Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.016 June 21, 1998 1) Shmuel Gordon un Dovid Bromberg avek in eybikayt (Shaya Mitelman) 2) Shvitnik (Sheldon I. (Zalmen Itzik) Clare) 3) a shande un a charpa (pe'rets mett) 4) Yiddish terms of endearment (Norm Sacuta) 5) Shosha (Jay Beder) 6) Elyakum Zunser's poem "Der prom" (Heather Valencia) 7) Swiss/Yiddish (Ellen Prince) 8) "Muselman" and the Concentration camps (Harry Stillman) 9) Ganef (Stan Nadel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 19:09:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Serge Mitelman Subject: Shmuel Gordon un Dovid Bromberg avek in eybikayt. Fun Moskve iz ongekumen a troyerike ediye, az in aprel iz geshtorbn der yidisher prozaiker SHMUEL GORDON un in may - der yidisher dikhter DUVID BROMBERG. Beyde zenen zey geven in meshekh fun lange yorn aktive boyer un shefer gun der yidisher sovetisher literatur, beyde hobn zey arayngetrogn a vogikn tsushtayer in farmern un propagirn di oytsres fun undzer kultur. Shmuel Vulfovich Gordon iz geboyrn gevorn in Kovne in 1909, zikh dertsoygn in a kinderheym un in a yugnt-hoyz in Ukraine, farendikt di yidishe opteylung fun tsveytn moskever melukhe-universitet, hot gearbet als lerer un dernokh afn zhurnalistishn gebit (als korespondent fun aza bleter vi "Der shtern" un "Komsomol=92skaya pravda" [ der komyugistisher emes] un andere), zikh ongehoybn drukn in sof fun di tsvontsiker yorn (di ershte dertseylung "Elko Gilgl" vert farefntlekht in kharkover tsaytshrift " Di royte velt" in 1930). In 1934 in moskever farlag "Der emes" dershaynt zayn ershter bukh noveles un eseyen " Tsvishn azover un shvartsn". Zayn bazukh in Birebidzhan hot im gegebn di meglekhkayt tsu farzamlen breytn dokumentaln material vegn dem lebnshteyger fun yidishe bavoyner, vos zenen gekumen in der tayge-mekoyme fun ale ekn velt. Zenen der teme gevidmet Gordons bikher "Patriotn" (1936) un "Birobidzhaner kinder" (1937). Beys der milkhome iz Shmuel Gordon geven afn front, mitarbetndik in front-prese, publikirt ocherkn un reportazhn in der tsaytung "Eynikayt" - der organ funem yidishn antifashistishn komitet. Fun di milkhome-dertseylungen un fartseykhenungen iz bashtanen der zamlbukh "Milkhome-tsayt" (1946). Nokh der milkhome bazukht er nokhamol dem vaytn mizrekh un shpeter aroysgit nokh a bukh - "Birobidzhaner toyshvim" (1947). In 1949 iz Gordon geven represirt als mitglid funem yidishn antifashistishn komitet (rehabilitirt in 1956). Er hot gehat dos glik zikh umtsukern tsu sheferisher tetikayt in mitn fun di fuftsiker yorn, geven a mitglid fun der redkolegye funem zhurnal "Sovetish heymland" (zint 1961), redaktor fun yidishe bikher in moskver farlag "Sovetsky pisatel'". Shmuel Gordon iz a mekhaber fun fil bikher, vos dertseyln vegn yidishn lebn inem gevezenem ratn-farband: "Friling", "Bam vayngortn", "Di eybike mos", Di fayl un der boygn", "Yorshim" un andere. Er hot oykh geshribn vegn ufakern royerd in di 50er, yidishe yishuvim in Krym un farnikhte shtetlekh. Zayn letster roman "Yizker" (1991) shildert dem goyrl fun di gemishpete yidishe shrayber unter dem Stalin-rezhim. Dovid Bromberg (geboyrn in 1915 in der podoler shtot Haysin) hot di ershte lider gedrukt in 1932 un far der milkhome aroysgegebn zayne virshes in der tsentraler kinder-tsaytung "Zay greyt" in der demltiker hoypt-shtot fun Ukraine - Kharkov. In 1932 iz er gekumen keyn Moskve, vu er hot zikh gelernt afn arbfak (arbeter-fakultet) bam pedagogishn institut af A.S. Bubnovs nomen, gearbet als korektor in farlag "Der emes", shpeter - als moler-oysfuremer. Beys der milkhome iz Duvid Bromberg geven afn front un nokh der demobilizatsye (1945) zikh umgekert in Moskve un hot dortn gearbet vi gravirer. Nokh a groysn iberays in der shafung hot er videramol aktiv gedrukt in "Sovetish heymland". In 1977 iz in moskver farlag "Sovetskiy pisatel'" dershinen zayn lider-zamlung "Elter af a yor", in 1978 - "Groye shteyner". Zayne lider un mayselekh in ferzn zenen ibergezetst gevorn af rusish un dershinen in bazundere bikher ("Niti goda" [fedem fun yor], 1982 un andere). Tsu zayne tekstn hobn yidishe kompozitorn geshribn muzik. Koved zeyer ondenk! Shaya Mitelman. