Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 19.014 October 30, 2009 1) farker-mitlen (Dina Levias ) 2) cancer (Arnold Wishnia) 3) "Mayn Kindhayt" (Arnold Wishnia) 4) The origins of Ashkenaz in Fourth Century Crimea (Charles Nydorf) 5) ayngeshtelt in firlekh/pirlekh (Martin Jacobs) 6) Max Perlman's "Benzin" (Refoyl Finkl) 7) "Unter dayne vayse shtern" (Wolfgang Schulze) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 9, 2009 Subject: farker-mitlen farker-mitel - or mitlen, in plural - means mode, or means of transportation -i.e. cars, trucks, etc. The sentence you reproduce means: There were means of transportation but they were not available because all of them had been requisitioned by the Polish military. Mit a grus, Dina Levias [Moderator's Note: similar responses were sent by Leybl Goldberg, Martin Jacobs,Mirjam Gutschow, Norman Buder, Peter Gutmann, Rukhl Schaechter, and Zachary M.Baker, most of whom indicated the contemporary German cognates (Verkehr, Mittel) for these words.] 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 19, 2009 Subject: cancer Joshua Kutz recently asked about the Yiddish for "cancer" and mentioned the word "kreps." "Krebs" is the standard German word for cancer, and, given the normal sound of "b" here, would be "kreps" in Yiddish. Weinreich translates it as "crab," which is of course the other meaning (the Zodiacal sign "Cancer" is "the Crab," and the way crabs consume flesh is doubtless the referent for the current medical use of "cancer")l Arnold Wishnia 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 16, 2009 Subject: "Mayn Kindheyt" A friend asked me about a poem by Yitskhak Viner in the Ringelblum Archive of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, translated into English by Dr. Moskovitz. http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/presentations/features/details/2= 004-07-09/ The text is handwritten and not well-reproduced on the site, so there are ambiguities in the transliteration. This is what I reconstruct, aided by the translation: Yorn fun kindhayt in Balutisher hoyfn Mayn mame, mayn tate in oremer heym Kh'gedenk nokh mayn hunger, ven kh'hob mit khaveyrim Broytn gebakn fun blotikn leym Broytn gebakn -- opshpiln dem hunger Dem noentstn un shlekhtstn fun undzere gest Farbay iz der zumer, in hits bay rinshtokn *** ??? *** Gekumen iz vinter mit shney un [not there, but meter suggests "mit"] frest [lots of letters indecipherable here -- my best guess] Groy iz der droysn, in shney [oykh ??] gezunken Di dekher**, di moyer, farzilbert, farvayst Ikh lig oyf geleger, in shmates farviklt Kuk mir durkh shoybn, fardekt mit ayz Geyt fri mayn tate -- zikh fregn oyf arbet Blayb ikh mit mamen, in tunkeler heym Kalt iz ... m[e]'hungert, nito vos tsu esn Glust [reconstructed] mikh khotsh bakn, a broytl fun leym ** "dekher" roofs. I think the translator misread d (daled) as b (beys), and got "bekher" =beaker(s), translated as "wine glass," which makes no sense to me. *** ??? *** Farbay iz der zumer, in hits bay rinshtokn Moskovitz translates "rinshtokn" as gutters (as does Weinreich). My first question is, "What kind of gutters??" -- drains along the roof edges, drains in the streets, or what. My second question is this: what is the image? My third question is: Is this a misreading for "binshtokn" (could they have had beehives in courtyards in pre-war Baluty/Lodz, and is "heat rising from beehives" a reasonable image)? The spacing is a bit odd in the script, and the reysh is squarer/flatter on the top than in most cases, although it is written that way in "farbay" at the beginning of the same line. The beys also has many forms, fairly clear in that same "farbay," but sometimes odd, for example, in both "broytn" and "gebakn" at the start of the fourth line of the first stanza. Hoping that some experts will help me out. Arnold Wishnia 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 27, 2009 Subject: The origins of Ashkenaz in Fourth Century Crimea The major objection to the hypothesis that the Germanic component of Yiddish is underlyingly Gothic is that Gothic was spoken in eastern Europe, Spain