Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 15.040
January 30, 2006

1) Introduction (Anna Safar)
2) kvetshn (Dina Levias)
3) kadatshke (Helen Winkler)
4) goye (Lillian Garfinkel)
5) Abbreviations (Florette Lynn)
6) New Yiddish Monthly (Eliezer Burko)
7) Polish Jews in Leninogorsk, 1939-1945 (Lynda Kraar)


1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 12, 2005
Subject:  Introduction

My name is Anna Safar and I live in Budapest, Hungary. I study English and
Psychology at Eotvos Lorand University. This is where I got in touch with
Yiddish and set off to study this beautiful language and, indeed, culture.
I've been studying Yiddish texts for years now, although only sporadically.
I hope Mendele will spur me to spend more time with Yiddish and help me
find new resources.

Anna Safar

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 9, 2005
Subject: Nokh a mol kvetshn

John V. Burke writes:

My mother and grandmother, Yiddish-speakers from Shepetovka
(Volhynia), used "kvetsh" both to mean "complain" and to mean
"squeeze;" the way to tell if a piece of fruit was ripe was to "give
it a kvetch."

Very briefly, a layman's (laywoman's) comment on Mr. Prager's learned and
lengthy dissertation about "kvetshn": I am ready to accept the fact that
"kvetshn" with the meaning "to complain" is "Yinglish" and originally not
Yiddish; however,the process of semantic "distortion" exists : the French
use "une cabale," from the Hebrew "Kabalah", to mean "secret plot,"
"conspiracy"; in German, "eine Blamage," cognate of "blame" (Eng.) and
"blƒme" (Fr.), means  "a disgrace, to disgrace oneself." Yiddish is no
exception: it has changed the meaning of many words it borrowed from other
languages ("shmaykhln" does not mean "to flatter," as it does in German,
but "to smile," just as one example.) And languages are not hewn in stone.
They are living organisms, and subject to evolution and change.  So the
usage of "kvetshn" in the sense of "to complain" may now be in the process
of being adopted and integrated into Yiddish.

As for Mr. Burke's other question:

Also a question: is "farzindikn" in "nit tsu farzindikn" ("no complaints")
cognate with German "suenden" ("sin") or with German "Sinn" ("sense")?

I would answer unequivocally that it's "sinning" that is meant! There is a
parallel expression in Russian: when someone asks you "how are you, how are
things?" one often hears the answer, "Grekh zhalovat'sa," i.e. "it would be
a sin to complain."

Dina L‚vias

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 12, 2005
Subject: kadatshke

Here is a reply I received from Moshe Berlin, who is a klezmer musician in
Israel, re:  kadatshke.  I will forward any additional information to
Mendele if I here more about it:

"I'll answer your question from my point of view.  Also I forward your
message to Yaakov Mazor, who is a famous researcher of Jewish music. He
produced the research on the klezmer tradition of the land of Israel. The
term kadatshke is a new one (probably 10-15 years), and it is used by the
Yerushalmer Jews to describe a fusion dance of Hora, Debka, etc.  and also
solo dances performed by one or two dancers. Maybe it reminds [one of] the
Kazazhok dance but only phonetically and [it is] not really Kazazhok.
Maybe, when someone wants to dance a Kazazhok, he will ask the band to play
a Kadatshke; the confusion is great [since it is not known] what he exactly
meant. Therefore, when I am asked to play a Kadatshke, first of all, I will
ask which tune do you want me to play."

Helen Winkler

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 14, 2005
Subject: goye

The feminine of "goy" is "goye."  I never heard the word in this
email. I learned Yiddish form my parents during my childhood and feel
qualified to answer this question. There is a bilingual joke
(Yiddish-English) about the nouveau-riche man who wants to collect
original art, and asks his dealer for a Goya.

Lillian Garfinkel

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 14, 2005
Subject: Abbreviations

I know there is someone out there who can help me.  I am translating a
yizker book and have come across these abbreviations.  I can't find them in
my Hebrew dictionary or my Yiddish dictionaries. I'm sure they use the
quotation mark to connote an abbreviation.

1. from Hamelitz-nun, vov, 243, shin"ayen.
2. after the name Gaon Reb Shmuel Mohlever---shin, hey" somech

Florette  Lynn

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 14, 2005
Subject: New Yiddish monthly for students - free

der forverts geyt aroyslozn a naye tsaytung spetsyel far di vos lernen
yidish (af farsheydene madreyges). di dozike tsaytung, vos vet
farshpreyt vern bekhinem, vet heysn VAYTER un vet aroysgeyn eynmol in
khoydesh af 4 zaytn.

farshpreytn di dozike tsaytung veln YIDISH-LERERS. oyb ir zayt a
yidish-lerer, zayt azoy gut un shikt undz tsu di tsol talmidim fun
ayere klasn mit dem post-adres, vu tsu shikn di ongevizene tsol kopyes.
tseteyln tsvishn ayere talmidim vet ir kenen aleyn.

lozt andere yidish-lerers oykh visn vegn undzer nayem zhurnal.

leizer burko
asistent bam hoypt-redaktor funem forverts

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 14, 2005
Subject: Polish Jews in Leninogorsk, 1939-1945

When my mum passed away this past May, she left me an incredible yerushe --
a typed memoir of her experiences during the war years. I am now
researching to learn more and would like to create a public work of her
memoir.

My mother was part of an eastbound transport of Yidn who departed Poland at
the end of November, 1939, headed for Leninogorsk. Most of them stayed in
that area until May 1945. My mother was from Lodz and was 14 when she left
Poland (she travelled with her older brother, but the two split up soon
after their arrival. He would die of tuberculosis in Russia two years
later).

Any and all information about this era, locale, and especially the people
who made this journey is greatly appreciated.

Email me privately at lyndakraar@aol.com and thanks in advance.

Lynda Kraar

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 15.040


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