Re: YIVO Acronym

[Abbi Wood <acw24...>]

...and check out the immensely cool animated explanation of how their logo
works! (go to http://www.yivoinstitute.org/ and click on 'What does that
logo mean?')....

abbi

On Wed, 31 Jan 2001 SICULAR (at) aol(dot)com wrote:

> actually, I believe YIVO's acronym is from transliteration of tsvey yudn, 
> tsvey vov, alef... it stands for YIdisher Visinshaftlikher Institut [when you 
> spell "institut" in Yiddish, it starts with alef, which can be pronounced 
> 'oh' as in komets alef], which means  -- literally -- the Jewish Scientific 
> Institute (remember, Yiddish means Jewish in Yiddish).  Back in the 1920s, 
> when they founded YIVO in Vilna, calling anything scientific gave it a 
> dignified tone, and of course there were many social sciences being studied 
> there.
> 
> YIVO today translates its name into English as the YIVO Institute for Jewish 
> Research.
> 
> Eve Sicular
> former YIVO photo & film curator, East 86th St & West 57th St
> 
> 
> 


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