for the curriculum in business
administration and Jewish cav-
alry is an old Army term for
the Quartermaster Corps."
Thus, this interesting study is
Name changing gets inter-
esting treatment, and specific
examples are offered to show
the trend. The authors show
that "it has thus become im-
possible in America to rec-
ognize Jews by their names."
A ntunber of anecdotes are
related and it is pointed out
that surnames are relatively
recent and that "they do not
radiate old associations and
family pride.
The honor accorded to Cohen
and Levy remains, but there
are variations also for holders
of these as well as so many
other names whose changes
make interesting reading as a
distinct essay incorporated in
this work.
The others make these points
in this connection: "The willing-
ness of Jews to change their
surnames is more than matched
by their willingness to adopt
non-Jewish given names. This
process is anything but new, for
the Jewish exiles brought back
many names from the Babylo-
nian Captivity, and Moses him-
self apparently bore an Egyptian
name ... The Sephardic or Span-
ish Jews—the first to come to
America in any numbers—seem
to cling to their traditional given

names much more firmly than
the Ashkenazim . . . The Ger-
man Jews who came in after
1848 were considerably less
faithful to the ancestral names
. . . The most recently arrived
Polish and Russian Jews have
gone the fastest and furthest."
But the point also is made
that: "The impact of Hitler
made the American Jews
acutely self-conscious, and
from 1933 onward there was
some tendency to go back to
Jewish names."
The extent to which the au-
thors have gone to gather data
on the issue of names and name-
changing gives special signifi-
cance to this book.