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1998 11:44:15 -0400 From: Sheldon Clare Subject: Shvitnik I am reading a story about a "Brunem Und a Nisht-Guter". In the story, the word "Shvitnik" shin, tzvei vovn, yud, tes, nun, yun, koof, appears. This Shvitnik is also referred to as a "Nisht-Guter". Does anyone have an idea about this term or name? Sheldon I. Clare, a.k.a Zalmen Itzik 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 14:11:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Percy Mett Subject: a shande un a charpa Rick Turkel writes: "Not "charpa" but "kherpa," from the Hebrew "xerpa" (disgrace, shame)." In Polish Yiddish (at least) the pronunciation is khArpe. Actually 'e' before 'r' frequently seems to get pronounced A (but i'm no expert) pe'rets mett 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 08:29:00 -0600 From: Norm Sacuta Subject: Yiddish terms of endearment I am looking for a few words in Yiddish to incorporate into a short story. The story is set in the early part of this century and the two characters involved (an elderly married couple) are speaking to each other at a dinner party and mix some Yiddish terms of endearment for each other into their conversation. There is another couple at the same table, recent immigrants to the US, who are from Eastern Europe who become embarrassed by the use of the terms. It is a minor scene in the story but important to its development. Trouble is that I do not have any "terms of endearment" in Yiddish to put into the story that an elderly couple (early 70's) would use with each other, especially from this period. Can you help me by providing a couple of words and providing me with translations of what is their closest English equivalent? I got directed to MENDELE from Mark David over at Yiddish Radio. In part the idea of including the scene in the story was inspired from the pyscho-analytic books and sections of books I've read on the Jewish experiences prior to WWII by Sanders Gilman.. I look forward to your response. Thanks. Norm Sacuta 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 08:42:37 -0400 (EDT) From: RivkaLea@aol.com Subject: Shosha I received the following inquiry from a Hebrew University 66-67 colleague Jay Beder (beder@csd.uwm.edu): "Well, I'm reading Shosha, and while it's a wonderful book, I'm annoyed with the translation. There are a lot of times when something should have been left in transliteration or with original terminology -- even with a footnote. And I'd be very curious as to how Singer expresses himself in Yiddish on things like Kant and art. Do you know of a good translation? Or better, is there a version in Yiddish that I could compare? Best of all, I can imagine a text having the Yiddish on one side and a translation on the facing page -- has anyone published such a thing?" Jay Beder 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 09:48:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Heather Valencia Subject: Elyakum Zunser's poem "Der prom" I am anxious to obtain the text of a poem by Elyakum Zunser (or should his name be Tsunser?) called "Der prom", (the ferry). I would be very grateful if someone could provide me with this. Heather Valencia 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 10:54:13 -0400 (EDT) From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: Swiss/Yiddish Gitl Dubrovsky and a number of others have written that they could understand Swiss German and/or be understood speaking Yiddish by S-G speakers. If the point is that Yiddish and Swiss German therefore have some special origin apart from other Germanic varieties, I would like to note something. First, it is very common that speakers of one language can more or less get along in a closely related language, especially in the area of comprehension. Slovak speakers understand a fair amount of Polish, French speakers understand a fair amount of Italian, Marathi speakers understand a fair amount of Hindi, etc. So all that these anecdotes show is that Swiss German and Yiddish are closely related, which we already knew. Second, as a mere imperfect speaker of Yiddish, I have no trouble following the dialog in German movies, so long as they're talking about mundane things, and I had no trouble understanding Germans in simple service encounters on my trips to Germany, and I even managed to kvetch out a few sentences that were comprehensible to them. So this suggests that New High German is also closely related to Yiddish -- no news there... Third, it occurs to me that the reason that understanding Swiss German on the basis of Yiddish is so newsworthy to some people is that ENGLISH is the oddball in this domain -- a monolingual speaker of English can't understand any other Germanic language, even the most closely related ones (e.g. Frisian). But this is because English has had a very unusual history and underwent extraordinarily profound changes at the end of the Middle English period (and