November 2009
15 posts
Geshichte - געשיכטע
Geshichte - געשיכטע \Ge-SHICH-te\ Noun:
History, story, tale; novel.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
Synonym: historye (היסטאריע).
German equivalent: die Geschichte.
Etymology: The word derives from the German “die Geschichte,” which in turn comes from the German “geschehen” [Yiddish: geshen (געשען)], “to...
Jewish Book Center of the Workmen's Circle
The Jewish Book Center of the Workmen’s Circle (for all you Commies out there interested in Yiddish) sells books and other media on and in Yiddish and on topics of Jewish interest. The first six tabs deal directly with Yiddish-related materials and offer pretty good prices on them. I especially recommend the “Yiddish Instruction” and “Yiddish Dictionaries” tabs for...
Indik - אינדיק
Indik - אינדיק \IN-dik\ Noun:
A turkey.
Pronunciation: Click here or here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
German equivalent: der Truthahn.
Etymology: The word probably derives most directly from the Polish word for turkey, “indyk.”Interestingly, many languages (see the “Translations” tab; click here and here for other lists) - including...
Study finds that American Jews speak like New...
A 2007 study by HUC-JIR Professors Sarah Bunim-Benor and Seven M. Cohen focused on American Jewish and non-Jewish use of Hebrew- and Yiddish-derived words and speech patterns. While some of the conclusions arrived at are intuitive, others are rather fascinating. I was particularly interested in the finding that Jews tend to use New York accents and speech style (i.e., aggressiveness) much...
Shpiln - שפילן
Shpiln - שפילן \SHPIL-en\ Verb:
1. To play. 2. To fizz. 3. To act (in a theatrical role).
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
Synonyms: shpasn (שפאסן); flatern (פלאטערן).
German equivalents: spielen; aufspielen.
Etymology: The word derives from its German relative “spielen.” The German pronunciation of “spielen” is basically identical to...
Raphael's Yiddish Web Site
For those interested, Raphael Finkel of the University of Kentucky Computer Science Department runs a website called “Refoyls Yidish Veb-Bletl” which has many useful Yiddish-related resources, including a wonderful dictionary, a song database, Yiddish short stories, and a list of important links to more Yiddish-themed websites.
It’s well worth your perusal.
Shtaygn - שטייגן
Shtaygn - שטייגן \SHTAYG-en\ Verb:
To climb, rise, ascend, advance.
In Yeshivish, shtaygn takes the latter meaning of “advance,” as in, to advance in one’s studies or in one’s religious observance (Chaim M. Weiser, Frumspeak, 1995).
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use the related word shtayg in conversation.
Synonyms: kletern (קלעטערן);...
Yiddish Forward (Forverts)
For those interested, the Yiddish Forverts newspaper is published weekly online here. The website contains stories about Jewish and world news, as well as religion, history, culture, literature, etc. - all in Yiddish. In addition, recordings of Yiddish radio shows and videos are available on the site. If you are not quite so confident in your Yiddish skills yet, despite all the training I have...
Firn - פירן
Firn - פירן \FIR-en\ Verb:
1. To lead, guide, conduct, run, manage, preside over (a meeting), wage (a war). 2. To carry, convey. 3. To walk, take (by vehicle), wheel, ferry, drive (a car), fly (a plane).
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation, or here to hear a German speaker use it.
Synonym: Sense 2: trogn (טראגן). Sense 3: geyn (גיין), forn...
Yiddish Wikibook
For those interested, and to follow up on last week’s post, there is a good Wikibook available on conversational Yiddish, with lots of useful lists of words that come up a lot in sentences as well as some basic grammatical rules for using Yiddish. The spelling does not follow YIVO Standard Yiddish script, unfortunately, and the pronunciation of the author seems to be distinctly Chasidic, but...
