Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 23.001 May 15, 2013 1) Yiddish Culture Collective (Rose Schimel) 2) "Oyfn veg shteyt a boym" (Elvira Groezinger) 3) "Dona Dona" lyrics (Jane Enkin) 4) "Dona Dona" lyrics (Gershon Freidlin) 5) "Dona Dona" lyrics (Paula Teitelbaum) 6) "Dray tekhterlekh" resume (Helene B. Katz) 7) "Dray tekhterlekh" (Hirsch Wittmann) 8) folg mir a derikhgang (Morrie Feller) 9) folg mir a derikhgang (Matys Velvel Steinbuch) 10) Arkady Gendler (Leonard Fox) [Moderator's note: Today Mendele celebrates its twenty-third birthday. Mit mazl geyert zikh!] 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 26 Subject: Yiddish Culture Collective http://www.meetup.com/YIDDISH-CULTURE-COLLECTIVE/ Shulem, we have expanded our national Yiddish Chat Line and would like to invite everyone to join in! Please sign-up to get ongoing updates. The Chat Line is usually every Tuesday! a dank, Rose Schimel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 28 Subject: "Oyfn veg shteyt a boym" The author of the text is Itzik Manger, it can also be found on the internet, among others http://www.hebrewsongs.com/?song=oyfnvegshteytaboym Best, Elvira Groezinger OYFN VEG SHTEYT A BOYM http://www.hebrewsongs.com/spacer.gif Oyfn veg shteyt a boym, Shteyt er ayngeboygn, Ale feygl funem boym Zaynen zikh tsefloygn. Dray keyn mayrev, dray keyn mizrekh, Un der resht - keyn dorem, Un dem boym gelozt aleyn Hefker far dem shturem. Zog ikh tsu der mamen: -her, Zolst mir nor nit shtern, Vel ikh, mame, eyns un tsvey Bald a foygl vern... Ikh vel zitsn oyfn boym Un vel im farvign Ibern vinter mit a treyst Mit a sheynem nign. Zogt di mame: - nite, kind - Un zi veynt mit trern - Vest kholile oyfn boym Mir far froyrn vern. Zog ikh: -mame, s'iz a shod Dayne sheyne oygn Un eyder vos un eyder ven, Bin ikh mir a foygl. Veynt di mame: - ltsik, kroyn, Ze, um gotes viln, Nem zikh mit a shalikl, Kenst zikh nokh farkiln. Di kaloshn tu zikh on, S'geyt a sharfer vinter Un di kutshme nem oykh mit - Vey iz mir un vind mir... - Un dos vinter-laybl nem, Tu es on, du shovte, Oyb du vilst nit zayn keyn gast Tsvishn ale toyte... Kh'heyb di fligl, s'iz mir shver, Tsu fil, tsu fil zakhn, Hot di mame ongeton Ir feygele, dem shvakhn. Kuk ikh troyerik mir arayn In mayn mames oygn, S'hot ir libshaft nit gelozt Vern mir a foygl... Oyfn veg shteyt a boym, Shteyt her ayngebogen, Ale feygl funem boym Zaynen zikh tsefloygn... Yiddish - ON THE ROAD STANDS A TREE Shir Al Etz http://www.hebrewsongs.com/spacer.gif On the road stands a tree, it stands bent and deserted, All the birds of that tree have flown away. Turn toward the west, turn toward the east, And the rest - turn toward the south, And the tree is left alone abandoned to the storm. I say to momma--"Listen, If you don't stand in my way, then, one and two, I'll quickly become a bird... I'll sit in the tree And lull it during the winter and comfort it With a lovely tune. And momma says, "No, child," And weeps bitter tears - G-d forbid, in the tree you might freeze. So I say, "Momma, it's a waste of your lovely eyes, Because before you know it, I'll be a bird." And momma cries: - Itzik, my Crown, As G-d would want, take a scarf with you, Lest you catch cold. "Put on your galoshes, It will be a severe winter. And take your fur hat, too. Woe is me! "And take your warm underwear, put it on, foolish child, Lest you become a guest among the dead... I lift my wing, but it's hard... Too much, too many things Has momma put on her weak little fledgling. I look sadly straight forward into my momma's eyes, Her love did not allow me to become a bird... On the road stands a tree, it stands bent and deserted, All the birds of that tree have flown away. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 28 Subject: "Dona Dona" lyrics I'm still puzzling through the question of the lyrics to Dona, Dona, in preparation for a May 5 recording date. There is a version on line that is similar to the one in "Pearls of Yiddish Song" but with many differences. The Hebrew University Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs version is quite different from the one in Pearls of Yiddish Song. Is there some way to figure out which is the original? In some cases, I fear, the online version has typos and errors: For example, the online version says: Freyt zikh, dreyt zikh hint nokh tsrik The HU anthology says: Flit un dreyt zikh hin un tsurik. . "Pearls of Yiddish Song" says: Freyt zikh, dreyt zikh hin un krik This leaves me guessing that "hint";is a typo. Any thoughts? thanks, Jane Enkin 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 30 Subject: "Dona Dona" lyrics Perl, Might not "hint" here be a variant of "hintervaylekhs"? Gershon Freidlin 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 30 Subject: "Dona Dona" lyrics Jane, Not only is "hint" a typo, but "nokh" is also a mistake. The other variations seem like a natural result of the folk process. Paula Teitelbaum 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 29 Subject: "Dray tekhterlekh" resume Dear Mendalyaners, A few weeks ago, I asked for the meaning of the expression "vi halt