Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 13.030 March 29, 2004 1) shikse (Itsik Goldenberg) 2) oyfn hoykhn barg (Sidney D. Markman) 3) alef-beyz (Lori Cahan-Simon) 4) iberkhazern (Jennifer Dowling) 5) iberkhazern (Rick Turkel) 6) iberkhazern (Andrey Bredstein) 7) iberkhazern (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net/index.utf-8.htm 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 28, 2004 From: rgoldenberg@sympatico.ca Subject: shikse The origin of the word shikse has been dealt with over the years on Mendele. (I used Google to find several references to it in the Mendele archives.) The ones I saw referred to the Hebrew word "sheketa," meaning "creepy-crawly thing, unclean creature, young devil, forbidden..." This seems to explain the usually unsavoury connotation when the term is used in conversation, referring to a (young) non-Jewish female. Is there possibly any other less unflattering derivation of shikse, or milder English translations of the Hebrew word "shekets?" Itsik Goldenberg 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 28, 2004 From: sdmark@duke.edu Subject: Re: oyfn hoykhn barg I know this little ditty from my early childhood when my grandmother would sing it to me. [My yiddish transliteration is based on the oyshprakh of the Podolia region of what is now the Ukraine, in the gubernye of Kamenyets-Podolsk.] afn hoykhn barg 'n af di griner gruz shteyn a pur datchelekh mit di lahge batchelekh hoykhe mener zenen zey kurtse kleyder trugn zey uvinu meylekh dus harts is mir freylekh freylekh veln mir zan trinkn veln mir van van veln mir trinkn a gezint in dan kepele aran My grandmother was born about 1870 and would sing me this ditty in the latter part of the second decade of the 20th century --1915-1920 ñ. Sidney D. Markman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 28, 2004 From: lorelecs@juno.com Subject: Re: alef-beyz song In answer to Marvin Engel [Mendele 13.028], here is an alef-beyz song written by Nat Zumoff, of the Cleveland Workmen's Circle, sung to the tune of Doe - A - Deer from The Sound of Music (probably in the 1960s). I know of the texts of others in Yiddish from I.L. Cahan's collection of yidishe folkslider, but without music. der alef-beyz Alef - Ah, and sometimes aw Beyz - That's not the way to be Giml - Gee, in good, in gut Daled - Has the sound of D Hey - In fields we see it grow Vov - It rhymes with love, you know Zayin - Zee, it's time to say That's our lesson for today; Khes - A strange, new sound is this Tes - A girl I see each day Yud - You'd never, ever miss Khof - It isn't tough to say Lamed - That's the sound of ell Mem - In mame, mir, un mel Nun - Is sometimes call midday That's our lesson for today! Samekh - SSS, a hissing sound Ayen - Eh, in words like kez Pey - We get for year `round Fey - A little friend of Tess Tsadik - Is a worthy man Kuf - You have the sound in Can Reysh - a quiet kind of ray That's our lesson for today! Shin - Is she, so quiet, shtil Sof - It is the very end Tof - A dotted Sof, you see In Hebrew words we recommend If you sing this little tune You will learn it very soon You'll remember it always And you'll know your Alef-Beyz! Lori Cahan-Simon 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 28, 2004 From: jennifer.dowling@arts.usyd.edu.au Subject: Re: iberhkhazern Instead of looking at the noun "khazer," look elsewhere in Hebrew. The shoresh (root) khes. zayin.resh has to do with "return, repeat, go back". The pa'al verb (khozer) means to return. Jennifer Dowling 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 28, 2004 From: rturkel@ameritech.net Subject: Re: iberkhazern The short answers are that it isn't, and there may not be any connection. I've always believed that it's impossible to fully understand Yiddish as a non-native speaker without a solid grounding in Hebrew (and at least one Slavic language, preferably Polish or Ukrainian), and this is a perfect example of why. It's true that the Hebrew word "chazir" (chet-zayin-yod-resh) means pig. However, "chozar" (spelled without a yod) is a verb meaning "return, revert; repeat; or repent," depending on (1) context and (2) the following preposition - or absence of one. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. As for a connection between pigs and returning, your guess is as good as mine. It may have something to do with the fact that both chet and zayin each correspond to two different letters in Arabic. Therefore, while "chazir" and "chozar" appear to be related, they may not actually be derived from the same proto-Semitic root after all. Hope this helps. a freylekhn un koshern peysach alemen. Rick Turkel 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 28, 2004 From: bredstein@mail.utexas.edu Subject: re: iberkhazern dos zaynen tsvey farsheydene verter on keyn shum farbindung: me redt zey aroys afn zelbn shteyger, ober shraybn - shraybn zey zikh andresh: iberkhazern mit a khes, un khazer gor mit a khof (un oykh mit an iberikn yud). di eygene yente, heyst dos, nor andersh geshleyert! mit di beste vuntshn, andrey bredstein 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 28, 2004 From: Gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: Re: iberkhazern Itsik Goldenberg (Mendele 13.029) asks: