Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.014 May 29, 1995 1) Introduction (Sam Abrash) 2) Etimologishe shayles (Leybl Goldberg) 3) Di dEr (Zellig Bach) 4) Tsar Nikolai (Leybl Goldberg) 5) Tsar Nikolai (Bob Rothstein) 6) Shleyer lid (Marsha Berman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 10:33:21 -0500 (EST) From: abrash@urvax.urich.edu Subject: Introduction I'm an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond. I am a non Yiddish speaker (or reader) except at the level of expertise one can obtain from the scholarly work of Leo Rosten. However, in recent years I have been reading heavily in many areas of Judaica. Mendele came to my attention when I put a request on Koach for the words for Rozhinkes mit Mandlen so I could sing it to my (now 5 week old, then unborn) daughter. I have since been a passive member, but have enjoyed the correspondence. By the way many thanks to the people who helped me with my request. I am now the proud owner of two yiddish songbooks. Interestingly of the three versions of Rozhinkes mit Mandlen that I now have, two are riddled with either melodic or harmonic errors. Alas that the Klezmer Conservatory Orchestra, with thier impeccable taste, have never published a songbook. Sam Abrash 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 May 95 11:45:00 -0400 From: lee.goldberg@neteast.com Subject: Etimologishe shayles A shayle (oder tsvey) ongevondn di etimologye-keners tsvishn undz: 1. Fun vanet shtamen di oysdrikn, "kholile," "khas ve-sholem" un azoy vayter un "halevay"? Un vos meynen zey take? 2. Ba vemen iz antshtanen der mineg fun bagrisn a mentshn mit di verter "Sholem-aleykhem!" oder "As-salamu 'alaykum!", ba yidn tsi ba musulmener (Dakht-zakh mir, az "heveynu sholem aleykhem" shteyt geshribn in Sider, ober ikh volt gevolt visn tsi dos nemt-zakh fun Gmore, fun Qur'an, tsi veys ikh vos.) "Tates (un Mames), kh'hob shoyn gefregt di tsvey kashes!" Leybl Goldberg 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 13:56:16 -0400 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: "di dEr" Yeder eyner veys as "di" in Everyone knows that in Yiddish yidish iz der bashtimter "di" is the definite article of artikl far vayblekhe feminine nouns, substantivn, un "der" iz der and "der" the bashtimter artikl far definite article of menlekhe substantivn. masculine nouns. Ober s'iz do a fal ven But there is a case where beyde artiklen tsuzamen both these articles together formirn a gramatish form a grammatically rikhtikn zats. Vi kumt es? correct sentence. How come? "Der" iz a substantiv, a "Der" is a noun formation derivirte forme funem verb derived from the Yiddish verb darn-- "to wither"-- un meynt, "darn" --to wither--, and means, men zol derfun nit visn, one shouldn't know from it, TB, comsumption. TB, consumption. Nu,"der", in dem zinen, iz "Der," in this sense, is gramatish vayblekh, azoy grammatically feminine, az "di dEr" iz corect. therefore "di dEr" is correct. Nokhamol, mir zoln zayn Again, we should be kept opgesheydt fun dem, omey'n! away from it, amen! Zellig Bach Lakehurst, NJ 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 May 95 15:41:00 -0400 From: lee.goldberg@neteast.com Subject: Tsar Nikolay Meyshe-Yankl Sweet requested the words to the bawdy Yiddish-Russian song celebrating the Czar (yimakh shmoy) and his German whore. Well, it's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it! Here goes: Tsar' Nikolai, ebi tvoyu mat'! Mit vemen, mit vemen, hostu khasene gehat? A kurve, a blate [blyate ?], an oysgetrente shmate! Leybl Goldberg 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 16:53:43 -0400 (EDT) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: Tsar Nikolai Meyshe-Yankl Sweet probably assumes that I was being coy with my offer to send the obscene text only to those requesting it. Actually, I had in mind people like his uncle, who might find the text offensive. There is also something to be said for using obscenities sparingly, so as to preserve their power for when they are needed. Since obscenities are powerful, I suspect, only in one's native language, I will observe my first principle by reminding native speakers of Yiddish or Russian of their option to read no further in this posting and will honor my second principle by following the venerable philological tradition of providing glosses in Latin. Here, as requested, is the text that I learned in graduate school: Tsar Nikolayke, eb [yop] tvoiu mat', zey nor mit vemen du host khasene gehat: a kurve a nase, an oysgetrente shmate. Tsar Nikolayke, eb tvoiu mat'. The precise meaning of the Russian "mother oath" is a matter of some scholarly disagreement. The verb is in the past tense but has no subject and is ambiguous as to person. Many have assumed that the missing subject is first person ('ego matrem tuam futui'), but Alexander Isacenko argued, based on an account by the Austrian diplomat Baron Sigmund de Herberstein, who was in Moscow in the early 16th century, that the oath, like a contemporary Hungarian one, originally had the noun _pes_ 'dog' as its subject, i.e., 'canis matrem tuam futuit.' As I wrote in my earlier posting, the Yiddish text is sung to the same melody as one of the most popular Russian revolutionary songs of 1905. I neglected to add that the melody (by Ia. F. Prigozhii) was popular before that with the words of the poet Ivan Nikitin ("Ekhal na iarmarku ukhar'-kupets..."), so it's conceivable that the Yiddish text originally mentioned Alexander and not Nikolai. Bob Rothstein 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 May 95 22:59 PDT From: eir8ber@mvs.oac.ucla.edu Subject: Shleyer lid I joined this list because I was curious about a song my mother tried to recall some time ago when I was interviewing her on tape. I suspect it's a children's song. I'd be grateful for the complete lyrics & translation &, if possible, the melody. I transcribed what I heard, but please excuse my lack of knowledge of Yiddish. Oy gevalt a gonif Hot er mir beganvit (_or_ altich mit beganvit) Er rotich(s) mir tzi genime alles fin de stig Du vist keishl fin di eier in de bubbe's alte schleier. (schleie?) (shleyer?) My mother said that women wore "shleyers" before sheytels were fashionable. I thought it might be a head scarf, but I'm told that the translation is mantle or veil. Thanks for any help. Marsha Berman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.014 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu ****Getting back issues**** 1. Anonymous ftp archives are available. ftp ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files A table of contents is also available, along with weekly updates. 2. 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