February 2012
9 posts
Fus - פוס
Fus - פוס \FUS\ Noun \ Masculine \ Pl. Fis:
A foot (both a measure of length and part of human anatomy), leg.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation. Interestingly, because the speakers of some dialects of Yiddish had difficulty distinguishing “s” from “sh” - in what’s called “the territory of hissing-hushing...
Leybls Velt Website
For those interested, Leybls Velt is the website of Leybl Botwinick, the son of Vilna-born Montreal music composed David Botwinick and a computer scientist living and speaking in Yiddish in Israel. On the website, you can find poetry, prose, and artwork composed, translated, and/or created in Yiddish by Leybl, as well as the chapters of his novel about the 1911 Triangle Fire entitled ...
Shtul - שטול
Shtul - שטול \SHTUL\ Noun \ Masculine or Feminine \ Pl. Shtuln:
A chair.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
Synonyms: benkl (בענקל), kisey (כסא). (Jacobs claims that in the Eastern Yiddish dialect, northern speakers tend to use shtul for “chair,” while southern speakers tend to use benkl.)
German equivalents: die Chaise, der...
Random Yiddish
For those interested, Samy Staro maintains a Yiddish interest website, which, despite its being almost entirely in French, is still surprisingly intelligible to this quite frankly Frankly-ignorant Yiddishist. There are a lot of fun resources on the site, including transcriptions and transliterations of famous Yiddish songs and poems (and even some YouTube videos!), as well as collections...
Yiddish Bible App!
For those interested, the Yiddish Bible iPhone/iPad App is now available on iTunes! This new program allows you to study Yehoyesh’s famous early 20th-centurytranslation of Tanakh into Yiddish, look up difficult words in several dictionaries, read the Wikipedia articles relating to various biblical topics, and browse Google Maps of locations mentioned in biblical literature. Now you can curl...
Efenen - עפענען
Efenen - עפענען \EF-en-en\ Verb \ Past Participle: Geefnt:
To open.
Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.
Synonyms: oyfmakhn (אויפמאכן).
German equivalents: aufklappen, auflockern, aufmachen, öffnen.
Etymology: The word derives from Middle High German “offenen,” from Old High German “offanan,” ultimately...