men shoyn bay zey" in the song "Dray tekhterlekh" by Gebirtig. As I had a lot of different answers (thanks a lot to everybody, and also for other corrections), I thought it might be useful to make a "resume" for future Mendele readers. The general sentiment is expressed by Jack S. Berger: "This conveys the sentiment of hoping to live long enough to see the other two married, and implies an impatience to see it happen." And here are the various suggestions: - How beloved, or fond, they are. (Norman Eisenstadt) - How is going with them - how do they fare? (R. M. Fishbein) - How dear they are to us. (Dina Lévias) - When is it their turn? (Hershl Hartman) - How do we manage their fate? (Joel Rubin) - Here the singer is expressing his impatience about the girls still to marry. What's holding them up? (Al Grand) - When will I be able to see them under the khupe? (Saul Drajer) - Where do we stand with them? i.e., how far along are we in terms of marrying off the other two daughters. (Leybl Goldberg) - When will come their time [to marry]? (Haim Levy) - When will we already hold by them? It's a wish. Hopefully will live to do that as well, about the girls still to marry. (Chaim Werdyger) And, in French: - Comment faire pour les deux autres (pour les marier), il nous reste encore les marier. (Samy Staro) Helene B. Katzhttp://rama01.free.fr/yidlid 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 28 Subject: "Dray tehkhterlekh" "Vi halt men shoyn bay zey (zey=di tekhterlech)" The verb "haltn bay" means "to keep, to hold on to" and poetically "to behold." The sentence without the "shoyn" translates as: "How does one hold on to them (one's daughters)". The word "shoyn" is a sentence particle of mood, the same as Yinglish "already". So, the sentence reads now after inserting the mood: "How already does one hold on to them (one's daughters, when it is so much more fun to give them away)." Hirsch Wittmann 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 27 Subject: folg mir a derikhgang First of all, the correct expression is "folg mikh a gang." This expression is defined in the new Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary as follows: (1) That's a long way to go ! (2) It's no mean task ! I hope that this is a satisfactory explanation. Morrie Feller 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 29 Subject: folg mir a derikhgang I asked my father a couple of times what "folg mir a gang" meant and his usual answer for these kind of idiomatic expressions was "azoy zugt men" ("that's what they say") - which I think is a funny response in itself. As for "derikh," this is merely "durkh" - (German and Yiddish) for "through" - and it's just tacked on to the front of "gang." The closest to the literal meaning of the phrase "folg mir a gang" might be "follow my path" but that doesn't even begin to get close to how it's used, which is I think sarcastically. Suppose I tell you something you find hard to believe or I bug you to do something you really don't want to do - you might respond with "folg mir a gang" - " Sure, show me the way" - "I'm not going that way" - "That's too far for me to go" - (stop bugging me). That's my take Matys Velvel Steinbuch 10)---------------------------------------------------- Date: May 8 Subject: Arkady Gendler Yiddish music fans (who have not already seen it) will find this article from "Tablet" of considerable interest: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/131547/91-year-old-yiddish- rock-star?all=1 Leonard Fox ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 23.001 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct your mail as follows: Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e. inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature: [email protected] IMPORTANT: Please include your full name as you would like it to appear in your posting. No posting will appear without its author's name. Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email addresses, as responses will be posted for all to read. They must also include the author's name as you would like it to appear. Material for Mendele Personal Notices & Announcements, i.e. announcements of events, commercial publications, requests to which responses should be sent exclusively to the request's author, etc., always in plain text (no HTML or the like) to: [email protected] (in the subject line write Mendele Personal) In order to spare the shamosim time and effort, we request that contributors adhere, when applicable, as closely as possible to standard English punctuation, grammar, etc. and to the YIVO rules of transliteration into Latin letters. A guide to Romanization can be found at this site: http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275 All other messages should be sent to the shamosim at this address: [email protected] Mendele on the web [interim address]: https://sites.google.com/site/mendeledervaylik To join or leave the list: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele _______________________________________________ Mendele mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele
