Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 24.002 December 15, 2014 1) Shabash (Alexis Manaster Ramer) 2) Homer in Yiddish (Maurice Wolfthal) 3) Dizhdig/vizhdig (Aaron Elman) 4) Adam Biro (Lucette Pilce) 5) French Horn (Moishe-Dovid Skulski) 6) About words in Yiddish that begin with “oy” (Malky and Yonason Felendler) 7) “Kitchen countertop” (Malky and Yonason Felendler) 8) Malkhes-broyt (Laurence Libin) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 7 Subject: Shabash [Reply to inquiry in Vol. 24.001 and Vol. 23, passim] Moyshe Valdman makes good points but nevertheless it appears that Persian shabash referring to money given to musicians at a wedding was borrowed via some Turkic language into Yiddish where over time it became confused with shabes. Unfortunately the recent Yiddish French and yiddish English dictionaries list shabash as a word of modern Yiddish which plainly is false. I don't have the energy to write all this up but if someone were interested in helping it might make an interesting story. Alexis Manaster Ramer 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 7 Subject: Homer in Yiddish [Reply to inquiry in Vol. 24.001] Golde (Golda) Patz, who was murdered in Ponar in 1941, had written a children's illustrated version of the Odyssey and the Iliad that was published in Berlin in 1924. Maurice Wolfthal 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 8 Subject: Dizhdig/vizhdig My grandmother who came to the USA from Siedlce Gobernia in Russia/Poland used the term “dizhdig” or “vizhdig” to describe atmospheric conditions which “were heavy on the chest”/ ”made it difficult to breathe comfortably”. I cannot find either word in any of the three Yiddish/English dictionaries I have. Can anyone tell me the actual meaning and derivation of the term(s)? Aaron Elman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 8 Subject: Adam Biro http://www.bm-limoges.fr/espace-auteur/biro/auteur-liens.html Link answering Marjorie Hirshan’s questions about Biro [see Vol. 24.001]. Alas all in French as are Biro’s books! But, Marjorie, I believe Bernice Buckstone could help you with the translation. With best regards, Lucette Pilce 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 8 Subject: French horn [See Vol. 24.001] As the German term for French Horn is Waldhorn, I think it is safe to assume that the Yidish will be the same. Moishe-Dovid Skulski 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 9 Subject: About words in Yiddish that begin with "אוי" [oy] There are many words in Yiddish that in English begin with "au" and in Yiddish is generally therefore “oy” as in the following words: "oyto,” “oytomatish,” “oytonomye.” There seems to be a dialect however which instead of using ”oy” the use of “av” [pasekh-alef + tsvey vovn] is used instead. In Harkavy's dictionary, all the above words are found as that dialect, and are therefore spelled as follows: "avto,” “avtomatish,” "avtonomye.” I wanted to know who can help me with the dialectics-in which neighborhoods/regions was it more acceptable to use this dialect? Is it perhaps more acceptable in the Lithuanian areas? Who knows enough about this to perhaps guide me in these questions I have? Malky and Yonason Felendler 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 13 Subject: “Kitchen countertop” Does anyone have any source of how to say kitchen countertop in Yiddish? I haven't found a word in any of my dictionaries, and I've made extensive searches outside of the dictionaries too. Would anyone perhaps know? Malky and Yonason Felendler [The moderators suggest “tombank.”] 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: December 14 Subject: Malkhes-broyt In my grandfather Louis Sugerman's novel "Der Getlicher Ben-Tziyon" (c.1948), in connection with Purim preparations in late 19th-century Ukraine he mentions “Malkhes-broyt" (lechem malkhut), apparently a form of baked goods. I have been unable to find any description of this bread. Can you help, or suggest where I might look? Many thanks, Laurence Libin ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 24.002 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. 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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