מענדעלע

I've been lurking for some time and I figure it is time to introduce myself. My name is Elaine Gold and I am a PhD student in Linguistics at the University of Toronto. I have been doing some work on Yiddish syntax and history. I am not a native Yiddish speaker, but learned Yiddish at kheder and at university. I've been enjoying the wide-ranging discussions on Mendele, but of course I'm most interested in linguistic topics.

Elaine (Khave Menukhe)

In an article about the funeral for one of the victims of the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, the Yiddish Forverts (Mar. 11, 1994) writes "A vortzoger fun di lyubavitsher hot OPGESHATST, az in der levaye hobn zikh bateylikt arum 12 toyznt perzon. Di politsey hot ober GESHATST di tsol onteylnemer oyf iber 5 toyznt." How can the difference between opgeshatst and geshatst be expressed in English? Would this do?: "Although a spokesperson for the Lubavitchers ESTIMATED that about ... , the police WERE ESTIMATING that ... "? Or, "Although a spokesperson ... HAD ESTIMATED ... , the police ESTIMATED ..."? Is there a hint of disdain on the part of the writer for the implied exaggeration by the vortzoger? (Differences between participants' estimates and those of the police are not uncommon, of course.)

--Shleyme Axelrod

Jay Lee suggests that the character Smaug in Tolkien's The Hobbit has a Yiddish origin. I have often wondered the same thing about Tolkien's character Golem (I think that is how it is spelled). Tolkien's background was South African and Catholic so I don't know how he would be acquainted with the Yiddish language. It's an interesting supposition though. I would also like to repeat a question I asked a few issues ago. Why is it that Jews in Toronto use the pronunciation Bubbi and Zedi, while Jews in Montreal use the pronunciation Baubi and Zeda. By the same token, my South African fiance uses the pronunciation Boba and Zeda. I think it has to with the differences between Polish, Russian and Lithuanian Yiddish but I could be wrong. What do you think?

Mark Flumerfelt

Leonard Prager mentioned the 'erotic part' of Ignats Bernshtein's collection of Yiddish proverbs. It was translated into English and published in 1975 (including transliterated Yiddish original):

TITLE: Erotica et rustica. Yiddish sayings mama never taught you / [compiled by Ignaz Bernstein ; translated by Weltman & Zuckerman]. PUBLICATION: [Van Nuys, Calif.] : Perivale Press, [1975] DESCRIPTION: xi, 99 p. ; 22 cm. SERIES: Perivale translation series NOTES: Translation of Erotica et rustica. NOTES: Added t.p. in Yiddish. NOTES: English and Yiddish with transcription in Roman characters. SUBJECT: Erotic proverbs, Yiddish. ADDED ENTRY: Bernstein, Ignacy, 1836-1909. ADDED ENTRY: Weltman, Gershon, 1936ADDED ENTRY: Zuckerman, Marvin S.

Fir Kashes in Yiddish are available in postscript format from the Nysernet gopher (URL:gopher://nysernet.org:71/00/.israel.arch/graphics/ 4kashes.big and gopher://nysernet.org:71/00/.israel.arch/graphics/4kashes).

These two files have different font size. I can mail them to those who don't have gopher or WWW access. But if you use gopher, look into Nysernet: you'll find many other mytsiyes as well.

Iosif Vaisman

I agree, Noyekh, that parodies af yidish (and often af english) can be sophomoric and painful. But I remember bursting out laughing the first time I read "In tsimer vu di vayber zenen/Redt men fun Karl Marx un Lenin."

Genuine translations, rather than parodies, can be interesting, even striking. I have a Yiddish version of Longfellow's "Hiawatha" by Yehoash (!), who was able to retain the original meter--no surprise, I guess, for a poet who could put the whole Tanakh into Yiddish.

Shleyme

I'm the new kind on the internet and understand that it is part of my initiation to make a short speech of self introduction. Ah hem. [cough]

I'm Mark Shechner, professor of English at SUNY, Buffalo, and I've written here and there about Jewish writers and intellectual life in America. I've got one book that is sort of about the New York Intellectuals titled After the Revolution, a book of essays titled The Conversion of the Jews, and a collection of the essays and stories of Isaac Rosenfeld, Preserving the Hunger.

Is that enough?

But that segues into my next message, which is the Prufrock parody of Isaac Rosenfeld. I had it around the house years ago in a version that Daniel Bell had published somewhere. Bell has a prodigious recollection for such things and transcribed it from memory. I can't find it now, but will look around the house. But I do recall these wonderful lines.

In tsimer vu di wayber zenen Redt men fun Karl Marx un Lenin

Ikh ver alt, ikh ver alt, Un der pupik vert mir kalt

Those were the high spots, as I recall, but surely the rest is around here somewhere. Now, let's see.

Sincerely,

Mark Shechner