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58
y (only i f
k
kh
,
.
VOWELS USED IN
s
e
a consonant)
f
ts
k
r
sh
t
t ( i n Yiddish,
,7K
1 .
,UN
ay
oy
,"K
ey ; ay i f
, ' IN
s)
YIDDISH
1
m
s r
3
3
V
.0
J .1
y
9 ,
9 ,
or disregarded; cf.
bel ow
b
g
d
h
(only i f a consonant)
Y (only i f a consonant)
as a i in
pronounced
aisle
Figure 1. ALA/LC Romanization table for Yiddish (Maher, 1987, pp. 8, 9).
Basic Tables
The first basic fact for the Romanizer is
that LC has a single table for both Hebrew
and Yiddish consonants (see Figure 1)
There is only one difference in Romanizing
the consonants of the two Hebraic lan
guages the letter sof is Romanized in Yid
dish as an s with an accent grave, but in
Hebrew as a t, in accordance with Sephardic pronunciation For the Romanization
of Yiddish vowels, however, LC enumer
ates a different list from that for Hebrew
The vowel list for Yiddish matches the val
59
SOUND
LETTER OR
COMBINATION EQUIVALENT
silent
$
3
3
[A]
[o]
[Bl
[V]
[Gl
ID]
[H]
[u]
[u]
REMARKS
_TTV-1
i-u
lv]
tor]
[2]
[zh]*
[Kh]
[T]
[I]
1
1
**
*!
3
3
"1
[y]
[I]
[]
[AY]
[K]
[Kh]
[Kh]
D
J
[L]
[Ly]
[M]
[M]
[N]
[Ml
ls|
[E]
[E]
Y-j
S h o r t e r t h a n o^ in boy
On the phonetic value [zy] of the sequence M, see 4e
Like 5 in measure
Like c& in G e r m a n ach
On t h e phonetic value [Ty] of the sequence 'to, see 4e
M e d i u m in length a n d tenseness between the i of fit a n d
the ee of feet
Like y in yes; before or after a n o t h e r vowel
So spelled following a stressed vowel, or under stress
adjoining a vowel. See 5a5 and 5c7
Similar t o ey in grey
Similar t o i in fine
Like ch in G e r m a n ach
Word-final form of t h e preceding
On the phonetic value [Ly] of t h e sequence ^?% see 4e
F o r explanation see 4e5 (ii)
Word-final form of t h e preceding
O n the phonetic value [Ny] of t h e sequence ':, see 4e
Word-final form of the preceding
On t h e phonetic value [sy] of t h e sequence 'D, see 4e
Similar t o t h e e of bet
F o r explanation see 5b6 a n d 5c6
[P]
[F]
[Fl
[TS]
[TS]
[R]
>
[sh]
[s]
M
[s]
fe
Letter/
Digraph
LC Table
YIVO Table
h
zsh
kh
zh
10
Examples
Word/
Name
LC
YIVO
ervon
hsidish
khsidish
Rozshanski
Rozhanski
Hs&rraTa
Birobidzshan
Birobidzhan
Figure 3. Differences between the LC Romanization table for Yiddish consonants (pre-1976) and the YIVO table.
Pre-194SLC
Postrl948 LC
Romanization
ya^D
meine
(1949)
mayne
(1953)
VOTW91
geschichte
(1947)
geshikhte
(1953)
DKTI
wos
vos
Word
(1946)
V&ncwiyo^K
internazional
(1946)
(1960)
internatsional
(1953)
61
Letter
LC Table
Example
xn
yu
VKO
tate
ivrp
kayen
fc
ntoyo
mayse
mp
Shabes
62
YIVO Table
Romanization
Character
ey
**
ay
kh
Ambiguities
fi
ff
sh
&
Word LC e r r o r Weinreich
n^n
haym
heym
(85-125201)
vi
ey
ay
63
Word
LC error
YIVO Romanization
Regen
regn
(89-142242)
Word
LC Romanization
yvTK
Idishe
wrr
Yudishe
HPT
Yidishe
(standard)
Old Spelling
Romanization
IKS
fon
lainyjny
ertsiehung
Modern Spelling
Romanization
pa
fun
uvxnyT
dertsiung
To^nyi
geheysin
p^rrya
geheysn
yivri
thayere
ynyr
tayere
Word
Returning to modern Yiddish orthography,
one of the major traps for the Romanizer is
diresis two distinct vowels juxtaposed
(see Figure 11) An example of diresis in
Latin script is Noel, the two dots on top of
the e mark a distinct vowel. Standard Yiddish Orthography often features the character khirek-yud to indicate diresis LC
not infrequently interprets the yud as a
consonant and inserts the letter y between
the two vowels in Romanizing words such
as batsiung and rumen Both of these
errors found on recent LC cards are preserved in the RLIN database (DCLH90B2351 and DCLH89-B1469, respectively)
and are emulated by many catalogers who
derive records.
arnx*p
YIVO R o m a n i z a t i o n
LC error
batsiung
batsiyung
(90-827713)
l*rn
ruyinen
ruinen
(89-20917)
Figure 11. Diresis, the juxtaposition of two distinct vowels, may result in
Romanization errors if Standard Yiddish Orthography is not employed.
.p po / :
.1990
From feedback on Yiddish name authority
records contributed by YIVO to NACO in
1995, it was learned that insertion of the y
is done deliberately by LC, following an
internal rule which states that two vowels
cannot be juxtaposed in Hebrew without
an intervening consonant LC grants, however, that exceptions are found in its database Two exceptions are found in one of
the final vernacular Hebraica cards printed
by the Library of Congress in December
1995 Zeung (the title proper) and
Hebreish (in a note) LCCN 91-827980
(see Figure 12). [A subsequent communication from the Library of Congress
explained that a y is now inserted only
when the initial vowel is /, that is khirekyud, in combinations such as a and le]
D805.P7K3
1990
91-827980
^ B
Library of Congresb
^^^
95
MARC
AACR 2
HE
Figure 12. Yiddish LC card featuring two examples of diresis: Zeung (title
proper) and Hebreish (in the note). This comes from the final batch of
Hebraica cards using original script, distributed December 27,1995.
65
66
YIVO
LC
alef-patah alef-patah
aa
aa
alef-patah cayin
ae
ae
alef-patah yod-hirek
ai
ai
alef-patah alef-kamets
ao
ao
alef-patah yay
au
au
ea
ea
ee
ee
ei
ei
ayin alef-patah
ayin cayin
ayin yod-hirek
eo
eo
eu
eu
yod-hirek alef-patah
ia
iya*
yod-hirek ayin
ie
iye*
yod-hirek yod-hirek
ii
iyi*
yod-hirek alef-kamets
IO
iyo*
yod-hirek yay
iu
iyu*
alef-kamets alef-patah
oa
oa
alef-kamets cayin
oe
oe
alef-kamets yod-hirek
oi
oi
alef-kamets alef-kamets
oo
oo
alef-kamets yay
ou
ou
yay alef-patah
ua
ua
yay ayin
ue
ue
yay yod-hirek
ui
ui
yay alef-kamets
uo
uo
yay yay
uu
uu
ayin alef-kamets
ayin yay
Figure 13. Table prepared by Joan Biella, Hebraica Team, Library of Congress, documenting LC policy on Romanization of diresis and dual vowel
combinations in Yiddish.
