Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.041 July 9, 1995 1) Af tselokhes (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 2) Af tselokhes (Yankel Lantz) 3) Af tselokhes (Harry Katz) 4) Davka (Martin Davis) 5) Hebrew/Yiddish prayerbook (David Sherman) 6) Linear prayer book (Paul Pascal) 7) Vinkl (Steve Winkelman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 17:20:16 -0400 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: Af tselokhes The Yiddish expression "af tselokhes" is equivalent to the English "for spite". Er hot es im geton oif tselokhes = He did it to him for spite. I also recall my folks calling a spiteful person a tselokhesnik. Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan North Conway, New Hampshire 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 06 Jul 1995 21:44:53 -0500 From: rlantz@globalcom.net Subject: Af tselokhes I read with interest the responses to Michael's inquiry. I had found an explanation by Fred Kogos ("Yiddish Slang & Expressions") which was similar, but not quite the same. Here it is. What do you folks think? In spite of everything you do, it still comes out wrong. Yankel Lantz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 09:57:06 -0600 (MDT) From: Harry Katz Subject: Af tselokhes Thanks to all for the etymology of "Af tselokhes!" My father used the phrase quite often, and although I knew it meant "for spite," for some reason I always thought it was derived from the Yiddish "lakhen" -- to laugh. That would have made Af tselokhes mean "for a laugh," which always made sense to me. Just another case of totally unrelated words happening to sound alike. I am glad to be corrected. Harry Katz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 95 22:16:05 EDT From: davism@cs.nyu.edu Subject: Davka Harvey Spiro writes: >Although af tselohkes is somewhat used in modern Hebrew today, it also >has a fully-Hebrew first cousin which I believe I have heard creeping >into Yiddish spoken in Israel, namely "davka." "Davka" is less negative >than af tselokhes, and is generally considered untranslatable, but >roughly means: "just because," "just my luck," or "because I wanted to." My parents used "davka" (I would have written "dafka") in the 1930s. I would have translated it: "for spite". Martin Davis 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 95 21:49:01 EDT From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Hebrew/Yiddish prayerbook There are similar siddurim today with Hebrew and English; the Metzuda Siddur is quite widely used, particularly in Orthodox shuls that encourage beginners and baalei tshuva (Aish HaTorah and the like). The purpose is to let you learn the davening in Hebrew and yet understand what you're saying, by seeing the English equivalent to each few words. I presume the Hebrew/Yiddish siddur described had the same function. David Sherman Toronto 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 07 Jul 95 09:42:01 EDT From: 75332.2735@compuserve.com Subject: Linear prayer book Larry Rosenwald posted recently regarding a Hebrew-Yiddish "Linear Prayer Book", published by Joseph Magil in Washington in 1905 (I think he said). He asked how common such a book was. I have a Hebrew-ENGLISH "Linear Prayer Book" by this same Magil, copyright in Washington the same year, though published in Philadelphia. I also have a Hebrew-English "Linear School Bible" by Magil, copyright in Washington in 1899 and published in New York and Philadelphia in 1910. I have always assumed my father used these in kheder as a boy (since my father tells me he spent most of his kheder hours playing hooky under the boardwalk because of the rebbe's baytsh, maybe that explains why these books are in such good condition!). Both books have advertising on the inside back cover, completely in Yiddish, extolling the virtues of "Magilnitsky's Linyen-Siddur" in various incarnations, and of the "Yiddishes Tageblat" (sic)--"a tsaytung fir alle Iden". My mother--a grine in the late twenties--brought with her from Slutsk a learn-to-read-Hebrew book, called "Eyden ha-Yiladim", published in Warsaw in 1902, has vocabulary lists from Hebrew to Yiddish and Russian, and to French and English (in lesser type). The frontispiece tells us it is a "chrestomathy for the use of children with translation of the vocables in Russian, _German_, French and English" [my emphasis]. This frontispiece tells us this IN the four named languages, to wit for example: "nebst uebersetzung der Vocabeln..." etc. This is the only German that occurs in the entire book. Had they such contempt for "zhargon" that they had to disguise it as German? Or was this a ploy related to the official censor? Paul Pascal Toronto 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 07 Jul 95 10:41:00 PDT From: mailva01.icfkaiser.com!winkelmans@mail.icfkaiser.com Subject: Vinkl Does "vinkl" ever mean a shop/store in Yiddish? I know that in Dutch a "winkel" is a store. (Perhaps this meaning evolved from corner stores....) Steve Winkelman Arlington, VA ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.041 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. 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