Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 23.011 November 22, 2013 1) New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands (Marion Aptroot) 2) Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt” (Catherine Madsen) 3) “I should hope to smoke a fish.” (Elizabeth Zimmer) 4) Manger’s “Ovtnlid” (Hirsh Perloff) 5) vaybertaytsh font (Jerold C. Frakes) 6) kupke (Joel Maxman) 7) kupke/kufke (Leybl Botwinik) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 23 Subject: New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands In May, Evi Michel's richly illustrated catalogue of Yiddish manuscripts written in the Netherlands was published: Evi Michels Jiddische Handschriften aus den Niederlanden Leiden: Brill 2013 ISBN: 9789004251014 E-ISBN: 9789004251236 http://www.brill.com/jiddische-handschriften-der-niederlande=20 The preview on Google books unfortunately does not show sample pages of the catalogue itself. Marion Aptroot 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 18 Subject: Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt” The play is in this volume of Peretz's complete works, in the Yiddish Book Center's Spielberg Digital Library: http://archive.org/details/nybc209345 These sets can be quite tricky to negotiate, given the limitations of Library of Congress cataloging, so Mendelyaners (and others!) should always feel free to contact me with any questions. Catherine Madsen [Moderator’s note: the writer is the bibliographer of the National Yiddish Book Center.] 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 16 Subject: “I should hope to smoke a fish.” Hello! “I should hope to smoke a fish.” Hoping you can help me figure out the meaning/context of this phrase, and whether it originates in Yiddish. My mother, who was born in 1915 and was a native Yiddish speaker, used it all the time. I can't recall the context, but I know she said it in English, in the late '40s-early '50s. Many thanks, Elizabeth Zimmer 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 22 Subject: Manger’s “Ovntlid” In response to Helene B. Katz's query about Manger's “Ovntlid”: Dictionaries generally do translate butterfly as zumer-feygele, not zumer-foygl. Indeed, butterfly would be problematic here as, firstly, there are not grey and golden winged butterflies where Manger lived. Secondly, butterflies need the midday warmth of sun to be active and are not seen at dusk whereas birds are often active then. There are various possibilities; some finches and buntings have yellow and grey in their wings but one feels that the poem requires them to be striking such as the Golden Oriole, Yellow Hammer or Goldfinch, all of which have bright yellow and black wings which can look gold and grey in the setting sun and all are migratory and so could be described as summer birds. But perhaps Manger, though, is intending symbolic imagery rather than an actual description. Hirsh Perloff 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 19 Subject: vaybertaytsh font I would like to use a vaybertaytsh font in an introductory language textbook of Old and Middle Yiddish that I am preparing for publication. Do any Mendele subscribers know if there is such a font available in a standard Windows True Type format that is downloadable or available for purchase? Jerold C. Frakes 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 18 Subject: kupke My mother is a native Yiddish speaker from Galicia (Tarnopil oblast). I recently visited wearing a headscarf that is a cross between a bandana and a doo-rag. My mother referred to it as a KUPKE. A discussion of kerchief ensued. My mother said that a kerchief tied under the chin was referred to as either a SHTIKHL or a FATSHEYLE, but a kerchief tied behind the head, under the hairline, was a KUPKE. My mother said the word KUPKE also means piles (mounds), but didn't believe the two senses were related. I found one on-line reference to a Red Buttons character called The Kupke Kid, which stated that KUPKE was Yiddish for a stocking cap. However, I was unable to find KUPKE or SHTIKHL in Uriel Weinreich or any other on-line sources. Has anyone heard either KUPKE or SHTIKHL used to connote kerchief or headscarf? Joel Maxman 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 9 Subject: kupke/kufke tayere khaveyrim, ikh darf hilf mit a vort. zayt moykhl, vayter shrayb ikh alts oyf english: I'm translating a scene from a Yizkor book of a Litvak shtetl Divenishok. The whole scene is very confusing and in one place a word repeats itself twice - with almost no context to go with it. Since there are almost no nekudes, it may be a pey or fey: Word or Phrase: Kupkes or Kufkes Location: (http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?=id=3D2031) Image 453, Last two words on the page The scene is in a synagogue, but the word probably has nothing to do with religion. Some people in the back are mumbling faintly understood words and partial sentences, and end with “kupkes/kufkes.” They are complaining of some mistreatment or injustice:...Suddenly, from the other side of the heating oven there is a murmur, mumbled words: We will not allow them to carry away cut off a livelihood gradually, one another kupkes kupkes Now, someone suggested the following: Niborsky's dictionary says that kupke is related to kopke, ladies' cap. Do they make caps or something?... but I don't have the dictionary so I can't verify that. My response: Thanks, but I don't think so. The whole article is very unclear about what everyone was protesting about. It seems that the butchers in town were either at fault, or the ones faulted. Something about meat being sent out of the shtetl, and the butchers collecting money. Those protesting in half-mumbled sentences end their words with “kupkes kupkes” or possibly “kuFkes kuFkes.” I don't see how hats or head-coverings would be involved, unless it was somehow used as a symbol of protest (maybe something “socialist,” like waving the flag, or similar to the Bund motto: sher un ayzn [scissors and iron]) or something like throwing down a gauntlet (in this case a hat - maybe like the Muslims throw shoes...) in protest...or used as a swear word or curse... and someone else suggested a typo (twice?) ... bubkes ... but a Litvak would probably pronounce it bobkes...Please share clues or intuitions a sheynem dank, Leybl Botwinik ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 23.011 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct your mail as follows: 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. Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email addresses, as responses will be posted for all to read. They must also include the author's name as you would like it to appear. Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 23.011 November 22, 2013 1) New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands (Marion Aptroot) 2) Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt” (Catherine Madsen) 3) “I should hope to smoke a fish.” (Elizabeth Zimmer) 4) Manger’s “Ovtnlid” (Hirsh Perloff) 5) vaybertaytsh font (Jerold C. Frakes) 6) kupke (Joel Maxman) 7) kupke/kufke (Leybl Botwinik) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 23 Subject: New Book: Yiddish manuscripts from the Netherlands In May, Evi Michel's richly illustrated catalogue of Yiddish manuscripts written in the Netherlands was published: Evi Michels Jiddische Handschriften aus den Niederlanden Leiden: Brill 2013 ISBN: 9789004251014 E-ISBN: 9789004251236 http://www.brill.com/jiddische-handschriften-der-niederlande=20 The preview on Google books unfortunately does not show sample pages of the catalogue itself. Marion Aptroot 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 18 Subject: Peretz’ “Di goldene keyt” The play is in this volume of Peretz's complete works, in the Yiddish Book Center's Spielberg Digital Library: http://archive.org/details/nybc209345 These sets can be quite tricky to negotiate, given the limitations of Library of Congress cataloging, so Mendelyaners (and others!) should always feel free to contact me with any questions. Catherine Madsen [Moderator’s note: the writer is the bibliographer of the National Yiddish Book Center.] 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 16 Subject: “I should hope to smoke a fish.” Hello! “I should hope to smoke a fish.” Hoping you can help me figure out the meaning/context of this phrase, and whether it originates in Yiddish. My mother, who was born in 1915 and was a native Yiddish speaker, used it all the time. I can't recall the context, but I know she said it in English, in the late '40s-early '50s. Many thanks, Elizabeth Zimmer 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 22 Subject: Manger’s “Ovntlid” In response to Helene B. Katz's query about Manger's “Ovntlid”: Dictionaries generally do translate butterfly as zumer-feygele, not zumer-foygl. Indeed, butterfly would be problematic here as, firstly, there are not grey and golden winged butterflies where Manger lived. Secondly, butterflies need the midday warmth of sun to be active and are not seen at dusk whereas birds are often active then. There are various possibilities; some finches and buntings have yellow and grey in their wings but one feels that the poem requires them to be striking such as the Golden Oriole, Yellow Hammer or Goldfinch, all of which have bright yellow and black wings which can look gold and grey in the setting sun and all are migratory and so could be described as summer birds. But perhaps Manger, though, is intending symbolic imagery rather than an actual description. Hirsh Perloff 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 19 Subject: vaybertaytsh font I would like to use a vaybertaytsh font in an introductory language textbook of Old and Middle Yiddish that I am preparing for publication. Do any Mendele subscribers know if there is such a font available in a standard Windows True Type format that is downloadable or available for purchase? Jerold C. Frakes 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 18 Subject: kupke My mother is a native Yiddish speaker from Galicia (Tarnopil oblast). I recently visited wearing a headscarf that is a cross between a bandana and a doo-rag. My mother referred to it as a KUPKE. A discussion of kerchief ensued. My mother said that a kerchief tied under the chin was referred to as either a SHTIKHL or a FATSHEYLE, but a kerchief tied behind the head, under the hairline, was a KUPKE. My mother said the word KUPKE also means piles (mounds), but didn't believe the two senses were related. I found one on-line reference to a Red Buttons character called The Kupke Kid, which stated that KUPKE was Yiddish for a stocking cap. However, I was unable to find KUPKE or SHTIKHL in Uriel Weinreich or any other on-line sources. Has anyone heard either KUPKE or SHTIKHL used to connote kerchief or headscarf? Joel Maxman 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 9 Subject: kupke/kufke tayere khaveyrim, ikh darf hilf mit a vort. zayt moykhl, vayter shrayb ikh alts oyf english: I'm translating a scene from a Yizkor book of a Litvak shtetl Divenishok. The whole scene is very confusing and in one place a word repeats itself twice - with almost no context to go with it. Since there are almost no nekudes, it may be a pey or fey: Word or Phrase: Kupkes or Kufkes Location: (http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?=id=3D2031) Image 453, Last two words on the page The scene is in a synagogue, but the word probably has nothing to do with religion. Some people in the back are mumbling faintly understood words and partial sentences, and end with “kupkes/kufkes.” They are complaining of some mistreatment or injustice:...Suddenly, from the other side of the heating oven there is a murmur, mumbled words: We will not allow them to carry away cut off a livelihood gradually, one another kupkes kupkes Now, someone suggested the following: Niborsky's dictionary says that kupke is related to kopke, ladies' cap. Do they make caps or something?... but I don't have the dictionary so I can't verify that. My response: Thanks, but I don't think so. The whole article is very unclear about what everyone was protesting about. It seems that the butchers in town were either at fault, or the ones faulted. Something about meat being sent out of the shtetl, and the butchers collecting money. Those protesting in half-mumbled sentences end their words with “kupkes kupkes” or possibly “kuFkes kuFkes.” I don't see how hats or head-coverings would be involved, unless it was somehow used as a symbol of protest (maybe something “socialist,” like waving the flag, or similar to the Bund motto: sher un ayzn [scissors and iron]) or something like throwing down a gauntlet (in this case a hat - maybe like the Muslims throw shoes...) in protest...or used as a swear word or curse... and someone else suggested a typo (twice?) ... bubkes ... but a Litvak would probably pronounce it bobkes...Please share clues or intuitions a sheynem dank, Leybl Botwinik ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 23.011 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct your mail as follows: 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. Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email addresses, as responses will be posted for all to read. They must also include the author's name as you would like it to appear. 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A guide to Romanization can be found at this site: http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275 All other messages should be sent to the shamosim at this address: [email protected] Mendele on the web [interim address]: https://sites.google.com/site/mendeledervaylik To join or leave the list: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele _______________________________________________ Mendele mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele
