Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 239 May 5, 1992 1) Kindervelt (Cal Pryluck) 2) "Yunyenlayt" (Cal Pryluck) 3) Vider amol "Der Internatsional" (Seymour Axelrod) 4) Yiddish vaudeville (Bob Rothstein) 5) Matzo brau (David Sherman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 03 May 92 10:27:56 EDT From: Cal Subject: Only one Kindervelt It's a good thing for me that cyberspace is monochromatic; otherwise all would be treated to my blush of embarassment at having forgotten the Farband sponsor- ship of Unser Camp-Kindervelt. Of course they were Labor-Zionist. I've moved through the left political spectrum since then, but when scratched I still bleed Labor-Zionist, to the mild bewilderment of my wife who was a red diaper baby of the purest hue. (Reading over my shoulder, Naomi says after forty years she is no longer embarassed by my peculiar background.) At one time I really knew the political declension of the Kinder-camps: Kindervelt = Farband Kinderland = IWO Kinderring = Workman's Circle Were there others? I confess that my Yiddish is not up to fully understanding Elyet Gertl's comment in Yiddish. If anyone's keeping track I was at Kindervelt every year between 1931-1936; that is between ages seven and twelve. Sometimes I was there the whole two month season, occasionally only for half a season, which I knew even then to have been a consequence of the depression. Cal Pryluck 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 03 May 92 11:03:22 EDT From: Cal Subject: Yiddishization of English Eli Katz's Yiddish version of "Hold the Fort" includes an interesting line: "Yunyenlayt in krig." The last word I understand to be originally German; what about the first word? It looks to me like a Yiddish version of the English "union men," combining an English word with a generalizing term, -layt. Am I reading this correctly? Cal Pryluck 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 May 1992 15:24 EST From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: Vider amol *Der Internatsional* A dank aykh, Mikhl Herzog, Eli Katz, un Bob Rothstein, for the words to The Internationale in Yiddish. May I now ask for some help in parsing and translating the first two lines? The three versions differ a bit in punctuation: MH: Shteyt oyf ir ale, ver vi shklafn in hunger lebn muz, un noyt ... EK: Shteyt oyf ir ale ver vi shklafn In hunger lebn, muz un noyt. BR: Shteyt oyf, ir ale ver vi shklafn In hunger lebn muz un noyt! I think my problem is with *muz*. Is it a noun? A verb (if so, it doesn't seem to agree in number with *ir ale*)? In any case, how would these lines be translated? Many thanks. Seymour (Shloyme) Axelrod 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 May 92 00:44:10 -0400 From: ROBERT.ROTHSTEIN@SLAVIC.umass.edu Subject: Yiddish vaudeville query The song that Cal Pryluck asked about can be found in Chana (Eleanor Gordon) Mlotek's _Mir trogn a gezang_, which is avail- able from the Arbeter Ring. Chana Mlotek refers to it as a "folk song, parts of which were published by Y. L. Cahan in 1912." The first stanza "was traced to the 16th century" by Cahan. The text is as follows: Shvartse karshelekh rayst men, Un grine lozt men shteyn; Sheyne meydelekh nemt men Un miese lozt men geyn. Oy, vey iz tsu mir, Un vey tsu mayne por yor, A libe hob ikh gefirt Felike dray fertl yor. Vos toyg mir di polke mazurke, Az tantsn tants ikh zi nit, Vos toyg mir dos meydele fun vurke Az libn libt zi mikh nit. Vos toyg mir der nayer valets Az tantsn tants ikh im nisht, Vos toyg mir dos meydele fun shilets, Az libn libt zi mikh nisht. Bob Rothstein 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 May 92 9:25:41 EDT From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.CA Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.238 [David Sherman asked this question:] > can anyone comment on > why I grew up knowing it as matzo-brau while I see it > referred to on MENDELE as matzo-brie (presumably > pronounced bry)? Maybe I'll partially answer my own question. Although my "matzo-brau" comes through my non-Yiddish speaking parents, who were born in England and whose grandparents (not parents) were from Poland & Ukraine, I can look instead to my adopted (through my wife) Yiddish of Staszow (Stashiv). "ay", as we all know, is pronounced "aa" in that dialect (a.k.a. southern Yiddish, right Mikhl?). So my guess is that it went bray->braa->brau over the years. Comments? David Sherman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.239 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.