Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 21.010 January 24, 2012 1) yorch (Aubrey Jacobus) 2) puch (Libby Cone) 3) translation help needed for Holocaust poem (Elie Train) 4) Liser sider (H Jacobson) 5) suggestions for Martin Jacobs/Liser sider (Yankl Levitow) 6) lise (Eliezer Greisdorf) 7) patsher (Jacob Goldberg) 8) patsher (Mordkhe Weisselberg) 9) patsher (Itsik Goldenberg) 10 kirzhner (Stephen Jones) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 18 Subject: yorch I am 85 and never heard Yiddish since I left home but recently I keep remembering odd words, e.g, Yorch [Moderator's note: most likely, "yoykh" is meant.] - which was the liquor that accompanied fish dishes. Or parents used the expression "Amulike tsayt" for long ago, often used ironically and all the words for cooking utensils and a favorite "mitndrin." My son in law 60 with Yiddish speaking parents knows none of these words and can't find Yorch in a large Yiddish - English dictionary. My father had a host of colloquial expressions which must be particular to his shtetl or even family. Is my experience typical? Aubrey Jacobus 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 12 Subject: puch I have a Jewish food question for you. My husband is of Polish descent on his father's side. When visiting his late father's brother and his wife in the Polish neighborhood of Philadelphia, we had the occasion to eat vast quantities of chruscicki, that deep-fried pastry dredged with powdered sugar. Although I am hopeless with languages and cannot remember peoples' names to save my life, I have a great food memory. I started remembering my aunt's grandmother, whom everyone called "the Bobbeh." This goes back about fifty years. She always had wax paper sandwich bags filled with a similar pastry that she gave to everybody. We are all Litvaks, not Poylishe. I finally called my aunt last night (she's in her eighties) and asked her, "Was your grandmother alive when I was a little girl?" She said that indeed she was. "Didn't she used to make this fried pastry and give it out in those wax paper sandwich bags?" "Oh, you mean puch!" Have you ever heard of puch? [Moderator's note: most likely, the term meant here is "pukh," i.e. down, fluff] Libby Cone 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 15 Subject: translation help needed for Holocaust poem I need some help in translating a poem about the holocaust by Fefekuchen-Zilbert, which appeared in Onheyb in 1994: Der toyt hot zayn vinkl dortn tsu vemen kumen hob ikh shoyn nit. >From what I can make out, Death has his claim staked out there (in the destroyed shtetl, of which the author writes), but I'm not sure of the final line. Is it "to whom I have lost the ability to come" - meaning, I can't go back to the shtetl where I was born; I can't (yet) meet Death? Any suggestions would be appreciated! Elie Train 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 1 Subject: Liser sider Derekh ha-Hayyim is a highly regarded prayer book with halakhic and liturgical instruction by "Rav Yaakov of Lissa." H Jacobson 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 5 Subject: suggestions for Martin Jacobs/Liser sider Tayere Mendelyaner, Ot zaynen a por forshlogn far Martin Jacobsn. Some suggestions for Martin Jacobs: patsher - fr. patshn, someone who slaps or hits? potsher - priest (Harkavy) poshtsher - postman (Harkavy) yezlakh - fr. yoyz (weakling, fool), as in Niborski? meytshes - related to Russian "metsh," sword? ribtses - fr. Russian "rubtetz" (scar, also tripe)? Rebbe Yakov Lorberboym fun Lissa (dos heyst, Leszno, Poyln -- 1760-1832) iz geveyn Rosh Yeshiva in Lissa un a barimter talmid-khokhem in zayn tsayt. Ikh hob nit gehert fun keyn sidur vos er hot redaktirt, ober er hot aroysgegebn a hagode mit zayne oystaytshn un oykh etlekhe verk fun halokhe. Efsher hot men in Byelarus derfar bazundersh opgeshatzt sforim fun Lezhno. Rabbi Jacob Lorberbaum of Leszno (Yid., Lissa), Poland (1760-1832) was a Rosh Yeshiva and leading scholar of his time - I'm not aware of a sidur of his, but he did publish a commentary on the Hagada and other, mainly Halakhic works, so perhaps seforim from Lissa were highly valued. Ayer, Yankel Levitow 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 1 Subject: lise It does not seem relevant but in Weinreich you will find "Lise" to mean bald. It comes from the Polish "lysy," which has the same meaning. Eliezer Greisdorf 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 2 Subject: patsh My mother used patsh for spank. Khayim der patsher would mean Teacher Khayim the spanker. Jacob Goldberg 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 21 Subject: patsher I believe the word patsher (pay-alef-tet-shin-resh) refers to the helper in heder that would punish the children that did not pay attention, etc. Normally it would be the teacher (melamed) or the Rabbi in very small communities, but in others, they had someone in charge of punishment. "Az es helft nit keyn patsh, muz men nemen di baytsh" (when the slap (patsh) does not help, the whip has to be used." Mordkhe Weisselberg 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: January 1 Subject: patsher Re: Martin Jacobs' query about "patsher," it would seem to derive from the verb "patshn" = to slap, smack. The rebe's assistant, the belfer, would discipline the unruly students. Since this including smacking them or worse, in those days when corporal punishment was the rule, the belfer was probably called the "patsher" in many places. My own rebe had no belfer, and did his own patshing. Itsik Goldenberg 10)---------------------------------------------------- Subject: kirzhner Date: January 2 >From JewishGen.org database for occupation names in the Pinsk ghetto: "Krschner / Krschnerin / Krschn Furrier" Hope this helps Stephen Jones _______________________ End of Mendele Vol. 21.010 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] (IMPORTANT: 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. No posting will appear without its author's name. 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