January 2010
12 posts
Kukn - קוקן
Kukn - קוקן \KUK-en\ Verb:
To look at, glance, peep.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
Synonyms: bashoyen (באשויען), zen (זען).
German equivalents: äugen, blicken, gucken, schauen, sehen.
Etymology: The word derives from the German “gucken” (note that often German “g” sounds are replaced with “k”s in...
Yiddish 2010 Census and Ol' Man River
For those interested, you can now get instructions to filling out your 2010 US Census forms in Yiddish via this website!
Additionally, there is a hilarious version of the famous Paul Robeson song “Ol’ Man River” on YouTube featuring an actor on the Mary Tyler Moore Show who adapts the piece and sings it as if he were an old Jewish man with a heavy Yiddish accent. It’s well...
Tzenter - צענטער
Tzenter - צענטער \TZEN-ter\1. Noun:
A center, central point.2. Ordinal number (with masculine inflection): (The) tenth. In Jewish life, the words der tzenter often refer specifically to the tenth man to make up a minyen in shul.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation in sense 1 and here for sense 2.
Synonyms (sense...
Yiddish Radio
For those interested, The Yiddish Voice (Dos Yidishe Kol) is one of the few (perhaps one of two, the other being Di Forverts Sho) remaining regularly broadcasted non-Charedi American radio shows in Yiddish. It broadcasts every Wednesday night from 7:30-8:30 PM (Boston time) on the radio station WUNR 1600 AM. The website has recordings of previous shows, links to other Yiddish radio programs around...
Yogn - יאגן
Yogn - יאגן \YOG-en\ Verb:
1. To hunt, chase. 2. Yogn,followed by the reflexive zich: To speed, hurry, race.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
Synonyms: avektraybn (אוועקטרייבן); aynfasn (איינפאסן); hetzn (העצן).
German equivalents: drücken, jagen, treiben, verfolgen.
Etymology: The word derives from the German “jagen,” from...
Yiddish Web
For those interested, Yiddish Web is the home of the Bibliothèque Medem in France, a library of Yiddish scholarship and literature. The website has links to the library’s collections, information (in French - sorry) on the Yiddish language, recordings of the radio broadcast Di Yidish Sho, and, most importantly for us, a Yiddish-language publication, called Der Yidisher Tam-Tam, directed...
Mashin - מאשין
Mashin - מאשין \Ma-SHEEN\ Noun:
1. A machine; engine. 2. An automobile.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
Alternate forms: mashine (מאשינע); mashinke (מאשינקע).
Synonyms: gever (געווער); instrument (אינסטרומענט).
German equivalents: die Anlage, der Apparat, der Automat, die Maschine.
Etymology: The word derives from the German...
Yiddish Radio Project
For those interested, the Yiddish Radio Project, a major undertaking by musicologist Henry Sapoznik, has preserved in CD format more than 500 hours of Yiddish radio recordings from the 1930s-1950s. The website gives an overview of these “exhibits,” along with other educational resources related to American Yiddish radio from the early part of the 20th century. NPR, in a ten-part series...
