Schoenfeld was influenced by Leon Kellner who wrote about this subject in
German. If I could get a hold of his essay on Shakespeare and Pirke Avoth,
that and perhaps these other things would appear in a special Internet home
page.
Florence Amit
>"Hamlet": Let us examine the name of Yorick. In Hebrew it can mean more
>>>than one thing depending upon how one chooses to pronounce the vowels
>>>(since they are not written). Yet all these variations suit the nature
>>>of the king's jester. 1. Yarak, 'spat out' or 'thrown out': Yorick is
>>>thrown out of his grave and his nature during his lifetime was to blurt
>>>out harsh words. 2. Yareek, 'to be made empty': By his removal, the grave
>>>is made empty as well as the enclosure of his skull. "That skull had a
>>>tongue in it, and could sing once." 3. Yarok, 'green': The worldly remains
>>>of Yorick is moldy. His nature was jealous, for he is carefully depicted
>>>to have Robert GREENE's fiery nature, the king's own jester indeed, who
>>>had contended with the burgeoning play write, William Shakespeare: "he
>>>has borne me on his back a thousand times"
>>>Having learned the rick, "reek, rake" -- 'empty' ending for Yorick, --
>>>Shakespeare applies it in a most original way for Osrick. He makes his
>>>own combination. Os (oz) spelled with an aleph means 'so' and with rick
>>>(reek) 'empty'. 'So empty' well describes Osrick's long-winded manner of
>>>speech.. But the Oz spelled with an ayin (another Hebrew letter with a
>>>sound like aleph but beginning further back in the throat ) fits the
>>>subject to the then popular slang (which does not parallel Hebrew
>>>usage). Oz with an ayin means 'bravery', which is intended by the
>>>Elizabethans to connote showiness and the rick empty completes the
>>>picture. (The Os of Oswald in King Lear defines the bravery of
>>>insolence.)
>>>Hamlet makes this aside while in the presence of Claudius and Gertrude,
>>>(I,ii,65) "A little more kin than kind". The phrase has multiple Hebrew
>>>connotations. The k itself is a prefix meaning 'like' also c-ain is like
>>>while the ain can mean 'not' or 'nothing' . On the other hand ken can mean
>>>'yes'. The word also begins the resonance associated with the biblical
>>>Cain whom Claudius resembles according to his own comparison in the
>>>prayer scene. There are more meanings such as like an eye or like a
>>>fountain.
>>>The K-ind may mean like an ornament or something worn, or bound. Also if
>>>we dare, as it is customary in Hebrew speech, to include the opening
>>>weak vowel into the pronunciation of the preposition, what results are
>>>like a dike or heap and like movement. So then Hamlet may be saying,
>>>simply and unknowingly, You are "more Cain than a kind brother", but
>>>also the following: 'Though I bear a likeness to you it is not binding'
>>>or 'I am like an eye that sees rather than a decoration that is
>>>flourished' or 'I am more a fountain that wells up from within than
>>>a dike that contains standing waters' or 'I am more affirmative than
>>>changeable'. "A little more kin than kind", so suggestive, may be
>>>further consolidated by other readers.
>>>The "hawk", "handsaw" imagery (II,ii 360) with its sawing sound
>>>connotations is continued into Hebrew when Hamlet says, "Buz, buz!"in
>>>line 373. The Buz can be any of several kinds of falcons or kestrels
>>>and bazbuz is a finch. On the other hand bizbuz means to squander.
>>>Hamlet is accusing Polonius of wasting words.
Florence Amit
Email: amit-1@actcom.co.il
Phone: 972 76278843