[Mendele] Mendele: Yiddish literature and language Vol. 22.011

[Victor Bers]

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

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