Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 22.011 March 28, 2013 1) "Dray tekhterlekh" (Helene B. Katz) 2) An observation/question to add to the 1999 discussion re: farfasn (Jane Peppler) 3) New website - Yiddishfarkinder.com (Judith Nysenholc) 4) "Der findjan" (Itzhak Luden) 5) Dr. K.-EL (Eli Rosenblatt) 6) Tut a kuk afn feysbuk-zaytl fun der Yidish-lige (Sholem Berger) 7) Mickey Katz (Zevi Ghivelder) 8) Jane Peppler's query about Farzykhn (Zulema Seligsohn) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 15 Subject: "Dray tekhterlekh" Dear Mendelyaners, I am currently translating Gebirtig's song "Dray tekhterlekh,, and there are two expressions in it that are really difficult to translate, although I know all the words in them... I found a translation in English on the internet but it's not literal, and I'd like to really understand the expressions. The two expressions are: "vi halt men shoyn bay zey" about the girls still to marry, and "shpilt klezmorim, heybt on shnaydn!" Why would the klezmorim cut anything? Here is the whole song: ven mit mazl, gezunt un lebn s'eltste tekhterl mir veln oysgebn vel ikh tantsn mir hop, hop, hop! arop an ol fun kop vel ikh tantsn, oy, vel ikh tantsn, arop an ol fun kop shpilt klezmorim, shpilt mit lebn s'ershte tekhterl haynt oysgegebn nokh geblibn undz meydlekh tsvey vi halt men shoyn bay zey? shpilt, klezmorim, oy, nemt di kley-zayen zol di gantse velt mit undz zikh freyen, undzer simkhe veyst nor eyn got un der vos tekhter hot ven kh'vel zen dos tsveyte meydl ongeton in vaysn khupe kleydl vel ikh trinken, a tentsl geyn arop fun harts a shteyn vel ikh trinken, oy, vel ikh trinken, arop fun harts a shteyn shpilt klezmorim, heybt on shnaydn! s'tsveyte meydl gibn mir oys in freydn dos mizinkl geblibn mir, vi halt men shoyn bay ir? shpilt klezmorim, far undz mekhutonim zoln nakhes hobn oykh kabtsonim a kind oysgegebn, oy, gotenyu a meydl nokh dertsu ven baym letstn kh'vel shpiln hern vel ikh epes troyerik shteyn un klern, s'letste tekhterl shoyn oykh avek, un vos iz nokh der tsvek? oy, s'letste tekhterl, oy, s'letste tekhterl, un vos iz nokh der tsvek? shpilt, klezmorim, bazetst di kale, tsugenumen undz di kinder ale, dray tekhter iz a shverer yokh, nor on zey iz shverer nokh. shpilt, klezmorim, aroys mit trern s'letste betl vet haynt leydik vern, s'gantse shtibl, ir kleydershank oy vey, vi pust un bang. I made a tentative translation here: http://rama01.free.fr/yidlid/chansons/dray-tekhterlekh.htm Please, feel free to suggest any corrections needed. A sheynem dank in foroys Helene B. Katz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 19 Subject: An observation/question to add to the 1999 discussion re: farfasn I am hunting down melodies for about 130 song texts printed in "35 letste teatr lider fun Sambatiyon un Azazel" 1929 and by record and bookseller Itsik Zhelonek in Warsaw Poland 1933-1934. I'm mulling here over two of the 1929 songs. One, "Nervn, nervn," reads: "gezungen un baarbet fun Sh. Lindenfeld." Another, "Di velt hot zikh ibergekert" reads: "farfast un gezungen fun Sh. Lindenfeld mit der melodiye Gevald a dire" Confoundingly, both of these songs are in the US copyright office (found at the Library of Congress). "Nerven" reads: words and music by Aaron Lebedeff. "Die Welt hat zich ybergekert" reads: words and music by Joseph Feldman (arr. H. Zolis). In both cases, as with many of the songs and couplets in the Zhelonek collection, the verses sent to the U.S. copyright office have the same gist but are quite different from the ones printed in the Zhelonek collection. Zylbercweig writes "in farlag Melodiye (Varshe) zaynen dershinen folgndike L's lider, vi oykh durkh im iberzetste un baarbete: ... "Gvald, vu nemt men a dire?" (1924) ... "Nerven, nerven" "Di velt hot zikh ibergekert" (1926) ..." Feldman copyrighted "Di velt hot zikh ibergekert" in 1924, the year that Lindenfeld supposedly wrote the melody "Gevald vu nemt men a dire" which he then supposedly re- set in 1926 with the text of "Di velt hot zikh ibergekert" - however, if Feldman wrote the music, then Lindenfeld stole it and used it twice. (It's a crummy tune.) I wonder whether baarbetn and farfasn in this context both mean "worked over, elaborated, reworked," other possibilities being that (1) farfasn refers only to the words, not the music; (2) Lindenfeld was lying and just stole the songs from Feldman and Lebedeff; (3) Lebedeff and Feldman were lying and just stole the songs from Lindenfeld. I have not seen recordings of any of these songs. They are not in Lerski's Encyklopedia. Thoughts? Thanks, Jane Peppler [Moderator's note: a discussion about 'farfasn' can be found in Mendele volume 08.127, February 9, 1999.] 