Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 23.13 December 25, 2013 1) vakanas (Dina Lévias) 2) Mendele's "Dos Kelbl" (Dov Dukhovny) 3) kupkes/kufkes in Yizker-bukh (Leyzer Gillig) 4) kupke as headgear (Leyzer Gillig) 5) shtikhl (Leybl Goldberg) 6) kupke/shtikhl (Zulema Seligsohn) 7) shabash (Alexis Manaster Ramer) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 29 Subject: vakans Regarding Seth Weisberg query about "vakans": "Keep it simple!" This lady is using the French word, as you gathered, because she couldn't remember, or didn't know, the proper Yiddish word. Many of us do it: I heard an American Jewish lady telling her visitor: - zets dikh ahin, nim a "chairke." There are no hidden meanings or sinister implications in her statement. It is clearly factual:they wanted to take a vacation in Israel, but couldn't go, because the Polish Consulate refused to renew their passports, which had lapsed. Mit a grus, Dina Lévias 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 7 Subject: Mendele's "Dos Kelbl" Hello all, I was referred to the listserv regarding the following query. I recently read a translation of Mendele's "Dos Kelbl" in an anthology called "A Treasury of Yiddish Stories." It was done by one Jacob Sloan, who I see from a few searches was quite active in translating Yiddish stories. Without getting into protim, I'm not so happy with the translation. What I'd like to know, O list, is this: were there different editions of "Dos Kelbl?" There's only one available at the Yiddish Book Center, but I thought perhaps the translator was working with another one. Thank you for your time, Dov Dukhovny 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 25 Subject: kupkes/kufkes in Yizker-bukh I think that the word is "kopekes, kopekes" --- i.e., penny by penny. A Kopek is one 100th of a ruble. Leyzer Gillig 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 25 Subject: kupke as headgear Yes, I have heard "kupke" referring to a headscarf that is tied with the knot in the front, not in the back. It looks sort of like a turban with a bump. Some Hungarian-Hassidic ladies used to wear them (Maybe some still do.) Something like this picture, although not quite: <http://www.etsy.com/listing/166276105/rayonroyal-bluefallwinterfashionvintage?ref=market> http://www.etsy.com/listing/166276105/rayonroyal-bluefallwinterfashionvintage?ref=market As for shtikhl, are you sure you didn't mishear "tikhl"? Tikhl means kerchief and can be other small pieces of cloth. (a diminutive of "tukh," which means cloth, as in tishtukh, a tablecloth, or fartukh, an apron.) However, the kerchief we called a "tikhl" was generally tied behind the head. We called a scarf tied under the chin a "babushke" but I think that's Polish. (Babushka means grandmother in Russian.) Leyzer Gillig 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 26 Subject: shtikhl Regarding Joel Maxman's question, I never heard SHTIKHL for a kerchief. Perhaps it was TIKHL "handkerchief"? Leybl Goldberg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 24 Subject: kupke/shtikhl This is in regard to Joel Maxman and Leybl Botwinik questions about KUPKE, and also Joel's about SHTIKHL. Kopke is in Harkavy as woman's cap but not under kupke. Whether a native Galicianer would pronounce kopke as kupke, I would think it possible but I am not sure about this. Now, Kupa does mean a pile, heap, mound, could be of excrement in both Polish and Russian, so kupke would be a proper diminutive of it. This meaning would have no relation to Joel's mother's meaning, but might to Leybl's, since the context pointed to some kind of unpleasantness. As for shtikhl, Harkavy has it meaning engraving, so that doesn't provide an answer. Zulema Seligsohn 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 30 Subject: shabash Does anybody know such a word in Yiddish and if so from where? Alexis Manaster Ramer ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 23.013 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, requests to which responses should be sent exclusively to the request's author, 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. No posting will appear without its author's name. 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