Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.218 December 6, 1994 1) Nishdogedakht (Sheldon Benjamin) 2) Nishdogedakht (Mikhl Herzog) 3) Nishdogedakht (Paul Pascal) 4) Sheygets (Meylekh Viswanath) 5) Sheygets/YIVO/names (Neyekh Zide) 6) Chicago YIVO/Atlas (Mikhl Herzog) 7) Herzog's query (Herbert A. Davidson) 8) Yiddish theater in Germany (David Brenner) 9) Der Yiddisher Pinafore (Estelle Taylor-Wilkinson) 10) Vi es kristelt sich... (Joyce Rappaport) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 Dec 1994 23:28:27 EST From: sbenj@mit.edu Subject: Nishdogedakht I'm with Meyshe-Yankl on this one. Growing up with a Belarussian (NE Belarus) Bubbe, it was NishDOgedakht that I heard. Micky Katz, that inimitable source of good proste Yiddish, but hailing from what roots I know not, pronounces it the same way in his "Rock Arum Di Klok" .....Rock'n un Bak'n nishdogedakht.... on the album, the Most Meshuge Mickey Katz. Sheldon Benjamin 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Dec 94 22:01 EST From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: NidOgedakht No question in my mind that Dovid Braun _is_ right. What interests me now is the process which led me to my own misinterpretation. Mixed marriages sensitizes the children to dialectal nuances as nothing else can, but apparently they can also lead them down the garden path. Faced with "nidUg@dakht" and "nitOgedakht" (with a strongly aspirated "t", as I recall), the latter analagous to "(nit)Ogevashn", "(nit)Ogedavnt", I made the wrong choice-- reinforced, I think, by another factor: The "nidUg@dakht" side of the family would normally have said "dU:" 'here' with long, stressed [u:]. Nuff said. Mikhl Herzog 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 05 Dec 94 19:23:28 EST From: 75332.2735@compuserve.com Subject: Nishdogedakht My mother (zol zi lebn biz a hundert un tsfantsik) was born in Slutsk, making her an arch-Litvakeh. She peppers her English-language conversation with "nishdogedakht" at least two or three times a day. As a callow youth, I secretly felt this was a very narrow, provincial attitude, like the person walking home who sees a fire-truck stopping somewhere on his block and prays that it's not _his_ house that's on fire (better it should be my neighbor's!). I much preferred the version of my mother's older sister (zol zi oikhet lebn biz 120), "Nisht af keinem gedakht", which seemed much more magnanimous. However, I don't know if this is mayn tanteh's a khidesh, or whether it's widespread. BTW, I visited Slutsk this summer, and found between 50-100 Jews still there--and those who speak Yiddish (more than I expected, including younger folks) still speak with the same distinctive Litvishe accent. Paul Pascal 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Dec 94 14:44:52 EST From: pviswana@andromeda.rutgers.edu Subject: sheygets Mikhl writes expressing dissatisfaction with the theory that 'sheygets' is derived from Heb. 'sh q ts.' > > I know of _no_ instance in which Yiddish retains the Hebrew-like spelling > implied by the absence of vowel letters, while "presuming" to alter the > traditional spelling of the Hebrew consonants. I have a related question. Even if the singular does not seem to fit the pattern, does the plural, 'shkotsim' not do so? Does this not provide prima facie evidence for the theory of a Hebrew origin, with the unusual nature of the singular to be explained on some other basis (other than positing a non-Hebrew origin)? Or is the suggestion that in the case of the plural, we have a standard Hebraicization of a non-Hebrew word; hence a plural consistent with the rules explained by Mikhl in his posting. Meylekh Viswanath 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Dec 94 20:58:31 CST From: n-zide@uchicago.edu Subject: archiving shkotzim/Chicago YIVO/dissertation on names For your archivist, index-maker, cross-referencer: the spate of articles on sheygetz should be - for those who came in late - cross-referenced to the spate on shiksa of a year or more ago. Meyshe-Yankel Sweet: Yes, there is a Chicago YIVO: The Chicago YIVO Society, 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 1910A, Chicago, IL, 60604, phone (312) 435-2800, fax (312) 922-2465. (Dr. Jeffry Mallow, Chairman) For answers to questions on Yiddish names, a more authoritative source will be Rella Cohn's dissertation (in Linguistics, University of Chicago). Neyekh/Norman Zide 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Dec 94 22:01 EST From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Chicago YIVO/Atlas Meyshe-Yankl Sweet: I don't have the information about YIVO in Chicago at hand and YIVO in NY is apparently no longer on the line but, if Howie Aaronson is lurking, he might be able to supply you with an address. re: Atlas, Volume I For people writing to me about copies: I will be away, Dec 8-23 but you can expect to hear from me as soon as I return. Mikhl Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 Dec 94 19:15 PST From: ibidhad@mvs.oac.ucla.edu Subject: Herzog's query Michel Herzog asked whether there are any Hebrew words in Yiddish which do not preserve the Hebrew orthography. Wouldn't "tomer"="lest/should you say" qualify? I have the faint recollection of seeing it in the correct Hebrew orthography in one of the Yiddish accompaniments to the holiday prayer book. Herbert A. Davidson 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Dec 1994 18:46:47 -0700 (MST) From: brenner@spot.colorado.edu Subject: reception of Yiddish theater in Germany, 1900-1933 I am looking for excellent scholarship, suggestions for a study on the reception of Yiddish-language theater in Imperial and Weimar Germany, particularly in the period between 1900 and 1923. Thanks in advance, David Brenner 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 Dec 1994 18:17:00 EST From: business@central.cis.upenn.edu Subject: Der Yiddisher Pinafore For those in the Philadelphia area please note that The Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island presents DER YIDDISHER PINAFORE at Adath Zion Congregation - Pennway and Friendship Sts (Northeast Phila) Sunday - December 18,1994 - 2p.m. $15.00 For tickets: Dr. Sylvan Kesilman 215-722-1030 Adath Zion 215-742-8500 Estelle Taylor-Wilkinson 10)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 00:09:53 -0800 (PST) From:rappapor@nexus.chapman.edu Subject: Vi es kristelt sich... Could somebody help me by explaining the context and any nuances of the phrase "Vi es kristelt zich azoy men yidelt zich"? What is the origin and where might one say these words? Joyce Rappaport ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.218 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu