Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.078 August 4, 1994 1) Credits for Yiddish Children's Songs (Paula Teitelbaum) 2) The name "Shapiro" (Harvey Spiro) 3) Yiddish Proverbs (Debra Halperin Biasca) 4) Rashi glosses (Bob Werman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 03 Aug 94 05:41:44 EDT From: 74031.775@compuserve.com Subject: Credits for Yiddish Children's Songs Dear Friends and Colleagues, We are in the process of producing a recording of Yiddish children's songs. Many of the songs have never before been recorded, and in some cases, we do not have a source identifying their authors or composers. Because we would like to give credit where it is due and provide whatever information we can about the origins of these attached samples of songs, we are asking for your help in identifying the creators of any of these attached samples of songs. We are also interested in knowing if you remember singing, teaching or hearing any of these songs in schools, camps, at home or other settings, or know other versions of words or melodies. In addition, if you know of other sources - people, printed sources, manuscripts, etc, that might help us with information about any of these songs, we would be very appreciative. Please E-mail, write or call: Paula Teitelbaum 123-35 82 Road apt.#4-C Kew Gardens, NY 11415 USA Telephone: 718 263-4704 With sincere thanks for your assistance, Paula Teitelbaum, Lorin Sklamberg and Jeffrey Shandler ******************* KUMT A FOYGL words: Yehoash music: ??????????? kumt a foygl tsu mayn shoyb, klapt er tsvey mol on. foygl kleyn un foygl sheyn, vos zol ikh dir ton? - tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, un a vort nit meyn, - tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, tsvi, kon ikh nit farshteyn. DI FROSH words: Yehoash music: ???????? geven iz a frosh in a grin samet kleyd, kva-kva... geven iz a frosh in a grin samet kleyd, mit a fartekh a vaysn fun fornt farshpreyt. kva-kva... DER BER words: Elyezer Shteynberg music: ?????????? oyf di akslen mit tsvey kanen, tut a ber tsum brunem shpanen. kha, kha, kha, kha, kha, tut a ber tsum brunem shpanen. IN A KLEYNEM GRINEM HOYZ words: ????????? music: ?????????? in a kleynem grinem hoyz, kukt a mentshele aroys. loyft a hezele farbay, tsitert azh fun shrek. helf mir! helf mir! shrayt der hoz, eyder der yeger shist mikh oys. kum zhe hezele arayn. gliklekh veln mir zayn. A FEYGELE IN HARBST words: ????????? music: ????????? hob ikh gehat a feygele mit fligelekh vi zayd. hot s'feygele farlozn mikh, antlofn ergets vayt. dershrokn hot der beyzer harbst dos feygele, mayn kroyn. troyerik klogt dos harts in mir. ikh shtark zikh un ikh veyn. SORELE IZ IN VALD AVEK words: Elyakum Tsunzer music: ????????? sorele iz in vald avek-vek-vek. raysn blumen a buket-ket-ket blozt a vintele a kil, kil, kil. ale beymer shteyen shtil, shtil, shtil. SHPILN MIR IN KESTELEKH words: ????????? music: ????????? shpiln mir in kestelekh, in kestelekh, geyt aroys a hon, a hon. hon! hon! vos zhe gistu tsu? ikh gib tsu a krey, a krey. der hon a krey, der hon a krey. shpiln mir vayter azoy. BAY DEM SHTETL SHTEYT A SHTIBL words: Zalmen Rozental music: who wrote the tune Moyshe Oysher sings ? bay dem shtetl shteyt a shtibl mit a grinem dakh, un arum dem shtibl vaksn beymelekh a sakh. un der tate mit der mamen, khanele mit mir,shoyn a lange tsayt in eynem voynen ale fir. FERDL words: ????????? music: ????????? ferdl, ferdl, ferdl, hop! fli arum in a galop. barg aroyf un barg arop, shtel in ergets zikh nit op. TSHIMBARIMBA words: ????????? music: ????????? ikh bin geforn a yor, far vos zhe nit keyn tsvey? ikh hob gekoyft a hon. vi azoy zhe makht der hon? ku-ku-ri-ku makht der hon, tshimba-rimba, tshimba-rimba, tshimba-rimba, rim-bam-ba! ikh bin geforn tsvey yor, far vos zhe nit keyn dray? ikh hob gekoyft a hun. vi azoy zhe makht di hun? tende-varende makht di hun, ku-ku-ri-ku makht der hon, tshimba-rimba, tshimba-rimba, tshimba-rimba, rim-bam-ba! Paula Teitelbaum 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Aug 3 13:45:05 1994 From: hjs@nrc.gov Subject: The name "Shapiro" Dovid Braun asks (Mendele 4.072): > No one ever refuted my hypothesis that the last name Shapiro > and its variants stem from Aramaic _shapir_ + _o_ ('beautiful' > + 'o' = 'the "beautiful one'). Since I'm relatively new to mendele, I may be retracing old territory on this issue. With a surname of Spiro, I have a vested interest in the derivation of that name. My grandfather and father