Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.397 April 25, 1995 1) Hotsmakh (Dovid Braun) 2) Hotsmakh (Zachary Baker) 3) Hotsmakh (Hershl Hartman) 4) Peti-meti (Ellen Prince) 5) Moyshe Oysher (Renee Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 21:37:48 EDT From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: Hotsmakh Another form of the name _hotsmakh_ is _yotsmakh_, I think. I'd check Stutshkov's thesaurus under _naronim_ and/or _mumim_ if I had it handy. Why _mumim_ (if that is indeed a category there)? I think h/yotsmakh is a name of derision for blind people, e.g. _a blinder hotsmakh_ (people who grew up in a Yiddish speech community might be able to enlighten us). I think also that the "hotsmakh iz a blinder" song in Goldfaden existed before Goldfaden, i.e. was a part of children's folklore, possibly a children's circle dance where one child is blindfolded and danced around, or something like that. Maybe Bob Rothstein (sorry to put the burden on you, Bob) will find this blind hotsmakh character in the children's folklore sections of the standard Yiddish folklore collections. I recorded from my grandmother, oleyoasholem, a Hebrew version of this game/dance, which, as I understand it, she was taught in her shtetl's Hebrew-language school (Beys Seyfer Amomi of the town Sukhovolye, between Grodno and Bialystok, in the late 1910's-early 1920's -- where the education was in "pre-modern Modern Hebrew" with slightly "modernized" Ashkenazic pronunciation, with khoylem-vov pronounced not /oy/ or /ey/ but /ow/). It has the same melody as the dance/game performed in Goldfaden's play in Yiddish: Hebrew English translation loiveyr eyn eynayim the blind man has no eyes memasheysh bayodayim gropes with his hands vekowrey hu es bnow and calls his son ayeko bni? "Where are you my son? ayeko bni? Where are you my son?" hineyni ovi "Here I am my father, hineyni ovi Here I am my father." I don't think hotsmakh/yotsmakh is related to _hots mir (a gutn) un zayts mir (gezunt)_ because the pronoun in this instance is _mir_ (dative), not _mikh_ (accusative). This is known as the _ethical *dative*_. Yiddish doesn't have an "ethical accusative" [though beginning students might find that it has an "immoral genitive" and a "despicable nominative" ;-) ]. But perhaps the ethical dative actually did take the mikh/dikh forms earlier in the history of Yiddish. Teyku. Dovid Braun 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 22 Apr 95 13:51:35 PDT From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Hotsmakh; Gefarfl I generally refrain from speculating about the derivation of a Yiddish word or expression, knowing how brittle the limb that one climbs out on can be. Regarding "Hotsmakh" (the famous Goldfaden character), though, I've often been struck by the coincidence between his name and a word in the "Avinu malkenu" prayer that is recited on Yom Kippur: Avinu malkenu, hatsma.h lanu yeshu'ah be-karov. Our Father, our King, cause our salvation soon to flourish [Philip Birnbaum's translation]. The Hebrew verb "hatsma.h" (with a pata.h) means "cause to flourish" and derives from the root "tsema.h" = "plant," "sprout," "grow." Could Goldfaden have had the solemn "Avinu malkenu" prayer in mind when he created this rather whimsical character? Or perhaps Perl Teitelbaum is closer to the mark when she points to the line "Hotsmekh a gitn yontef" ("Have a happy holiday, now") as the inspiration for the name? Could both theories be correct? Awhile back I received a phone call from a fact-checker at a prominent metropolitan daily newspaper (which shall remain nameless). In an article that she was editing she came across the (supposedly) Yiddish word "gefarfl," meaning (the noun) "to-do." (As in "There was a real to-do over the incident.") The best that I could come up with was that "gefarfl" derived from or was related to the English "kerfuffle." I'd be interested to hear if any MENDELnikes are familiar with "gefarfl," its usage and derivation. (Feel free to step out on a limb...) Zachary Baker 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 13:18:54 -0400 From: hershl@aol.com Subject: Goldfadn's Hotzmekh Following is my translation of Act 2, Scene 8 of Avrom Goldfadn's "dee kishefmakherin" in which Hotzmekh made his memorable entrance on the Yiddish stage. The original text appears in I. Goldberg, "un(d)zer dramaturgie," 1961, NY, Ykuf Farlag, pp. 114-115. The translation was commissioned by Sabell Bender for use in her workshops on Yiddish theatre. (Are there any theatrical geneologists