Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 1 no. 217
April 16, 1992
 
1) Eppis (Knud Lamrecht)
2) Eppis (Bob Werman)
3) Tsar Nikolai (Robert Rothstein)
4) A Yiddish Khad Gadya (Bob Werman)
5) Fun shames (Noyekh Miller)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 00:45:29 -0500
From: lambrec@emx.utexas.edu
Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.215

Re: eppes / epis

Ellen Prince's comparison of eppes with Swiss German epis
(also often oepis ([oe] as in French `beurre') reminds me
of a true story that a friend of mine from Zurich told me
some time ago, when her grandmother died.  (At least my
friend claimed it was a true story.)  Said bobe came to
Zurich just in time (1936 or so) from Poland.  She wasn't a
bobe yet at that time, but old enough to be unwilling to
learn a new language, so apparently she lived the rest of
her life believing that Swiss German was just another,
somewhat farfetched (one of my favorite Yiddish adjectives
- no just kidding), dialect of Yiddish, and seems to have
gotten along well enough that way for her local goyishe
grocers and butchers to understand what she was asking for
(no supermarkets in those years).

Knud Lambrecht

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed,  15 Apr 92 16:22 +0300
From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.HUJI.AC.IL
Subject: More on eppes.

Apropos the "bis" derivation of eppes, epis, modern Hebrew
has "bees" meaning bite or piece in its slang. A problem is
the Arabic influence, with its absence of a "p" sound,
police coming out bolice, and barnas for Parnas.  Thus, the
origin of the Hebrew slang may be piece, pronounced bees.

__Bob Werman    rwerman@hujivms.bitnet    rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il
Jerusalem

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 23:03:15 -0400
From: ROBERT.ROTHSTEIN@SLAVIC.umass.edu
Subject: Tsar' Nikolai

I learned the song mentioned by Vicki Fromkin in graduate
school from my Canadian-born roommate (the son of
Yiddish-speakers from Poland).  The text was as follows:

      Tsar' Nikolaike, yob tvoiu mat',
      Zey nor mit vemen du host khosene gehat:
      A kurve, a nase, an oysgetrente shmate,
      Tsar' Nikolaike, yob tvoiu mat'.

It was sung to the melody of a popular Russian song of the
19th century about a jaunty young merchant going to market
("Ekhal na iarmarku ukhar'- kupets").  There was also a
Russian revolutionary song (c. 1905) set to the same
melody.  It includes the lines:

      The tsar got frightened and issued a manifesto:
      Freedom to the dead and arrest for the living.

Bob Rothstein

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu,  16 Apr 92 11:36 +0300
From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.HUJI.AC.IL
Subject: Had Gadya

Here is a Yiddish Had Gadya, which was used by Jason Elbaum
of Princeton's family and by my mother who still sings -
biz hundred und tsvantsig.  She hails from Zychlin and
later Plotsk in Central Poland.

A freyliche und kasheren yomtov.  Hag Same'aH.


__Bob Werman    rwerman@hujivms.bitnet    rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il
Jerusalem

*****************


Der liebe Herr hot geshikt a katz in vald arein,
a katz in vald arein,
zol den epl reisn.
Katz vil nisht epl reisn,
epl vil nisht faln, epl vil nisht faln.

Then the verses build up to:

De lieve Herr hot geshikt der malakh hamaves in vald arein,
der malach hamaves in vald arein,
zol den shoychet hargenen.
Malach hamaves vil nisht shoychet hargenen,
shoychet vil nisht ox shechtn,
ox vil nisht vaser trinken,
vaser vil nisht fayr leshn,
fayr vil nisht shtekn brenen,
shtekn vil nisht hint shlugn,
hint vil nisht katz baysn,
katz vil nisht epl reisn,
epl vil nisht faln, epl vil nisht faln.

And the grand finale:

Der liebe Herr hot alein gekimmen in vald arein,
gekimen in vald arein,
zol ir zein vos tu[i]tsukh.
Malach hamaves vil shoyn shoychet hargenen,
shoychet vil shoyn ox shechtn,
ox vil shoyn vaser trinken,
vaser vil shoyn fayr leshn,
fayr vil shoyn shtekn brenen,
shtekn vil shoyn hint shlugn,
hint vil shoyn katz baysn,
katz vil shoyn epl reisn,
epl vil shoyn faln, epl vil shoyn faln.

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu,  16 Apr 92
From: nmiller@trincc
Subject: Peysekh

Tayere un khusheve fraynt un mitarbeter, ikh vintsh
aykh alle, ayere eygene un ayere oyrkhim a gezunt un
freylikhn yontef.  Zol di Peysekhdike yoikh, dos kugl,
di latkes, afile dos moroyr hobn a bezunder gutn tam.

Un der iker: di kinder.  Zoln zey farbrengen, knaken
nisslakh, afile zikh a bisl ontrinken.  Forvos nisht,
s'iz dokh yontef!

Noyekh
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End of Mendele Vol 1.217

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