That this hoary subject can still generate vigorous polemic is a testimony to the continued vitality of mameloshn, beloved to all of us on this list. A dank fraynt Henekh Gildemeister for his sensitive reflections on the the beauties and dangers of the standard language. I too like the elegant purity of YIVO klal shprakh--certainly a lot easier to read for a nonfluent person such as myself, compared to the messy "real" speech in Sholem Alekhyem, for example. Yude Rozof's tirade was wonderful, but I think he was confusing me with Ab. Cahan. So where did I say a word against grammar, spelling rules, etc.?--all nice things, necessary to any literary language. So too with the barbarities of Daytchmerish--I'm agin 'em too, and they have hardly posed much of a threat since the '30s--even the Forverts tries to approach YIVO standards these days. I did not defend the use of "ekelhaft", take a Daychmerism--it's simply "ekldik" that I've heard from numerous Yiddish speakers. Yude--did *your* bobe really say "s'iz migldik" when she found a fly in the soup? If not, why use this obscure word in writing? Isn't some of this prescriptivism a form of linguistic nationalism, trying to create a pure ethnic language free of "foreign" elements? This happened in India, with Muslim and Hindu sectarians splitting off "Hindi" and "Urdu" from the common Hindustani (with its ethnic, class, and regional differences of course) by larding the written languages with masses of unassimilated Sanskrit and Persian/Arabic words. In the case of Hindi at least, this has created an "official" literary language unintelligible to most ostensible Hindi speakers. Is this progress? I seem to remember some balmy Brit proposing the same process for English--purge effete French and formal Latin, and return to "pure" Anglo-Saxon--inwit for conscience etc. And the meshuga Serbs and Croats are just now trying to do the same dismemberment of their common language. 'nuff said. Meyshe-Yankl Sweet 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 12:07:02 1994 From: bochner@das.harvard.edu Subject: Puristn un anti-puristn Meyshe-Yankl Sweet shraybt (mekoyekh "ekl"): > What is it with the Yiddish purists, trying to construct a language > that was never spoken? Yude Rozof hot shoyn zeyer sheyn geentfert (shekoyekh, Yude!); ikh vil nor epes tsugebn: Far vos baleydikn zikh azoy gikh di anti-puristn? Ver hot geshribn az "ekl" iz a treyf vort vos keyner tor nisht nitsn? Vu? Ikh hob es nisht geleyent. Afile in Vaynraykh shteyt dos vort mit a krayzele, un nisht keyn drayekl. Dos heyst: er hot gehat sfeykes vegn dem vort, ober er hot es nisht geposlt. Az me zukht "disgust" inem english-yidishn teyl, zet men az er git es dortn tsuersht, khotsh mit a krayzele. Dos volt er nisht geton mit a vort vos er halt far ekht daytshmerish. Nu, den, vos iz der gantser tararam? Oy vey, Vaynraykh hot tsugeshtelt a krayzele! Vos shat es aykh? Oyb es gefelt aykh nisht vos Vaynraykh hot geshribn, kukt nisht deroyf! Es zet mir oys az di anti-puristn hobn "a chip on their shoulders", vi me zogt oyf english. Avade iz dos vos tate-mame hobn geredt dos shenste oyf der velt. Ober mayn tate-mame redn nisht punkt azoy vi ayer tate-mame. Un di merste yingere mentshn hobn nisht gehert yidish fun tate-mame, un oftmol oykh nisht fun bobe-zeyde. Az me zogt zey "Redt yidish vi ayer tate-mame redn!", vet dos zayn taytsh: "Redt a tsebrokn yidish!" Az me vil di yingere zoln zikh epes oyslernen, darf men zey tsushikn tsu epes a moker, vu zey kenen gefinen eytses. Ikh bin oykh nisht maskem mit Vaynraykh in ale protim, ober keyn besers iz nishto. Un ven ale voltn gekent redn yidish oyf Vaynraykhs nusekh, volt ikh geven zeyer tsufridn, khotsh s'iz nisht dos vos ikh hob gehert in der heym. Oy, me nemt shraybn a kleyn brivele, un ze nor vos es kumt aroys ;-) Khayem ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.293 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net