Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 17.004 July 16, 2007 1) petsha (Fishl Muzlish) 2) petsha (Amitai Halevi) 3) petsha/kasharn (David H Spodick) 4) kasharn (Zulema Seligsohn) 5) Yiddish Science (Barry C. Trachtenberg) 6) idioms in yizker-bukh (Jack Berger) 7) idioms in yizker-bukh (Les Train) 8) "Gilgulim" (Gilles Rozier) 9) Ibi Kaufman (Leyele Cahan-Simon) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: May 17, 2007 Subject: petsha My mother was of Polish origin and my father came from Zhitomir in the Ukraine. My mother made petsha or fusnoge. The terms were interchangeable. My father preferred "petsha." It was made from calves' feet and not cows' feet. It was known as "calves' feet jelly." It also contained garlic and sliced hard boiled eggs. It always seemed to be a hit or miss affair. Sometimes it was almost like rubber and at others it was very loose. My mother wasn't a particularly good cook. A sister-in-law of my father also used to make it rather more consistently. I nearly always liked it. The period was about 1928 up to 1938 in the UK. Fishl Muzlish 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 18, 2007 Subject: petsha For what it's worth: I recall a suggestion that "petsha" may be a corruption of the French "pied chaud" (heated foot), just as "cholent" is derived from "chaud lent" (slowly heated). I am aware that petsha is eaten cold (by those who can stomach it), but it has to be heated before it cools, n'est-ce pas? Amitai Halevi 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 21, 2007 Subject: petsha, kasharn Re: "petsha." I always heard it as "p'tsha" (one syllable and, I think closer to the Russian) Re: Ms. Gross' "kasharn," I would guess it is "Kaserne" (German; French: "Caserne"), which means "barracks," which could fit her meaning. David H Spodick 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 18, 2007 Subject: kasharn "kasharn" refers to the place where the Jews were taken for execution. "Koszary" are military barracks in Polish. Makes sense, unfortunately. Zulema Seligsohn 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 15, 2007 Subject: Yiddish Science Please note: the latest number of the journal, "Science in Context" (Volume 20, Issue 02, June 2007) is dedicated to the subject of Yiddish Science and is available at: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?=20 jid=3DSIC&volumeId=3D20&issueId=3D02 Opening Remarks on the History of Science in Yiddish by Alexandre Metraux Adding the Reader's Voice: Early-modern Ashkenazi Grammars of Hebrew by Irene E. Zwiep A Study in Red: Jewish Scholarship in the 1920s Soviet Union by David Shneer Jacob Lestschinsky: A Yiddishist Dreamer and Social Scientist by Gennady Estraikh On the Social-Economic Front: The Polemics of Shtetl Research during the Stalin Revolution by Deborah Yalen Interpreting Freud: The Yiddish Philosophical Journal _Davke_ Investigates a Jewish Icon by Shlomo Berger Tuvia Schalit's "Di spetsyele relativitets-teorye" of 1927 and Other Introductions to the Theory of Relativity in Yiddish by Roland Gruschka Ber Borochov's "The Tasks of Yiddish Philology" by Barry Trachtenberg Classical Text in Translation: The Tasks of Yiddish Philology by Ber Borochov [Translated by Jacob Engelhardt and Dalit Berman] Barry C. Trachtenberg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 17, 2007 Subject: idioms in yizker-bukh I am uncertain as to the distinction that Bob Rothstein is seeking, but I will attempt to reply (see interstital replies below) 1. Ver iz der yold? A 'yold' is a lout, or rude, unmannered individual. This comment could be applied to anyone who was acting in a manner deemed unruly by the speaker. 2. Dos iz a mamzerl. Quite likely used as a term of endearment (reversal of literal meaning), in the case of a precocious child. 3. Zay gezunt, Motye. 4. Shapse, vi [perhaps: vu] loyfstu? 5. Gut shabes, koze. ("Gut shabes" can be used to mean something like "Wake up and smell the coffee" or the current slang "Hello!" Is this just a stronger version?) 6. A kishke a gedule. Can't help here 7. Kleyn, groys - eyn prayz. A way of saying "no difference". 8. Oy! a tson! 9. Khotsh nem im un shnayd im op fun shtrikl. Literal meaning is clear, but I am unfamiliar with the idiomatic use. 10. Gekrogn a krasne bilet - iz gevezn porkhe-nishmose. (The second half - according to Niborski/Neuberg - means "nearly died of fright"; what about the first part?) It looks like the first part is a "red ticket." The real question is what does that refer to? I don't know. One could imagine this being a draft notice, for example, to report for military service, but that is just a guess to use as an illustration. 11. Oy a loksh - a loksh. There is the expression langer loksh for someone who is unusually tall. Perhaps this is just an abbreviated form of that expression. Is there anything idiomatic or proverbial about "Zi iz khorev krank; zi derkent shoyn nisht keyn mentsh" [nisht far keynem fun di mendelyaner gezogt!] Bob should say gedakht instead of gezogt. I'm not sure what Bob is looking for here. The notion of "khorev krank" is new to me, but the meaning is pretty clear. Jack Berger 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 17, 2007 Subject: idioms in yizker-bukh Shapse is either another form for the name Shabesai (as in Shabtai Tsvi, who claimed to be the messiah in the 17th century) or another form of shepsl - little sheep; vi loyfstu means what's the hurry? where are you running to? 5. koze is a nanny goat; I think it also has a pejorative meaning when applied to a woman. 6. I'd like to know the context of a kishke - a gedule, but kishke can mean anything from a length of intestine to a fire hose. A person with a prodigious appetite can be called a kishke on a dno - a bottomless intestine (Sholem Aleichem uses it). A gedule is a big deal. 7. One price for either big or small. 8. O a tooth! Most cultures herald the eruption of a baby tooth as a sign that the child is hitting its landmarks appropriately, and is developing normally - a good omen. 9. However, grab him and cut him off from the string (context?). 10. (When he) got a red ticket - he almost swooned. I don't know what a red ticket is, but as is the case with most tickets received, it's probably not good. Porkho nishmosoi means his soul ascended (into heaven) 11. loksh in my father's Yddish meant a tall, gangly person, as opposed to a pempik, who looked like a fire hydrant - short, stout and fat. It's from the word for noodle. Later, in Toronto Yiddish, it was sometimes applied to Italians. Les Train 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 9 June, 2007 Subject: Gilgulim Es vet dershaynen onheyb 2008 der ershter numer fun a nayem yidishn literarishn zhurnal: Gilgulim. Der zhurnal iz durkhoys oyf yidish un nemt arum 96 zaytn naye shafungen un haynttsaytike iberzetsungen fun der velt-literatur. Gilgulim vert redagirt durkh Gilles Rozier in Pariz (Frankraykh); der bal-yoyets far shprakh vet zayn Yitskhok Niborski. Di vos viln forleygn naye shafungen (poezye, proze, teater tsi zinglider) oder iberzetsungen fun literarishe verk oyf yidish kenen dos ton oyf dem vayterdikn adres: Gilgulim C/o M. Gilles Rozier 102 boulevard Voltaire 75011 Paris France Blitspost-adres : gilgulim@neuf.fr Gilles Rozier 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 18, 2007 Subject: Ibi Kaufman I went to George Washington Junior Senior High School in Northeast Philadelphia with Ibi. I believe she graduated in 1971. She and Iwere friends and I was pleasantly surprised to see her in this video some years ago. I was told that she is still in NYC area, but I don't know what she is doing now. I don't imagine she is still in undzer yidishe velt or I would have heard about her. Zalmen may have contact information for her. Leyele Cahan-Simon ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 17.004 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. 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