and Italy, mostly before 600 while Yiddish appears later in Germany. A new post at www.gothicyiddish.blogspot.com traces the origins of the Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazim to the Gothic-ruled Crimean Bosporus ca. 262. Jews from this Crimean community subsequently participated in the Ostrogothic invasion of Italy and then migrated to the German-speaking lands. Charles Nydorf 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 29, 2009 Subject: ayngeshtelt in firlekh/pirlekh This expression occurs in a description of Jews being forced to run for a train that would take them to a concentration camp. Because of the nature of the orthography I do not know if the last word is "firlekh" or "pirlekh"; I am inclined towards the former, which I presume means "little carts," but I do not know what is happening here. The context: m'hot gemuzt loyfn, ayngeshtelt in firlekh, un ver es hot nisht gekent nokhloyfn, oder iz aroys fun di reyen, hot men glaykh dershosn. Martin Jacobs 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 9, 2009 Subject: Max Perlman's "Benzin" I haven't heard the recording, so my slight emendations to Cedric's transcription are based primarily on spelling corrections. However, the first line made no sense to me ("petroleum iz a tsoyber klang, un akht vi flisik gold"), so I changed it to something with roughly the same phonemes but more sense. I also re-punctuated a bit. --- petroleum iz a tsoyber, tog un nakht, vi flisik gold di velt bakumen hot a nayem zin. es hot der mentsh gevolt azoy, un di tsayt hot es gevolt az alts zol dreyen zikh arum benzin. me zukht benzin, men grobt azoy di erd durkh blut in harts, durkh fayer un durkh shverd. ay vil men forn, ay vil men forn, nor tsum forn darf men ongisn benzin. un az men gist nit keyn benzin, shtup aher un shtup ahin; es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin. in kasino dort baym yam, bay der rulet-aparat yidn praven khatsos a gantse nakht. dort shteyt reb yankl, mit zayn vayb, shoyn opgeflikt oyf glat, farshpilt dem gantsn oytser vos gebrakht. zayn vayb bet im, oy yankl "stop di game" du vest nisht hobn mit vos tsu forn aheym! un er vil forn ay vil er forn, nor tsum forn darf men ongisn benzin un az men gist nit keyn benzin, shtup aher un shtup ahin; es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin. an almen shoyn fun akhtsik yor hot zikh amol farglust a yunge sheyne meydl far a vayb. dos meydl ober hot gevust az er hot gelt a sakh hot zi gehayrat tsulib tsaytfartrayb. dos yunge vaybl vil forn, nit shpatsirn, a yid an alter ken zikh shoyn nit rirn. ay er vil forn, ay vil er forn, nor tsum forn darf men ongisn benzin un az men gist nit keyn benzin, shtup aher un shtup ahin; es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin. ay vil men forn, ay vil men forn, nor tsu forn darf men ongisn benzin un az men gist nit keyn benzin, hot dos lebn nit keyn zin. es geyt nit, es fort nit di mashin! --- Refoyl Finkl 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 16, 2009 Subject: "Unter dayne vayse shtern" Dear Colleagues, Being new on this list, I'd like to profit from the cumulated expertise represented by the fellow list members. In the famous song "Unter dayne vayse shtern," two words occur that are opaque to me (probably due to my ignorance): The verse goes like this: *nemen* yogn mikh meshune trep un hoyfn - mit *gevoy*. My simple question is: How to translate "nemen" and "gevoy"? Any helping hand? Best wishes, Wolfgang Schulze ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 19.014 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct your mail as follows: Material for Mendele Personal Notices & Announcements, i.e. announcements of events, commercial publications, etc., always in plain text (no HTML or the like) to: [email protected] (in the subject line write Mendele Personal) Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e. inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature: [email protected] IMPORTANT: Please include your full name as you would like it to appear in your posting. 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