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 1 Subject: New website - Yiddishfarkinder.com Announcing the first website to introduce Yiddish to children yiddishfarkinder.com (Yiddish for children) A collection of resources created by Judith Nysenholc, Yiddish teacher at the Kinneret Day School (Riverdale, NY) Judith Nysenholc 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 3 Subject: "Der findjan" >From Itzhak Luden: "Der Findjan" As the authorized translator of Haim Hefer's song The Findjan into Yiddish on the request of the author, I ask you to kindly re-publish the words of The Finjan in Mendele, due to some errors in transliteration from Yiddish to English. The text of this song is now updated, to ensure correct pronunciation. Tsulib merere grayzn, vos zenen arayngefaln in dem yidishn tekst fun dem lid, bet ikh nokh a mol im farefntlekhn in Mendele, kedey es zol nisht vern farshibesht un falsh tsitirt durkh di vos veln zikh mit im banutsn. Itzhak Luden, Tel Aviv The authorized corrected text is below: "Der Findjan" / Haim Hefer Yidish: Itzhak Luden Muzik: Armenisher folks-motif Der vint blozt on oyfher, s'iz kalt Derlangt a por tsvaygn fun vald Un vifl s'iz koyekh faran Dos fayer tseblozt mitn flam. Es tsindn zikh flamen Mir zingen tsuzamen Arum geyt arum der findjan Tsuzing: Tra, Lalala. un azoy vayter, etc' Vos iz do tsu redn a sakh? A mayster iz er in dem fakh Git kave un tsuker un dan Nor tsugisn vaser in kan Dan tsvey mol oyfkokhn Azoy vi farshprokhn Arum geyt arum der findjan Tsuzing: Tra, Lalala. un azoy vayter Dermont der findjan zikh di nakht Ven khevre gekumen fun shlakht Vi Motkele mit zayn nagan Gevorfn fun kas hot zikh dan. Es klingt nokh in oyer Der tsar un der troyer Arum geyt arum der findjan Tsuzing: Tra, Lalala. un azoy vayter. etc' Es geyen di yorn farbay Un s'kumen oyf doyres fun s'nay Keyn fremder vet keynmol farshteyn Fun zemer dem zin un dem kheyn. Der kemfer vet konen Zikh tomid dermonen Dem eybikn krayz fun findjan Tsuzing: Tra, Lalala. un azoy vayter, etc' 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 28 Subject: Dr. K. -EL Tayere Mendelyaner I am searching for more information on the writer Dr. K. - EL, which appears in Yiddish as Dalet. Kuf. - Ayin Lamed. His essay appears in the selected works of Ayzik Meir Dik published in Warsaw in 1900. Any information about Dr. K - EL is much appreciated. Eli Rosenblatt 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 9 Subject: Tut a kuk afn feysbuk-zaytl fun der Yidish-lige Oyb ir hot es nokh nisht geton: Tut a kuk afn feysbuk-zaytl fun der Yidish-Lige Dortn gefint zikh a rubrikl "verter fun der vokh" vu mir gibn yede vokh on (un a mol afile 2 mol a vokh) tematishe verter vos hobn epes a shaykhes mit di nayes (politik, yidn uaz"v). Dervayl hobn mir shoyn dortn arufgeshtelt verter/oysdrikn farbundn mitn Vatikan, mit Purim, mit Chavez uaz"v. Lernt zikh oys naye verter un lozt undz derbay visn az mir gefeln aykh! Sholem Berger 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 20 Subject: Mickey Katz I suggest to Mr. London to try to get in touch with the comedian Joel Grey, who is Mickey's son. Zevi Ghivelder 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 9 Subject: Jane Peppler's query about Farzykhn I am sorry to have to object again to the Moderator correcting the spelling and pronunciation of a word whose meaning was sought by the questioner. Since Ms. Peppler heard the word in a song, that's what she heard. Whether that is not Standard Yiddish is immaterial. And to answer Ms. Peppler, farzykhn (pace the Moderator) means "to taste," in her quote, i.e., "the uncle had (them) taste the egg." Whether this has anything to do with custom, someone with knowledge of customs would need to reply to that. Zulema Seligsohn ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 22.011 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. 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