Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.294 March 20, 1994 1) Pupiks (Neakh Zide) 2) Jabberwocky (Sheldon Benjamin) 3) Rofn, rufn, dative or accusative? (Louis Fridhandler) 4) Prufrock (Susan Jones) 5) Shmushkele (Bob Poe) 6) Searching for an auditape (Chane Honig) 7) Various (Mikhl Herzog) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 14:00:11 1994 From: n-zide@uchicago.edu Subject: Pupiks I am grateful to Shleyme Axelrod for providing me with the Rosenfeld parody of T S Eliot's The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock. I agree with him that the high point (or one of them) of Rosenfeld's poem is the 'Ikh ver alt, ikh ver alt/ Un der pupik vert mir kalt/. It goes on: 'Zol ikh oyskemen di hor/ Meg ikh oyfesn a flom ?/ .(Igelfeld has a slightly different version 's'vert mir in mein pupik kalt'). Eliot has no pupik-equivalent - whatever that might be, but 'I grow old ... I grow old .../I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled./ Shall I part my hair behind ? Do I dare to eat a peach'. The question is why should this be so apt and so funny ? I don't know of another language in which such a translation - bringing in a pupik - would be as hilarious. Rosenfeld is also providing a critical comment: Eliot/Prufrock does have a serious kalte pupik problem. Timidity and lack of physical presence - and clearly (male ?)erotic force are what Rosenfeld's Prufrock's pupik is about. It is here - and elsewhere - a euphemism, and diplacement, and what with the Kessler, Sweet, etc anatomical interventions I am surprised that pupiks haven't come up sooner. There is certainly no real equivalent in English for 'pupik', one reason why it is one of the few Yiddish words my children ever learned.(Is it as common in childhood talk in other languages ?)Are there (Eastern ?)European languages (Polish ? Hungarian ? Ukrainian ? Russian ?) with similar semantic associations ? The sound of the word contributes, but there must be more than that. What are these associations ? I assume 'pupik' is borrowed from a Slavic language.There are - but, not, I would guess, in Yiddish-related material which seems to be largely verbal not visual - iconographic ramifications ( why Adam and Eve did or did have navels in various renaissance paintings, the 'tree of Jesse', lotus-in-the-navel (padmanabha) Indic traditions, etc.) I would like to know what Yiddish idioms, sayings there are with 'pupik' in them. What comical routines does anyone remember (in English , Yiddish ) - Mickey Katz ? - along these lines ? Also wider semantic involvements in the world's languages (Matisoff, Vishvanath ?), parallels, if any, in Hebrew ? Talmudic allusions, etc Also (Sander Gilman ) psychoanalytic connections. Enough. Thanks. Neakh / Norman Zide 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 17:05:06 1994 From: sbenj@MIT.EDU Subject: Jabberwocky Anshuldig mir-- Khob fargesn a shtruneh fun Leybish Carroll's Yomervokhetz. Insert the following stanza before "Eyns tzvey, eyns tzvey..." (I posted the rest of the poem yesterday) B'shas er shteyt in gedanken oyf Dem Yomervokhetz mit eygeneh geflamben Mit vifik durkhen tulgen vald, geburblt bas geflayngen. This occurred to me some hours after posting the rest of the poem yesterday evening. HopefulSorry... Sheldon Benjamin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 17:05:17 1994 From: <74064.1661@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Rofn, rufn, dative or accusative? Yonah Moshe Lakin of McGill asks about the case used following rufn (I transliterate it so, not rofn). When rufn is used in the sense of calling someone by a name, or paging someone, it takes the accusative case. However, in Yonah Moshe Lakin's example "rufn" is used not in that sense. Rather it is used to mean ringing on the telephone. Weinreich prescribes the dative for the object of "telefonirn." On the other hand "clingen," which can mean the same, can take either the accusative or dative. It's optional. Perhaps, by extension, "rufn" when used to mean to telephone may take either case. Ikh bin nisht keyn groyser meyvn af gramatike, ober ikh volt gemeynt as men hot take a breyre: oder dir, oder dikh. One of Sholem Aleichem's Railroad Stories is entitled "Ruf Mikh Knaknisl." Here, the accusative is correct. Incidentally, the story is one of the Ayznban Geshikhtes, volume XXVIII of the Folksfond Oysgabe. Two translations are available. I grew up in Montreal where all my higher education was at McGill. It's been a long time, and the campus has changed radically. In my time, the very thought of Yiddish studies at McGill would be as logical as expecting the editor of "der keneder adler" to be chosen Governor-General of Canada during a speech over the BBC in Yiddish by His Majesty King George V. Foyglmilkh. I'd like to hear more about the Yiddish program at McGill. I hope it is prospering. Louis Fridhandler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 17:08:45 1994 From: sbjones@MIT.EDU Subject: Prufrock I sent my father the Prufrock via Jerry Lettvin quote. Since he and Jerry are good buddies, I thought he might confirm it with Jerry. Here is his (my father's) answers: J Y Lettvin says the excerpt is from Isaac Rosenfeld's translation. It was never published BUT maybe Saul Bellow has a copy. It begins "Nun zhe, komm zhe, los uns gehen vo die Obend shtait unter den Himmel wie a Golem an Tishe Bayov (bwhov?)..." The second line of Igelfeld's quotation should be "und mein pupik ist mir kalt" according to JYL Susan Jones 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 17:10:36 1994 From: poe@keps.com Subject: Shmushkele (a) The derivation of "shmushkele" from "smutshik" (or "smotshek", Polish "smoczek", etc.) has been challenged by some, apparently because [sm] does not normally become [shm] in Yiddish. But this emphasis on the initial consonants raises the question in my mind whether there might not be a relation between "shmushkele" and "shmuts". (b) In any case, I am unfamiliar with the word. In my family, there was another expression used affectionately to refer to a female infant or child; it sounded like: "aza kadilik!" I have no idea what it meant. Can anyone help? Bob Poe 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 18 18:31:21 1994 From: Subject: Searching for an auditape Ein froi a friend bei mir in shul hot mir gebet tsu fragen bei Mendele efshe a mendelnik vayst vu zie ken koifen an audiotape fun der zinger David Fischer...9 Du-Du Fisher. ) Ich hob nisht gehert fun im. She was shocked and begged me to inquire of our Email fellow Yidden. Kenst du der zinger? A shaynem dank in advance. Chane ( Alice Honig) 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 19 07:50:31 1994 From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU Subject: Various I'm trying to absorb ten days' worth of "Mendeles". It's getting to be a more and more difficult job, borekhashem. In due course, I will try to provide as comprehensive as possible explanation of where "we stand" withg respect to the Groyser Verterbukh fun der Yidisher Shprakh. Money is only part of the problem. A word to Bob Hoberman: Try also: Am ta:nis ester, am Purim fres(h)ter. A query for Rick (Henekh) Gildemeister: Do you have any idea of the etymology of one of the words you used: "ze(:)g(e)"? Do you know the expression: "shtike, di zeygestn shmeyet"? Mikhl Herzog. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.294 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