out there who can trace the apparent direct line from Hotzmekh to Groucho to Phil Silver's "Sgt. Bilko"? Or from the Little Girl to Fannie Brice's "Baby Snooks"? s'volt geven take tchikave.) Act 2, Scene 8--Hotzmekh comes into the market square Hotzmekh (starts shouting from backstage before entering): Notions! Notions! Garters of glass, spectacles of rubber, steel suspenders, pins of leather, kosher soaps, non-kosher purses, neither-meat-nor-dairy knives, red envelopes, white sealing wax, little combs, little brushes, little buttons, shirt studs-- buy them cheaply, honestly, I tell you in all seriousness, whover wants-- Little Girl: Hotzmekh, do you have English needles? Hotzmekh: English and then some-they don't speak a single word of French! And just how many do you need, little girl? Little Girl: A gross of needles. Hotzmekh: A gross? That quantity deserves an even lower price. (He sets down his pack and unties it.) Little Girl: How dear are your needles? Hotzmekh: Not dear. 30 kopeks. Little Girl: 30 kopeks? So dear? Hotzmekh: May I live as long enough to return home to my wife and many children as I myself paid more for them, but in honor of the sabbath, I'm willing to give them to you for less. Little Girl: It's too dear. I will pay you only 20 kopeks. Hotzmekh: Such a little girl, but still big enough to haggle over the price. Here, I'll let you have them for 25 kopeks and put out your pretty little hand so I can count them out for you. (Takes needles from a box and counts them into her hand.) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6xtell me, little girl, just how old are you exactly to be so good at haggling? Little Girl: I am 13 years old. Hotzmekh: That so? Do tell! 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20xand how old might your father be, long life to him? You think I don't know him, that red-headed thief, how old has he gotten to be? Little Girl: My father is about 35 years old. Hotzmekh: Isn't she a dickens, I ask you? First she fudged her age and now she's trying to fool with her father's age, too. Her father, she says, is about 35. That's okay, you can't fool me that easily. I happen to know that your father is easily around 40, you hear? 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50. Looking at me, little girl, just how old would you say I happen to be, taking into account my little beard and all, hah? Little Girl: How would I know? About 40, I'd guess. Hotzmekh: (Laughing.) 40 she says! I'm just a little bit closer to 60. Yes, yesx61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73. (Sighing) Oy, oy, oy, would that both of us would live as long as my zeyde. I had a grandfather, may he rest in peace, who lived to the ripe old age of 125! It's true, it's true! 125, 126, 127 (he counts up to 144). Look at that, little girl! There are five needles left. You can have them--I won't charge you anything extra for them. Is that fair? Herexand now give me the money and hurry on home. And make sure you don't lose any, or your mother might say that I didn't give you an honest count! (She pays him and exits.) Hershl Hartman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 23:07:27 EDT From: ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu Subject: Peti-meti here's one more trivia bit to add to the mystery of _peti-meti_. there is a song recorded by sarah gorby entitled _a bokher a hultay_, by kulbak i think. gorby's rendition, at least, includes the following code-switched lines: kumt tsu mir a poyer tsu, 'shto tshuvatsh, na sv'et'i?' entfer ikh un gib a bray, 'sv'et'i--p'et'im'et'i!' ...'what's new/vos hert zikh, in the world?' ...'the world--no big deal!' when i was transcribing it, i asked a russian speaker to translate the russian dialog and his translation for _peti-meti_ was 'no big deal, small potatoes'. he added that it's from french _petits-mets_. of course, i have no idea if this is correct or if it means the same thing in yiddish that it does in russian. ellen prince 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 20:29:14 -0700 (PDT) From: remiller@netcom.com Subject: Moyshe Oysher Rick Gildermeister mentioned the other day that Moyshe Oysher may have come from Kishinev in Bessarabia. My late mother -in-law used to say that Moyshe Oysher was from her home towm which was Lipcon, Bessarabia. Renee Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.397 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) 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 Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu