_The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.016 [Special Lokshn Issue, Part One] 19 August 1997 Special Lokshn Issue, Part One [Please send queries and brief comments about The Mendele Review materials to _Mendele_ and lengthy articles to _The Mendele Review_.] 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) "Lokshn" (Noyekh Prilutski) [Noah Prilutski] 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters: _Loksh_ and _Lokshn_ in Israel and Elsewhere Yiddish-origin _loksh_ has penetrated informal Israeli Hebrew deeply and widely, developing its own plural noun form with _-im_ (e.g. _lokshim_) and semantic variations unknown in Yiddish. Most Israelis say _lokshim_ rather than _lokshn_ (which can also be heard at times). Until recently all Israeli wage-earners received payslips which were long thin strips of paper, the cut-off bottom portion of a larger sheet. The payslip was known as a _loksh_ by virtue of its physical resemblance to a noodle (in regard to its length and, in comic exaggeration, its width). In the past few years computerized pay reports on larger sheets of paper have rendered obsolete the decades-old _loksh_, but the term has long been extended in popular speech to any payslip, regardless of size. I am not aware that _loksh_ 'payslip' was used anywhere in the diaspora and my guess is that it came into use in Erets-Yisrael at least as early as the 1920s or 1930s modelled perhaps on the use in parts of Poland in the 1920s of _lokshn_ to mean 'dollars' (see Prilutski's footnote 37 below). The sense of _loksh_ that was transferred directly into Hebrew from Yiddish and which is still current is that of 'a tall person', where its synonym is the Yiddish-origin _langer_. The common Yiddish phrase _langer loksh_ 'long noodle' is still heard but it has also been split into two separate expressions, _loksh_ and _langer_. Whereas in Yiddish a _langer loksh_ referred to an individual male, in Israeli slang we find _langer-lokshit_, _langer-lokshim_and _langer-lokshiot_ -- male and female singular and plural forms. Cf. the similar-sounding words _duksh_/_dukshi_/_dukshit_/_dukshim_/ _dukshiot_ where the notion of stoutness is added to that of tallness. The most indigenous usage of _loksh_ in Israel, generally in the plural form _lokshim_ means 'lie; deception', as in "Al tesaper li lokshim." ('Don't fool me.' [literally 'Don't tell me noodles.']). Another version of this sense comes coupled with the words 'to feed', e.g. "Al taachil oti loksim" ('Don't lie to me') [literally 'Don't feed me noodles']; 'to eat', e.g. "Hu achal loksh" (He swallowed the deception'] [literally 'He ate the noodle']; 'to swallow', e.g. "Hu bala et haloksh" ('He believed the story' [literally 'He swalled the noodle']. The expression "Hu chataf loksh." ('He caught hell') [literally 'He caught a noodle'] is semantically removed from the former group in that the _loksh_ here is not something deceptive that others are attempting to pass off on one but bad treatment, punishment, deserved or otherwise -- suggestive of the _cat-o'-nine tails_, or _kantshik_, known to many an American-Jewish child of earlier days by the Yiddish-English mongrel coinage _lokshn-strap_ (pronounced by our parents as /lokshn-strep/ and hardly ever called a _baytsh_ or a _kantshik_). Alexander Harkavy in his _English-Yiddish Dictionary_ (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1910 [11th ed.], 1893 [1st ed.]), p. 65, defined _cat-o'-nine-tails_ as "a baytsh mit nayn lederne lokshn" ('a whip with nine leather noodles') and the second sense of _thong_ as 'a loksh [a ledernem pasik tsum shmaysn]'. In his counterpart _Yiddish-English Dictionary_ (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., no date [22nd ed.], 1898 [1st ed.], p. 182, Harkavy defines _lokshn_ as 1) 'macaroni' and 2) 'whip, cat-o'nine-tails'. This sense is obviously based on the physical similarity between noodles and the thongs of a whip. Nokhem Stutshkov (_Der oytser fun der yidisher shprakh_, New York, 1950, section 604) lists _lokshn_ as synonymous with _kantshik_. The association between _lokshn_ and _shmaysn_ is an old one in Yiddish, but the Israeli phrase implying punishment is always singular _loksh_ and may stem from another source. In Israel for many years salaries were based on a complicated (and sometimes questionable) system of linkage of one sector of the economy to the other; moreover, salary statements were often constructed so as to avoid payment of taxes for certain perks. All of this may have reinforced the association of payslip with falsehood. But the most likely source for _noodle_ = 'lie' is Russian and perhaps other Slavic usage. Thus "Vyesnat lapSHU na ushi." ('To hang noodles on ears') [infinitive form] = To lie. "Nye vyeshai mne lapSHU na ushi." ('Do not hang noodles on my ears') [imperative form] = Don't lie to me! In American English _to use your noodle_ is 'to use your head' but the principal meaning of _noodlehead_ and _noodle_ is 'dope'; on the other hand _to noodle_ is 'to goof off pleasantly', which is hardly a dumb idea. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: _Lokshn_ by Noyekh Prilutski _Lokshn_ by Noyekh Prilutski [Noyekh Prilutski, _Dos gevet; dialogn vegn shprakh un kultur_, Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1923. Ershter Dialog [pp. 1-7]; Onmerkungen [Notes: pp. I-VIII]; Kleyne hesofes tsum ershtn dialog, [p. LXII]. Abbreviations [p. XCII]]. Romanized by Leah Krikun (= LK). Prilutski's numbered notes in ( ) at end; editor's notes in Latin letters in [ ] following Endnotes. All notes in square brackets [ ] are by the editor. Romanization of this poorly printed and poorly organized article and, especially, the eye-straining footnotes, was a Herculean task for which Leah Krikun deserves high praise. Romanization was not made easier by Prilutski's eccentric spelling (e.g. _loksh_ with a vov and khoylem rather than komets alef). The dialog itself is easily digested; the truly hearty will go on to the notes. -- LP] SENDER: Zay mir moykhl, vos kh'vel dir shtern in der arbet, dertsu nokh azoy shpet.... KALMEN: Vos iz der mer? SENDER: Bist dokh epes a filolog -- farentfer mir a shayle: Iz _lokshn_(1) a yidish vort? Ikh darf dos visn mitn lebn. KALMEN: Mitn lebn?! SENDER: S'iz a gevet.... Mir zaynen haynt zalbedrit geven oyf kolatsye.... KALMEN: Meynst avade: oyf nakhtmoltsayt(2).... SENDER: A fayn vort, kh'lebn.... Vu hostu dos genasht? KALMEN: In a shundbikhl: _Di beyze mume oder di shlekhte shvegerin; A hekhst interesanter roman in tsvey teyln_, farfast fun Moyshe Marakhovske (Varshe 1883)[a]. Zayt 46: "Der kuzin mit zayn froy zitsn in [sic] esn nakhtmoltsayt".... A zaytl vayter afile: "Di vetshere(3) hobn mir shoyn opgegesn".... Heyst es, zent ir geven zalbedrit oyf nakhtmoltsayt? SENDER: Berl, Avrom un ikh. Avrom hot loy oleynu a bisl tsu ton mitn mogn, hot er zikh geheysn gebn zup. M'derlangt: a teler mogere yoykh, un oyfn dno(4).... KALMEN: Oyfn dek(5), vilstu gevis zogn, oder oyfn boydem(6), vi di poylishe yidn rufn dos.... SENDER: Zol zayn vi du zogst.... Shvimen etlekhe shvindzikhtike lokshn.... Avrom nemt a lefl in moyl arayn, farkrimt zikh un ruft zikh on:.... "Ersht yetst ze ikh, az lokshn zenen an emes yidish maykhl: yidn kokhn dos, ken men es esn; do hot es dem mindstn tam nisht." Berl iz dokh a "Moyshe-Kapoyer,"(7) vil er dafke punkt farkert: oyb in a kristlekher gorkikh kokht men lokshn, iz im a simen, az dos gerikht iz nisht bloyz yidish; mer nisht: di yidn makhn dos beser. Gehert a mayse! -- lokshn mit yoykh -- dos traditsionelishe yidishe gerikht, fraytik tsu nakhts, ven di bentshlikht brenen in reyn oysgeputste laykhter, un der tish iz gegreyt mit portselayene teler un di koyletshn ibergedekt mit a geshtikt tishtekhl.... Gedenkst di idilye(8) in _Fishke dem Krumen_? KALMEN: Fishke dertseylt dortn: "Ikh hob bay itlekhs shtikl fish, bay itlekhn zup lokshn, bay itlekhn bisn fleysh un tsimes mikh dermont in ir, ver veyst, oyb zi nebekh hot dort aza voyltog vi ikh...."(8) SENDER: Y.-L. Perets in "Farshtertn shabes"(9): "Halb shabes! A bergl mist bay der tir -- tsum aroysvarfn. Di lokshn lign opgeshvenkt in shisl, m'darf zey nor bagisn mit a lefl yoykh, zey zoln zikh nit tsuzamenklebn...." KALMEN: In _Vintshfingerl_: "Der tandetnik iz shoyn nisht mer keyn hunt, er iz a prints, epes hot er bakumen a naye neshome, a naye hoyt. Er makht kidesh, vasht zikh, zetst zikh tsum tish, dos vayb di printsesn un di kinder arum im, m'shtupt dem gopl, dem lefl un m'khapt a shtikl fish, a loksh, a beyndl, a bisl tsimes -- azelkhe maykholim, vos m'hot es a gantse vokh in di oygn nisht gezen...."(10) Sender: In der hakdome tsu _Shloyme Reb Khayims_: "Iz es den vu gehert gevorn, az in a geviser sho, fraytik tsu nakhts, a shteyger, zol a folk yidn esn fish, lokshn un tsimes?"(11) Nu, un nokh dem ales zoln lokshn nisht zayn a yidishe eygntimlekhkayt un a yidish vort?(12) Berl is ober an akshn. Neyn un neyn un neyn. KALMEN: Vos zenen zayne argumentn? SENDER: Koym, zogt er, iz _lokshn_ nishto in daytshishn verterbukh, iz es nisht keyn yidish vort. Ikh vayz im oyf. Nar eyner, ot ze: "Es nit di lokshn far shabes!," vornt a yidish glaykhvertl(13) (Dos heyst, 'Banuts nisht keyn zakh far der tsayt'). An ander glaykhvertl dertseylt fun a baleboste a shlimazlnitse, az zi hot amol oysgeshrign: "Iber di zindike lokshn hob ikh di libe heylike shul fargesn!"(14). Ven eyner kumt tsurik funem veg mit a farshpetigung un "makht a shnit in shabes," vi m'ruft es, heyst es: "Er iz gekumen mitn dishl in di lokshn arayn."(15) Ven bay a zakh iz do a sakh tsu ton, un mamoshesdiks hot men veynik derfun, zogt men(16): "A sakh zmires un veynik lokshn."(17) Ken den gemolt zayn, az a gegnshtand un zayn nomen, vos zenen azoy geknipt un gebundn mitn shabes-koydesh, zoln zayn nisht yidish?! KALMEN: Der khsidisher rebe in Yisroel Aksnfelds _Genarter velt_(18) est "lokshn mit yoykh" oykh in mitn vokh.... SENDER: Nokh beser! I shabes i in der vokhn, iz es dokh mekolsheken a yidish zakh! KALMEN: Khap nisht, s'iz nisht keyn heyse lokshn! -- zogt men in Kremenits eynem, vos iz azoy umgeduldik vi du. SENDER: Nokh a vertl mit _lokshn_! Kalmen: Faran mer.... "Ot azoy kokht men lokshn!," zogt men katovesdik, ven m'hoybt on tsu farshteyn a zakh, velkhe m'hot zikh frier nisht gekent derklern(19). -- Kh'hob amol gefregt a yid oys Druye [Druisk??], ven treft men im in der heym, hot er mir geentfert: "Kk'zol azoy visn fun beyze lokshn!" -- Vegn a naiven, vos nemt alts on far reynem emes, zogt men in Kremenits un in andere shtet: "Er meynt, s'iz toyres loksh." ('Er meynt, az dos, vos der un der hot im gezogt [oder vos m'hot im geshribn; dos, vos er hot geleynt, ukhedoyme] iz toyres loksh'.) Ergets andersh heyst es: _toyres lokshn_(20). _Loksh_ is dos ershte glid in etlekhe tif yidishe tsunoyfgeshtelte verter. _Lokshn top_(21) heyst in a sakh yidishe kanten di kli, in velkher m'bakt dem kugl, -- efsher derfar, vayl der balibster fun ale minim dos dozike gerikht iz der lokshn kugl(22).... In Kremenits fregt men oyf katoves kleyne kinder: "Farvos iz a lokshn top oybn breyt un untn shmol, halevay volt er geven untn shmol un oybn breyt?" M'zogt dos gikh, dos kind khapt zikh nisht un farentfert di kashe: "Der kugl volt nisht gekent aroys!" In voser yidisher shtub iz nishto keyn _lokshn bret_(23), ot yener varshtat, oyf velkhn m'knet dos teyg, m'velgert oys a lokshnblat un m'brokt lokshn(24), farfl ukhedoyme -- Az m'tret a varshever yidn on oyfn fus un m'zogt im "Psheprasham!" [Pol. _przepraszam_ 'excuse me' ] entfert er: "Psheprasham iz a lokshn bret!" -- un gey, farshtey, farvos! [any explanations? --LP] Eyner fun Mortkhe Spektors perzonazhn(25) trogt in porttabak "a bisl lokshn tabak." _Loksh_ iz oyf yidish nisht bloyz makaron. Der vokabel hot bavizn ontsunemen in der yidisher gas oykh andere taytshn. _Loksh_ heyst a langer oysergeveyntlekh mogerer mentsh, mit umnatirlekh lange hent un fis. M'zogt nokh shtarker: _a langer loksh_. Dermit vert shoyn oykh gemeynt, az er iz 'nisht keyn groyser khokhem un nisht keyn kleyner nar'(26). _Loksh_ heyst in Volin bikhlal a shoyte, a lekish(27), a lemishke(28), a yokton(29). a megege(30), a shmoyger(31), a shmende-pigutske(32), a petekh(33) -- un eyner fun di klasishe tipn, vos der yidisher folks humor, velkher shoynt [shanevet] gornisht, afile di kley koydesh nisht, hot bashafn, der tip fun a rov a tipesh, heyst: _Reb Yoysef Loksh oys Drazhne in Poyln_.... SENDER: Azoy heyst an oysgetseykhnt folksbikhl(34), velkhes kh'hob amol geleynt. KALMEN: _Loksh_ kumt for in interesante spetsifish yidishe rednsartlekhe oysdrukn. In Mendele Moykher-Sforims _Dos kleyn mentshele_ (Vilne, 1879), oyf zayt 62 leynen mir: "Azoy yung un ken shoyn tsunoyfirn plotkes loksh boydem puletse!" -- _loksh, boydem, puletse_ iz do dos eygene, vi 'zakhn, vos nisht geshtoygen nisht gefloygen'; 'zakhn, vos klebn zikh nisht eyns tsum tsveytn'; 'bobe mayses, ligns', ukhedoyme. In zayn _Yudl_ (Vilne 1875) zayt 67: "Gloybt in sheydim, in tayere metsotse, Gloybt in loksh, in boydem, in hotse-klotse".... Dos heyst: in shtusim, narishkaytn. Tevye der Milkhiker dertseylt:(35) "Un ver shmuest shabes bin ikh dokh gor a meylekh, kuk arayn in a yidishn seyfer, a parshe khumesh, a bisl targum, tilim, perek, dos, yents, loksh, boydem".... _dos, yents, loksh, boydem_ iz glaykh vi 'un azoy vayter', 'et cetera', 'ukhedoyme', 'un dos glaykhn'.... SENDER: Merkvirdik! Un fun vanet, zog mir, nemt zikh dos, az vild fremde verter, vi _loksh_, _boydem_, _puletse_, vern tsunoygeshmit in eyn kerper, oyf nisht tsu sheydn zikh, azoy tsu zogn, vern a rednsart, a gangbare shprakh-matbeye, oystsudrukn a bagrif, a gedank, an ideye, vos hot gor nisht keyn shaykhes tsu keynem fun zey? KALMEN: Vi andere enlekhe rednsartn, muz oykh di zayn an iberblaybenish fun epes a folks-maysele, a folks-humoreske, a folks-anekdot, vos iz der shlisl tsu ir. Nisht kenendik dos maysele, di humoreske, dem anekdot, di rednsart hobn mir oykh nisht di meglekhkayt tsu detsifriren di rednsart; vos klingt deriber in undzere oyern azoy oysterlish.... SENDER: Kh'fal dir arayn in di reyd, veln mir hobn a sakh freyd....(36) Dakht zikh, tsi nisht in yor 1905, in peterburger _Fraynd_ iz geven gedrukt a felyeton.... KALMEN: Fun Aleksander Rabinovitsh. SENDER: Yo, yo, mitn nomen "Lokshn." S'iz geven a politishe alegorye: oyf di tsarishe nahayke ['whip'].... KALMEN: Vorn _lokshn_ heyst oyf kheyder loshn _rebns kantshik_.... (37) Er hot nokh a nomen: _tsipline_....(38) SENDER: Haklal, kurts gebrayet, lokshn.... KALMEN: Iz a tif yidish vort.... SENDER: Un ikh hob gevunen.... KALMEN: .... un du host farhspilt dos gevet. SENDER: ?! KALMEN: Formelish genumen, iz Berl gerekht. Lokshn iz loyt der opshtamung nokh a _fremdvort_. Di poylishe shprakh hot mundartlekh: _l/okszyn_ (ein tsol), _l/oksiny_ (mer tsol), _l/okszyna_ (eyn tsol), _l/okszyny_ (mer tsol), in topeler taytsh: 1) _lokshn_ ('makaron'), 2) _kantshik_ (39). In kleynrusishn [Belorussian]: _l/okschyna_(40), _l/okscha -- in Kremenits hob ikh gehert a vertl: _koyli Marina_(41) _lokshiniila_?!(42) (_Ven hot Marina gegesn lokshn_?!) Dos heyst: 'Vi kumst dos tsu im?' 'Fun vanet zol er hobn a hasoge derfun?' 'Fun vanet zol er dos kenen un visn?' 'Vu hot er dos gekent zen (hern)?' 'Far zayn shtand, far zayn shteyger iz dos tsu a hoykhe zakh'. Ukhedoyme. -- Dos vertl iz a noenter mekhutn mit: "Vu hot a hunt a hoyz?" In rusishn: _lokscha_(43) (in kursker kant), _lokschiny_(44) (in dorem un mayrev Rusland), in taytsh: _shidowskaja lapscha_, _lapscherdak_ (45). Der tate fun di ale vokablen iz dos terkishe _laktsche_, _laksche_ (46). Dos yidishe geshtalt, vi dos kleynrusishe, iz noenter tsum terkishn, vi di poylishe geshtaltn. Meglekh, az di poylishe shtamen fun yidishn -- fun loshn rabim (deroyf vayst on der _kh_ in poylishn loshn yokhid). S'ken oykh zayn, az dos terkishe iz arayn in yidishn durkh dos ukrainishe, hagam di iberzetsung, velkher der vokabel bakumt bay Daln, ken dinen far a vunk, az gikher farkert: Dos vort is oys dem yidishn ariber in dos ukrainishe. Di terkishe furmen vider hobn a persishe geze.... [see Endnotes in _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01.017] ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.016 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/. Send change-of-status messages to: listproc@lists.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele mail postpone b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail ack c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. 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