Word
LC
roS-iiK^a-a
bibliografye
y3*PB
pyane
oymoff
shtudyes
VTOWYPl
tsiyonistsh
Romanization
Word
o-ipr-awia
YIVO
moyshev-skeynim
LC
moshav-zkeynim
(73-951308)
nor
yizkor / yizker
yisker
Hyphenation
Vr
zikhroyne-livrokhe
zikhroyne-li-vrokheh
(73-952736)
mas'?
lekoved
lekoved
(78-952154)
67
Word
Uriel Weinreich
Dictionary
Max Weinreich
History
goish
goyish
talmetoyre
talmud toyre
Word
/rffma
Older LC
Romanization
bereshis
Recent LC
Romanization
Current LC
Romanization
breyshes
(86-208952)
nrnn
tehinah
thine
thineh
" (RLIN
DCLH91-B4058)
68
Hebraism
LC Romanization
Soviet
nrft
milhomeh
LC Romanization
ovnv
ernes
yQKD^-Q
milkhome
Figure 18. Contrast between traditional Hebrew orthography and Soviet Yiddish orthography, along with corresponding Romanizations.
Example
LC Romanization
T.p. verso
^im rnp
Kodesh ve-hol
Koydesh vekhol
(RLINDCLH
89-B788)
-- mvoQ
-vann
Mas x ot
Binyamin
ha-revfi
[not supplied]
(89-219293)
Figure 19. Examples of Hebrew titles for Yiddish works and the resulting
indeterminacy of Romanization.
Examples
YIVO Romanization
LC Romanization
apr
Yankev
Ya'akov
(89-145546)
-I
Mordkhe
Mordekhai
(88-80064)
pnr
Yitskhok
Yitshak
(79-950043)
70
Yiddish Spelling
Author
Example
Olsvanger (1947)
yachssn
KogOS (1967)
choyzik machen
pnn
Rosten (1968)
balboosteh
von^n-^vn
J a c o b s (1982)
far-kawchn
H a r d u f (1987)
parshoin
penes
GrOSS (1992)
laidik
pH^1?
ion-
pKp-lKfi
73
journalist
(o) a JHPTOIWT
zhurnalist
breathe heavily
zhipen
zhumzhe
\2W frock
(U99WT91)
zhupitse () 3 yy31tf
(worn by Chasidim)
giraffe
zhiraf beetle
boor
zhlob
(ps) pWi
zhuk
(OP)T3KV^T
so, then
t ViOTHPT
gesture
zhest 03HPT
zhurnal
1
Chumash, Penta-UitcJv (^ the 8th letter of the
ches /
Hebrew alphabet
chumesh-chumoshim
wedding canopy
, 91 halvah
(0)>3mVlp .STlVxn
chupe-chupes (main)
except
ywDurrr
chuts p n chamsin
impudence, nerve
jHSnn
chutspe
destruction,
ruin
sense
p^n
churben-churbones
J^T TOin
chamsin p)
(fOXD)
suspect
chalve
(D*) 3
chaver-chaveinm
Christian holiday
(m)iiun
choge-choges
71
72
Author
Example
Yiddish Spelling
Rosenbaum
khaloshes
nwbn
pasazhir
TtfgDgS
khutspe
71
(1978)
Galvin
(1986)
Coldoff
(1988)
Acknowledgments
I thank Zachary Baker, Head Librarian of
YIVO, for reading the draft manuscript and
contributing many substantive points I am
also grateful to S h a i n d e l F o g e l m a n of
YIVO for creating the illustrations on her
bialphabetic word processing system, and
for her assistance in preparing the text for
publication A c k n o w l e d g m e n t is due as
well to the Research Libraries Group for
providing me with an RLIN search account,
which facilitated verification of the Roman'zation in o n l i n e r e c o r d s Prof D a n i e l
Pierce, of the Catalog Department of St
John's University Libraries, assisted me in
v e r i f y i n g s e v e r a l p o i n t s on O C L C St
J o h n ' s U n i v e r s i t y also s u p p o r t e d t h i s
research in many other ways
References
References ending in superscripts
corresponding Hebrew bibliographic
below
have
data
73
Jiruiwwnn
,V5N> HIV p N U p N m
1928 \\
D^p>nn n r r a y mnpvn" n>tn , ^ 8
>^ o n o n i r a i >in ropn
p>}) '> 70 Nlpb V " >>1^1
177-169 ,(!?Mvn
1968 ^>n-NWE ,N
il
Hibyoww * ^jtbNtoNtp
1966 ,->
74
^ s
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