Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 4.231
December 13, 1994

1) Introduction and request (Marvin Friedman)
2) Introduction (Ruth and Ben Taber)
3) Sh. An-sky at New York Jewish Museum (Harold Orbach)
4) Loshn koydesh in Mayrev-Yidish (Rick Gildemeister)
5) Raysn un Lite (Yude Rozof)
6) A pain in the ankle (Harvey Spiro)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 23:34:32 -0500
From: marvinf629@aol.com
Subject: Introduction and request

I live in San Francisco and have recently begun to study Yiddish, which I
heard my parents and relatives speak when I was growing up in the Bronx
in the '30's and '40's.  Why have I waited so long?  Who knows?  But now
I'm trying to make up for lost time.  Like many other Mendelniks, as a
kid I usually heard the adults speaking Yiddish when they didn't want us
to understand.

One of the unexpected but satisfying side benefits of my studies is that
I am emotionally re-connecting to buried, half-forgotten childhood
memories. It's like finding lost treasure.

Some of the technical discussion on Mendele about orthography and
phonetics is over my head, but I agree that correct grammar and spelling
is a necessary standard.  I especially enjoy the transliterated anecdotes
and messages which afford me a chance to test my limited translation
skills.

Now my request -  I attend a weekly conversation group.  One member is an
elderly Russian immigrant who does not speak a word of English.  He
writes poetry in handwritten script.  I would be grateful if anyone out
there on the list could provide information on where a Yiddish typewriter
(not a software program) either manual or electric might be obtained.  A
dank.

Marvin Friedman

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 22:24:34 MST
From: ad330@rgfn.epcc.edu
Subject: Introduction

We are Ruth and Ben Taber, retirees in El Paso, Tx. Ben is from
Providence, Ruth is from NYC, where she attended Arbeiter Ring Shule 3,
in the Amalgamated Houses, Bronx, NY. No mittel shule - too busy with
music lessons at Music and Art H.S. The closest Ben got to Yiddish was
studying German and picking up stuff from Ruth. Ben is a retired MD; Ruth
is a retired accompanist and health educator.

Here in El paso, we are active in the Center For Lifelong Learning at
UTEP. And among the many classes offered next semester, starting in
January - beginning Yiddish! Over 35 people have already signed up for
the class. We have three kids - two girls, one boy, 35,34,32, all single.
They're all in California, where we lived for 25 years. Not too much
yiddish in their lives, but our oldest is planning to take a class in the
Bay area.

and - a gut voch -(my mom was a Varshava) - zal zein gezunt!

Ruth and Ben Taber

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 94 02:48 CST
From: hlorbach@ksuvm
Subject: Sh. An-sky at New York Jewish Museum

If you haven't seen the Jewish Museum exhibit of Sh. An-sky's collection
of ethnographic materials in Russia before WW I you must see it (as
should all Mendelniks).  It's materials are overwhelmingly from Podolia
and includes much in the way of Yiddish writing and printing examples.

The rest is from adjacent parts of the old Ukraine, though the source
of some of the objects come from other part of Jewish Eastern Europe.
I can't remember all the cities/towns represented (the book was not
available as it was temporarily sold out) except Bershad which stuck out
because the challah/pastry forms were from there.

The exhibit closes March 5, 1995.

Harold Orbach

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 08:56:54 EST
From: eeglc%cunyvm.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu
Subject: Loshn koydesh in Mayrev-Yidish

Just a note to Dovid Braun:

I think you're right about words of Hebrew/Aramaic origin in the Western
dialects being different from the Eastern. I've read both, and the
*impression* I got was that there seemed to be more in the West,
especially if you count the words in _Die Reste des Juedischdeutschen_

I wish I had the the source in front of me, which stated that Glikl
Haml's language contained 30% Hebraisms, as opposed to the lower figure
usually given in introductory texts about the klal-shprakh. But then, I
know, you'd need to analyze the context of the words. Then you'd have to
consider the source, and when it was written and then to what audience.

Tsi iz Dovid gerekht? Tsi Rick? Efsher yo, efsher neyn; az men vet vern
elter vet men zeyn! ;-)

Rick Gildemeister

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 22:21:59 -0500 (EST)
From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu
Subject: Raysn un Lite

Dovid: Getrofn.  Mayn zeyde olevesholem iz geven a ben-minsker yidn.  Az
di bobe oleyho hasholem, a galitsyaner, fleg zikh reytsn mit im mit vos
er iz a "kalter Litvak" oder epes kadoyme, fleg zikh der zeyde
akegnshteln zogndik tsvishn andere zakhn az leman hapinktlekhkeyt iz er
keyn fuler emeser Litvak say vi say nit, nor a raysisher.

Yude Rozof

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue Dec 13 09:39:54 1994
From: hjs@nrc.gov
Subject: A pain in the ankle

Dan Leeson (Mendele 4.229) asks:

>> My problem is my ankle.  I don't know the word for that
>> specific pain... What is the word for ankle pain?

Being neither an MD nor sufficiently versed in Yiddish to answer
authoritatively, I offer the following observation: It seems to me that
when my grandmother (from Pultusk, north of Warsaw) spoke of rheumatoid
or joint pain, particularly intermittant sharp stabs, the verb she used
was "tzipn."  Thus, an arthritic elbow could "tzip," but so could [one's
remaining] teeth if a thunderstorm was brewing.

Dan, I think you need to be more specific about what kind of pain you're
having.  I can't tell whether to bring on the plasters, kulyes (crutches),
vantzn, or simply a heyse yoykh oder a gleyzele tey.  ;-)

Harvey Spiro

______________________________________________________
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