due to the prior occupation of England by Anglo-Norman, i.e. French, speakers). And these changes affected every level of the language -- the sound system, the lexicon, the morphology (endings), the grammar, the works. Anyway, my point is: If you understand Swiss German (or any other Germanic variety) on the basis of your knowledge of Yiddish, just be happy that their relatedness affords you that benefit but don't infer that there's anything very special about this relatedness. Ellen Prince 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 11:27:11 -0400 (EDT) From: HARRY STILLMAN Subject: "Muselman" and the Concentration camps I received the following communication from a writer and researcher for help on the following: "Thought you might be able to help me with the etymology of the word "musulman" as used in the concentration camps of eastern Europe to mean, "A human bag of skin and bones ready to enter the next stage before death called a "lunatik". I have spoken with many survivors and about one-half seem to recall hearing the word "musulman" used to mean a human skeleton prior to their incarceration in the shtetls of Poland. The other half heard it for the first time in the lagers. No survivor I have interviewed knew that musulman in Spanish means Muslim. ALthough Primo Levi's translators use the English word Muslim in translation, no one explains it. I have had discussions with Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor survivors who insist that there is no meaning of the word muselman other than as used in the camps. In Southern Spain I learned to use the word muselman in public and the slightly pejorative "moro" only in private. Saraceno, moro, mozarabe, musulman: but only musulman in puplic. Do you know anything about this? During the reconquest of Spain were the Moors horribly starved and persecuted before the Jews were? That might account for the the ladino word eventually working it's way into the Yiddish with the new meaning". Let me know if you can shed any light on this matther, since this is beyond my ken. I will send your replies to the writer. Thank you. Harry Stillman 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 15:19:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Stan Nadel Subject: Ganef A Manaster Ramer recently made a point by alluding to the English slang use of ganef, saying: "It turns out that dictionaries of English slang used to (maybe still do) often give fanciful etymologies of words which are obviously of Yiddish origin, e.g., ganef from gone off!! Now, how do we KNOW that this is meshugge and that ganef is from Yiddish? I don't know how, but we do." Not to distract from his excellent point, but for those who are curious about this example: It seems that gonef (sometimes gonnoff, hence the false etemolgy) entered American and English slang via what is known as thieves cant. One of the traditional occupations for Jews in Europe and America was as pawnbrokers. That is an occupation which tends to bridge the border between the criminal and business worlds. At the margin, the line between pawnbroker and fence (handler of stolen goods) is often obscured and some Jews played an importnat role in the criminalized underground economy of large cities. To provide a concrete example from my own research, I'll offer up the notorious Fredrika "Marm" Mandelbaum of New York--who was alleged to have gone from fence to crime boss and veritble female Morriarity in the third quarter of the 19th century (see George W. Walling's *Recollections of a New York Chief of Police*--which has a thieves slang appendix which, as I remember, included the term gonef defined as a pickpocket. Herbert Asbury later defined "gonnoff" as "a thief who has attained the higher walks of his profession"). I had assumed it moved into American English from German Jewish immigrants in New York (like Mrs. Mandelbaum) until I learned it was also present in 18th century London's thieves cant. Then I was told by a specialist on the 18th century London underworld that Jewish fences played a key role in linking the London underworld with markets in Amsterdam (he says they claimed they could fence anything, including the crown jewels), and that this is the source of Yiddish loan words in English thieves cant. So we have two possible sources for the American usage-- Anglo-American thieves cant via London and German-American thieves cant directly from the Yiddish. Stan Nadel ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.016 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html