Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 13.016
March 2, 2004

1) kanarik (Aaron Krishtalka)
2) kanarik (Dina Levias)
3) kanarik (Paul Glasser)
4) kanarik (Zachary Baker)
5) kanarik (Sylvia Schildt)
6) kanarik (Jascha Kessler)
7) Auf/oyf (Yankev Berger)
8) nisht gedayget (Jascha Kessler)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: akrish@aei.ca
Subject: Re: kanarik

The origin of kanarik, kanarikl, is likely that of 'canary', and the literal
meaning is the same.

The humorous meaning is a would-be, a not-quite, a self-important singer.
This meaning and usage are beautifully caught in a 1930s Mikhl Rosenberg
skit about an outraged "Shepsl Kanarik" , who is forced to prove ("Makhn
probe") to a shul committee that he is worthy of being hired as a
khazn...and fails - "..a laytisher khazn, a gevaldiker khazn...ikh, Shepsl
Kanarik, vos hot gedavnt in die greste shteyt in der gantser velt! dray yor
hob ikh gedavnt in Pokeepsie..." The best line is: "M'hot-zekh geshlogn iber
mir, m'hot-zekh geshlogn!!!...ikh hob oykh gekhapt a por petch." Kanarik is
also be used as an affectionate term of praise for a great singer, a fine
voice.

I suspect, too, that there is another usage, signifying one who is volubly
confessing, as in the English, "singing like a canary".

Aaron Krishtalka

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: dinaleviash@vtx.ch
Subject: kanarik un soloveitchik

Miriam Isaacs (Mendele 13.015) offers the hypothesis that "kanarik" is a
synonym of "soloveitchik", both meaning canary.

Sorry: soloveitchik comes from the Russian "solovey", which means
nightingale. Both words, of course, can be used as epithets for singers with
unusual - though not equivalent! - voice qualities.

Dina Levias

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: pglasser@yivo.cjh.org
Subject: Re: kanarik

About the meaning of "kanarik": the explanations offered are all plausible,
but here's another one anyway: my friend Zwi Kanar, the well-known mime,
says that in his family, they believe that their name means 'canary' and
that it refers to their height - they tend to be short. As a child, he was
called "kleyn kanarikl" for this reason.

Paul Glasser

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: Zachary Baker <zbaker@stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: kanarik

While Yiddish "kanarik" is defined only as "canary" in the Weinreich and
Harkavy dictionaries, in the Kosciuszko Foundation's Polish-English
Dictionary "kanarek" is given the alternate definitions of "trickster,
crook" (and also "military policeman").  That is the probable meaning of the
nickname.  And I may be off base, but I think that "kanarik" is also used
for a rude gesture.

Zachary Baker

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: sylvia schildt <creativa@charm.net>
Subject: Re: kanarik

Kanaerik is underworld slang. I think it referred to someone who strutted
around, full of himself, a big shot of sorts. I know it was used that way in
Mottke Ganef by Sholem Asch.

In Brownsville, it was occasionally used by a proud parent after a little
boy did something clever in the sense of calculating.

Sylvia Schildt
Baltimore, Maryland

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: Jascha Kessler <jkessler@ucla.edu>
Subject: Re: kanarik

Yes, but WHAT WAS THE MUSIC?  I mean, what tune was that?  What sort of
music?  It would be nice to know.  Any Klezmer scholars about?  Any old
canary? or a specific tune?

Jascha Kessler

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: jsberger@optonline.net
Subject: re: Auf/oyf

'ofreef' (Mendele 13.015) is far di geshtrofte.

In a 'Litvak' home, you say 'oofroof.' I suspect that 'Aufruf' may have
evolved in the hands of 'orthographic  beautifiers,' or some well-meaning
yeke-lovers.

Yankev Berger

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 1, 2004
From: Jascha Kessler <jkessler@ucla.edu>
Subject: Re: nisht gedayget

[See Ruben Frankenstein, Mendele 13.015]

The Communist camp in the 30s at Beacon, NY, was called Camp Nit
Gedayget...or Camp Carefree, in English. I believe there was a book called
FOLLOWERS OF THE TRAIL  [Pioneers in Stalinland] out a few years ago.  I
have it somewhere, full of photos. Diehards, Moscow Trials and all.

Jascha Kessler

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End of Mendele Vol. 13.016

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