Alfred A. Knopf has just is- kibitzer ("in German Kiebitz waged so successful a campaign
sued a 900-page volume on "The signifies the peewit or lapwing") against the verb that it seldom
American Language," an in- and the German schul (school) appears in any save frankly anti-
which designates a synagogue.
Semitic writings, though it is
quiry into H. L. Mencken's re-
Dr. A. A. Roback is quoted on still heard."
search into English in the Un-
the influence of Yiddish upon
ited States, by Prof Raven I. Mc- English, and in evaluating other
A long account is given of
David, Jr., of the University of Yiddishisms, some with vulgar Hebrew comedian and other
Chicago, who was assisted in connotations. Drs. McDavid and
terms appearing in dictionaries
this voluminous task by Prof. Maurer state:
and encyclopedias, and there is
David W. Maurer, of the Univer-
"Canary, heard in New York a footnote that reads: "Variety,
sity of Louisville.
in such phrases as 'He's giving which is owned and mainly
It is a distillation of Mencken's me a canary,' is derived from a staffed by Jews, reduce He-
three volumes which have be- Yiddish word compounded of brew to Hebe, obviously with
come classics in American liter- the German kein (no) and the jocose intent. Other • sportive
In its totality, it is not only
ature. Containing many new an- Hebrew ayin (eye) and harrah Jews use Arab or Mexican."
encyclopedic in the information
notations, this impressive work (evil). The intent is to ward off
it offers about English in the
They state: "The very word
includes the famous Mencken evil, much as in knocking on
United States and "the Ameri-
Jew appears to be offensive to
idioms, and the two eminent wood."
can Language"—it is a vast lin-
American Jews, and they com-
editors' comments and changes
guistic study which makes the
(It is to be noted that the monly avoid it by using Jewish
are indicated in this volume,
efforts of Profs. McDavid and
which emerges as a major scien- two editors have been careful with a noun . . . There is ap-
Mauer stand out as exceptionally
not to confuse Yiddish with He- parently no objection to Jews
tific and linguistic creation.
significant. —P. S.
brew, as many unknowing mod- in the plural to designate the
Related Stories About
Mencken had made a thor- ern Jewish writers have done whole body of Israel, but in the
Hebrew and Yiddish
ough study of the influence of in perverting kein ayin harrah singular it is avoided, and He.
Literature on Page 40
Yiddish, the appearance of He- into something like kineinoreh). brew is used instead."
brew terms and the embodiment
The able editors of this en-
(While true in the main,
into English of Yiddish words.
Drs. McDavid and Maurer also cyclopedic work further con- there also have been objections
inserted in their study evalua- tend that words associated to the use of Hebrew in refer-
tions of name changes. These with Judaism that are known ence to Jews because it has
form important factors in their to non-Jews include bar mitz- been interpreted as a resort to
vah, kosher, matzoth, menora, flattery.—P.S.).
work.
minyan, mohel, schochet, shab-
It is contended by the editors
A long Yiddish glossary,
bath, schadchan, scholem alei- of "The American Language—
some "originally German,"
chem, shofar, tref.
A Mencken Inquiry" that there
with explanations, is included
"Some of these," they state, is an inconsistency in the use
to indicate terms that have
1: M
become familiar to non-Jews, "have become so far naturalized of Jew and Hebrew by Jews
that
they
are
often
given
the
themselves,
and
they
offer
exam-
such as: bagel, blintz, borax,
MIKE GREEN'S
dreck, gefilte fish, goy, kish- English -s plural instead of the ples to prove their point, indi-
music
* *
kes, lokschen, Macher, mesh- Hebrew -im, e.g., schochets in- cating also the popularization of *
LI 8-4432
*
SOL
IRV
*
of
schochtim."
Israel
stead
since
the
establishment
uggah, mazel tof, momzer,
e(*********************
of
the
revised
state
by
the
DO SO TODAY !
nash and nasher, shickse,
Such is the care with which
For All Your:
schlemiehl, schlepp er, Drs. McDavid and Maurer han- Zionists.
SHERIDAN GLAMOUR
Sports
Wear • Formal Attire
•
schmaltz, schmeer, schmuss, dle the delicate Hebrew-Yiddish
Offensive terms—sheeny, kike, NiS AND HEALTH SPA
• Bar Mitzvah Suit • Accessories
schnorrer, shamus, tochos, involvements in their study!
mockie and so on—are labelled
Only Womens' Reduc-
ing Resort in the
tzoris, zaftig, and others.
In reference to Hebrew they "of mysterious etymology." We
Midwest
For Young Men 6 to 60
Low Winter Rates Now
The editors of this elabora- relate this interesting anecdote: are told by the two professorial
Seven Mile at Evergreen
821
LAKE
SHORE DR.
editors: "Thackeray used Shee-
tion on English point out that
Michigan City, Indiana
KE 3-4310
"Occasionally politicians look- ney, in 'The Book of Snobs'
TR 2-8595
"German brought in a number
ing
for
popularity
propose
to
(1847) as a generic name for a
of Yiddish terms even before
Yiddish became one of the prin- establish linguistic independence Jew, along with Moses. Part-
cipal languages of New York by the characteristic American ridge says that the word was
. . . All were used by German device of passing a law, but such apparently inoffensive so late
LI 8-1116
schoolmasters in Baltimore in plans usually expire in talk. as the 70s, but by the 80s, it
• MOVIES
• CANDIDS
LI 8-2266
the 1880s. In the early days of They go back to the earliest had become very obnoxious to
• COLOR
• BLACK & WHITE
Hitler the Nazis made some ef- days of the Republic. William the Jews of both England and
forts to purge German of these Gifford, the anti-American ed- the United States."
words, but apparently it was a itor of the Quarterly Review, is
Other interesting observations
failure. Most of the Yiddish- authority for the story that at are: "American Jews have gen-
the
close
of
the
RevOlution
cer-
isms in the cant of criminals
erally succeeded in putting
were not introduced by Jewish tain members of Congress pro- down the newspaper designation
posed
that
English
be
formally
immigrants to the United States:
of Jewish criminals as Jewish,
Orchestra &
they go back to the Europe of prohibited in the United States, and the use of anti-Semitic
and
Hebrew
substituted
for
it.
the Middle Ages, and Martin
Entertainment
phrases
in
advertising,
espe-
of Greek for
Luther called attention to them The substitution
in this legend was ap- cially of hotels. There was a
so long ago as 1528 in his intro- Hebrew
LI 7-2899
parently made by Charles Astor time when hotels and apartment
duction to a reprint of Gerold Bristed in his essay 'The En- houses refusing Jewish patron-
Featured at: Beth Aaron Men's Club
Winter Ball, New Year's Eve, 1963
Edilbach's `Liber Vagatorum,' glish Language in America' age advertised that refusal in
the first dictionary of thieves' (1855). But Bristed probably in- terms almost as frank as the Nazi
jargon ever compiled. The first tended to be jocular, for he re- Juden -sired nicht erwuenscht,
such compilation in English, ported that Congress had reject- but the protests of Jews grad-
FOR A NEW TASTE SENSATION . .
published in 1698, contained sev- ed the proposal on
ground ually reduced them to such
TRY OUR 'EXCLUSIVE' GARLIC BREAD
eral, e.g. gelt (from German), that 'it would be more
more conveni- equivocal (but well understood)
and there were more in Grose's ent for us to keep the language phrases as restricted (or se-
`Classical Dictionary of the Vul- as it is, and make the English lected) clientele, and eventually
gar Tongue' (1785). Partridge speak Greek'."
UN 2-7980 or UN 2-9300
12945 W. 7 MILE RD.
to the single word restricted. In
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said that variations of ganef
The length study of "terms 1942 the newspaper PM under-
have been current among Eng- of abuse" includes a review took to put down even re-
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lish criminals since 1835."
Phone: 541-9495
Ample Free Parking
of the campaign that has been tricted, and a year or so later
German loan words from Yid- conducted to eliminate abu- all the dailies of New York
Have a Cup of Coffee "On the House"
dish are referred to, such as sive terms relating to Jews banned it from their classified
advertising.
from dictionaries.
CUSTOM MADE AND
Mention is made of the term
"Bronx cheer may not embody
ARTISTICALLY
to Jew—to cheat—which is con- an allusion to the local Jewry,
DESIGNED
sidered an Americanism. The but Bronx vanilla (garlic) ob-
editors of this work state: "The viously does. Jewish engineering
• WEDDING
Jews of the United States have is sometimes used in colleges