pronounced our name Shpira, but Ellis Island converted it to Spiro (pronounced to sound like "spear-o"). I have always taken it to be a variant of Shapiro. I understood that the conventional derivation of the name Shapiro/Spiro was from Speyer, a city in central (Rhineland?) Germany. This was echoed in a popular book on Jewish genealogy that was published some 15 or so years ago, whose title I no longer remember ("Finding our fathers"?). I believe that the book also connected Rashi's family tree with the name. Although my father and paternal grandfather were born in Galitzia, it is plausible that there was a migration many generations earlier from Germany. I too have long wondered about the possibility of a connection with the Aramaic word for beautiful. Interestingly, our family's spelling of the name included a yod and ended with an aleph, which matches the Aramaic spelling. Are there any other mendele readers named Shapiro or Spiro who remember the original Yiddish spelling of their surnames? It seems to me that direct Yiddish spelling of Shapiro would include a pasakh-alef after the shin, which might differentiate it from my family's spelling. Harvey Spiro 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 03 Aug 1994 14:35:36 -0600 (MDT) From: biasca@horton.Colorado.EDU Subject: Yiddish Proverbs Howard Gershen: I think you are referring to Jim Matisoff's wonderful (and yes, scholarly) "Blessings, Curses, Hopes and Fears: Psycho-Ostensive Expressions in Yiddish." He groups the expressions into maledictions, benedictions, and others, although he gives them different labels. Debra Halperin Biasca 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Aug 94 2:12 +0300 From:RWERMAN@vms.huji.ac.il Subject: Rashi glosses Mikhl Herzog in Mendele Vol. 4.071 asks about the use of _b'la'az_ in Rashi (1040-1105). All the forms seem to be present, with and without the use of rashei - tayvot, as in _b'la'a"z_. I do not think that we have independent evidence that Rashi spoke Yiddish or that he even heard it. He did study in Mainz and Worms. It is not clear how much of his commentaries were actually written by him but clearly the great majority was done by him, with some additions by students and the usual changes by those who copied manuscripts. He is considered responsible for about 1300 _La'azim_ in the Bible and 3500 in the Talmud in French and some in German [not Yiddish], acccording to my sources, although some of the latter [Yiddish, too] were added in later generations. _La'az_ originally referred to Greek, first, and then Latin, in Tannaic literature and then became generalized to all foreign glosses, particularly in Romance languages, written in Hebrew translation. (The Yiddish in *Mendele* is clearly in need of a parallel name, something like _Yan-kie_, I imagine.) The Biblical Hebrew word, _lo'ez_ (speak a foreign tongue, criticize), seems more related to _lo'eg_ (mock) and _luz_ (as in _hiliz_; sneer, twist). _Bilshon am zar_ is indeed a folk etymology of _b'la'az_ whose popularity has had both great penetration and, in my opinion, conviction as well. Mikhl asks how Rashi introduces his "Yiddish" (quotes mine) _la'azim_. For example, Rashi seems to think that *_estock*_ (for _basad_) is Greek and writes: _"_u'b'l' yivani" (Job 13:27). But in I Kings 6:9, he gives both Old French, *_zeled*_ (introduced as _b'lashonainu_, in our language) and "Yiddish" (Middle High German, no?) *_gehimilt*_ (introduced as _u'b'ashon ashkenaz_) and then ends the same (a later addition?) interpretation of _gavim_ (roofs, domes) with _"b'lashon ashkenaz _*_dek tzigel*_". Thus matters are not all that simple. More in that line is found in Ezekial 27:24, where the Middle High German is given as _"shkorin *ashkarin* b'la'az_" (for treasure chests). One Middle High German word, _wendelstein_, or _shvindelshveig_, or _shvindelshtein_ appears three times. In I Kings 6:8, in II Kings 1:2, as well as in Ezekial 41:7, it is introduced with _b'lashon_ _ashkenaz_. The majority of these Middle High German or Yiddish uses are found in the two book of Chronicles which suggests that a different hand was at work with this group but I have no independent evidence on that point. Michael Shimshoni in Mendele Vol. 4.072 agrees with Mikhl, and like Mikhl is partly correct, both at my expense. __Bob Werman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.078 A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. 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