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40 Friday, September 26, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

BOOKS

Dictionary Of Yiddish
Language Takes Shape

City University of New York
(JTA) — Scholars and com-
was created to support the
puter scientists at Columbia
project and Prof. Nathan
University and at Hebrew
Susskind of CUNY was ap-
University in Jerusalem are
pointed its director.
working together to help the
The pace of the work was
Great Dictionary of the Yid-
agonizingly but necessarily
dish Language take shape. It
slow. As with the Oxford
will be the first comprehen-
English Dictionary, which
sive, scholarly dictionary of
took 40 years to finish, the
the language spoken by mil-
Great Dictionary of the Yid-
lions of Ashkenazic Jews for
dish Language was built by
nearly 1,000 years.
the patient labor of dozens of
Four volumes of a proposed
volunteer readers, who copied
12 have been published; vol-
out millions of citation slips
umes five and six are nearing
by hand.
completion.
Mark died in 1975 and Her-
"It is an all-embracing
zog became the project's
work, the Yiddish parallel to
editor-in-chief. The editorial
the Oxford English Dic-
work is now centered at Col-
tionary," says Marvin Her-
umbia and at Hebrew Univer-
zog, Atran Professor of Yid-
sity in Jerusalem, with
dish at Columbia and editor-
scholars from both institu-
in-chief of the dictionary. "It
tions and from other univer-
is a kind of national memory,
sities serving on the editorial
containing the totality of the
board.
language through history and
The work has been made
from region to region."
easier and faster recently by
Herzog described the dic-
computers at Columbia and
tionary as a "tool of scholar-
in Jerusalem. The computers
ship. Because Yiddish is a
not. only speed up the lex-
fusion of several languages,
igraphical work, but also
the dictionary will be a re-
make it possible for the two
source for scholars of Yiddish
teams to communicate with
and other languages as well —
each other efficiently as they
German, for instance, and the
work. Satellite communica-
Slavic languages."
tion allows discussions of
The first four volumes, pub-
policy to flow back and forth
lished independently and now
between Israeli and American
distributed by the Magnes
computers within hours. Thx-
Press of Jerusalem, are entire-
tual material is also sent by
ly in Yiddish. Beginning with
satellite.
the fifth volume, the diction-
The project has been sup-
ary's entries will have, in ad-
ported by grants from the Na-
dition, English and Hebrew
tional Endowment for the
glosses and Latin-letter
Humanities (NEH) and indi-
transcriptions of every Yid-
vidual donors since 1967. The
dish entry word.
National Endowment has
Most entries will include
awarded three grants to Col-
not only Yiddish definitions,
umbia since 1981, when the
but the various meanings of
dictionary became formally
each word through the years
based at the University. Its
as reflected in citations from
most recent grants, for July
Yiddish literature and speech.
1985 through June 1987, in-
The idea for the dictionary
clude $250,000 outright and
goes back at least to the turn
$290,000 in dollar-for-dollar
of the century, when Alfred
matching funds, bringing the
Landau, a Viennese philolo-
total possible NEH funding
gist, set to work on a com-
for the period to $540,000, the
Yiddish
diction-
prehensive.
largest award in the nation in
ary. But Landau's scholarly
its funding category.
standards were so exacting
With the addition of the
and his resources so meager
$290,000 in matching private
that when he died in 1935 his
gifts to be raised, the total
work was incomplete. A par-
funding for the dictionary for
allel project was begun by a
the two-year period would rise
team of Soviet scholars in the
to $830,000.
1920's, but both the scholars
Scholars at other institu-
and their work fell victim to
tions in the United States and
Hitler and Stalin.
Europe also contribute their
In the early 1950's, the
talent and time. At the Uni-
renowned Yiddish linguist
versity of Trier in West Ger-
Yudel Mark was commis-
many, scholars have provided
sioned to begin work on a
both materials and expertise
comprehensive scholarly dic-
in the Yiddish of the 13th
tionary by the YIVO Insti-
through the 16th centuries,
tute of Jewish Research.
and the Jewish Historical
The institute, founded in
Institute in Warsaw has pro-
Vilna in Poland, had been the
vided
etymological material.
repository of Landau's pain-
The
editorial board includes
stakingly compiled resources
scholars from City and
and notes, most of which were
Brooklyn Colleges, Hebrew
lost before YIVO was relo-
Union College in Cincinnati,
cated in New York during
the University of lexas and
World War II. The Institute
Yale University.
for Yiddish Lexicology at the

E=/