Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.022 June 12, 1994 1) YIVO/IWO/YIWO etc. (Gaston L. Schmir) 2) YIVO (Yude Rozof) 3) Vulekh = Romanian Gentile (Yale J. Reisner) 4) Happy, happy Jews (Ted Steinberg) 5) "Ikh for aheim" and translation help (Avreymel Cassel) 6) Singer brothers (Arre Komar) 7) J.B. (sic) Singer (Gaston L. Schmir) 8) J.[sic] B. Singer (Zachary Baker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Jun 11 11:29:54 1994 From: glschm@minerva.cis.yale.edu Subject: YIVO/IWO/YIWO etc. With regard to the ongoing discussion concerning the acronym YIVO, I would like to point out that the full name of YIVO in English was initially (no pun intended) Yiddish Scientific Institute, not Jewish Scientific Institute, until about 1955, when the name was changed to YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. About the acronym: In the book by ALEXANDER POMERANTZ The Jewish Writers Martyred by the Soviet (Di sovetishe haruge malkut), Buenos Aires, 1962, the acronym appears as YIVO on the English title page and as IWO on the Spanish title page (thus: Instituto Cientifico Judio - IWO). I don't know any Spanish, but I seriously doubt that the letter "w" occurs in the Spanish alphabet. Why then its use in the acronym? I have also run across the acronym YIWO (though I don't recall where). Can anyone explain? The last issue of the YIVO journal Yidishe Shprakh to reach me was vol.38, no. 1-3, 1984/1986. Does anyone know if there have been any later ones, or, for that matter, whether this journal officially still exists? Gaston L. (Gershon Leizer) Schmir 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Jun 11 15:00:03 1994 From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Re: YIVO Kh'veys nisht mit zikherkeyt fun vanet shtamt dem O bam sof fun vort "YIVO". Mir dukht zikh az ikh hob oykh amol gehert vi andere Mendelnikes hobn shoyn dermont az der komets bam sof fun a kirtsung vos endikt zikh mit an alef iz a langstike traditsye tsvishn ashkenazim. Der doziker minik kumt lefi mayn gedekhenish fun di hebreyishe kirtsungn. Tsi bin ikh gerekht? Dertsu a shayle: Shapiro iz dokh a nomen vos tsit zayn yikhes fun der alter daytsher shtot Shpayer. Farvos ober hot men tsugegebn a komets alef beshas der nomen iz nisht keyn kirtsung? Nokh dertsu, azoy vi ikh halt atsindert baym fregn vegn nemen: Vi azoy iz der Vokal ay in Maynts (Mainz, Deutshland) gevorn an i in yidishn mishpokhe nomen Mintz? Genug gezogt gevorn...zoln di khakhomim tsvishn undz zitsn un klern, zoln mir in gikhn derlernen an entfer. --S'iz do aza vort derlernen? Zaats mir alemen gezint, Yude Rozof 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Jun 11 19:12:41 1994 From: REISNER%PLEARN.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: Vulekh = Romanian Gentile Rick Gildemeister comments (4.020) that Romanian Gentiles were referred to as "Vulekh." The southeastern region of Romania is called Wallachia; Italians (who lived nearby and -- like the Romanians -- claim a Roman pedigree) are called Wlochy in modern-day Polish. Yale J. Reisner 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Jun 11 19:29:35 1994 From: STEINBER%FREDONIA.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: Happy, happy Jews I must respond to Dan Leeson's recent posting in which he cites Chaim Grade's _The Agunah_ as presenting something other than Sholem Aleichem's Tevye and "happy, happy Jews." Well, yes, Grade is a magnificent writer, and his works are certainly quite different from those of Sholem Aleichem, but Tevye is hardly a work that looks back at the good old days for Jews in Mother Russia. That may be part of the impression one gets from Fiddler on the Roof (a work that also has a number of virtues, I think), but if one reads the whole of Tevye, one sees the accumulating tragedies of Tevye's life, tragedies that reflect the course of Jewish history in Russia at the time the stories were being written. It's also worthwhile taking a look at the old Maurice Schwartz film of Tevye which, despite some flaws, captures that sense of the Tevye stories. Sorry, I just couldn't let Sholem Aleichem get slammed that way. Ted Steinberg 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Jun 12 07:10:50 1994 From: acassel@philly.cerf.fred.org Subject: "Ikh for aheim" and translation help To Frank Boches: I have a copy of "Ich for aheim" that Bob and Molly Freedman, the famous Philadelphia Yiddish music collectors, assembled for me. The tape doesn't indicate who the singer is, but it might well be Jolson. It's a pretty stirring rendition ... I don't think I can reproduce the lyrics for you here, but if you like I can email you the Freedman's address and you can ask them for a copy ... To all: I'm trying to nail down a couple of words in my grandfather's memoirs. One is "spuzhet" as in the following: "di eingeshpanene ferd hoben zich tsu spuzhet fun dem blitzenden funken regen, un hoben genumen loyfen mit di boyden ibe mark .. other is "karahulke" in: "Motke der desiatnik loyft arum vi a fersm'ter, etlikhe fun unzere khaverim hot men shoin avekgefihrt in karahulke..." The general meanings are reasonably clear from the context, but I can't find specific definitions in any of the dictionaries I've tried. Anybody heard them used elsewhere? A dank far di hilf, Avreymel Cassel 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Jun 11 07:06:47 1994 From: komar@yu1.yu.edu Subject: Singer brothers As I'm sure many other mendelniks will rush to note: I've read I.B. Singer (The Family Moscat, etc.) and I.J. Singer (The Brothers Ashkenazi) but I never heard of J. B. Singer. Dan Leeson please enlighten me. Arre Komar 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Jun 11 17:35:00 1994 From: glschm@minerva.cis.yale.edu Subject: J.B. (sic) Singer Zachary Baker was quite right in his use of (sic) with regard to the non-existent Yiddish author J.B. Singer. Dan Leeson corrrectly remembers the existence of I[saac] B[ashevis] Singer's older brother, whose name, however, was I[srael] J[oshua] Singer. The prematurely deceased I.J. Singer was the author of, inter alia, the family saga The brothers Ashkenazi. Gaston L. (Gershon Leizer) Schmir 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Jun 11 21:29:39 1994 From: BM.YIB@RLG.Stanford.EDU Subject: J.[sic] B. Singer Dan Leeson's question about J. [sic] B. Singer's brother refers to Yisroel Yehoshua (Y. Y., or I. J.) Singer, who was indeed a prominent Yiddish novelist, author of "Brider Ashkenazi," "Yoshe Kalb," and other notable works. The Polish flyer for the book on Yiddish uses the letter J instead of I, for Isaac Bashevis Singer's first name, presumably because Yitskhok would be spelled Jicchok according to the rules of Polish transliteration. But Singer is best known even in Polish as I. B. (and not J. B.) Singer. Zachary Baker ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.022 A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. 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