- BOBE-MAYSE
- BOBE-MAYSE, Yiddish expression for a fantastic or incredible tale. The term is based on the title of the Yiddish chivalric romance that elijah levita adapted from the Tuscan Buovo d'Antona (based on the original 14th-century Anglo-Norman Boeuve de Haumton). This work, popular among Ashkenazi Jews, originally appeared as Bovo D'Antona and was subsequently printed as bove-bukh ; in later chapbook editions it was titled Bove-Mayse (mayse, "tale"). The similarity of Bove to Bobe (Yid. "grandmother") led to the substitution of Bobe-Mayse for Bove-Mayse, and to the use of the former expression for any "grandmother's tale" (i.e., incredible story), with no connection to the original romance. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zedner, in: HB, 6 (1863), 22–23; Zedner, Cat, 94; N.B. Minkoff, Elye Bokher un Zayn Bove Bukh (1950) ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ch. Shmeruk, Prokim fun der Yidisher Literatur-Geshikhte (1988), 154–56. (Sol Liptzin / Jean Baumgarten (2nd ed.)
Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.