HAVE YOU
SEEN THESE
MEN?

• G. M.

PRINCETON SHOP

Larry freedman

ZEMAN'S NEW YORK BAKERY

• BAR MITZVAH

Claims Conference Will Offer Scholarships

Franklin, the tremendous and
wholly artistic hair stylist, has
now returned to alien's beauty
salon. His tenure is assured
through his unquestioned crea-
tive and wholesome appeal.
—Advt.

NEW YORK, (JTA) — The
11th annual program of inter-
national schojarship and fellow-
ship grants for the academic
year 1964-65 will be offered by
the Conference on Jewish Ma-
terial Claims Against Germany,
Jacob Blaustein, senior vice
president, announced.
Grants will be awarded to
Jewish victims of Nazi perse-
cution who qualify for schol-
arships in Jewish teacher
training and in Jewish stud-
ies, and for fellowships to
carry on independent re-
search projects in the Jewish

social sciences, literature and
arts.
Last year, scholarship and
fellowship grants went to 139
candidates in 18 countries: Ar-
gentina, Australia, Austria, Bel-
gium, Brazil, Canada, Czecho-
slovakia, Denmark, France, Ger-
many, Greece, Holland, Hun-
gary, Italy, Sweden, United
Kingdom, United States and
Yugoslavia.
Applications for grants must
be submitted on special forms
which may be obtained from
the offices of the Claims Con-

• PARTY CAKES

EtCi

FRI. 4. SUN. SPECIALS

STRAWBERRY

STRAWBERRY

ASSORTED

CHEESE CAKE

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COOKIES

49c Lb.

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UNDER SUPERVISION OF THE VAAD HARABONIM

CLOSED SAT., OPEN SUN. — PLEASE SHOP EARLY FRIDAY
WE CLOSE THIS FRIDAY AT 4:37 P.M.

HE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS—Friday, January 17, 1964

Influence of Yiddish on American Language,
Names, Name-Changes give McDavid-Mauer
Distillation of Mencken Great Significance