yiddish

In a folk-singing group this morning, people were wondering about the meaning of the repeated word/sound "dona dona" in the song, Dona Dona--sometimes rendered Donna Donna, but originally transliterated Dana Dana. The sound in question is rendered דאַנאַ in Yiddish. The song was originally in...

Heavy-duty Yiddish/German talent required! The attached photograph is from a beautifully crafted bible that was given, in 1845, as a wedding present to a young couple in Vöhl, Germany and was later rescued from the garbage on the day after Kristallnacht. This bible was given to my mother in...

Hi, In Sergio Leone's film 'Once Upon a Time in America' there's this term used, 'Schtunk'. It is to be supposed to be a yiddish term, I gather. The film is about a band of gangsters in New York City, in the context of Jewish neighbourhood youths/criminals during prohibition. They use the term...

Please help me with the correct notation (in the Jewish script) of two Yiddish proverbs I heard from my grandmother when I was a kid. I never learned to read or write Yiddish or Hebrew, but my grandparents spoke Yiddish, so I can remember some words and phrases. Among them, there are two...

Does anyone know what that means in Hebrew? I took it from a youtube video using screen capture. I've looked at a bunch of different alphabets but none of the letters seem to match these symbol for symbol. Moderator note: This thread has been moved from the Hebrew forum, since the word is...

Hello people. I am reading "La famiglia Karnowski" (I.J.Singer, Di Mischpohe Karnowski, 1943) directly translated into Italian from Yiddish (2013). In the first pages of chapter 8 we meet a minor character, a young Jew, sort of wanderer student with Russian roots, extensive wandering all around...

Why is אָ pronounced [oː] here? In the video below: Yiddish Alphabet Video | Yiddish Book Center At least, that's what I hear... I can't find a rigorous source that says אָ is pronounced [oː] by either the Litvaks or the Poylisher Chassidim...

Sources disagree about whether יי is pronounced [ej] or [aj] in "Ukrainish" (Southeastern) Yiddish, but no source I checked says that both pronunciations are used (in SEY that is). Note that I'm only talking about יי, not ייַ.

Hi, So I am attempting to cite a Yiddish poem found in a Yiddish book that was scanned and put online in a database. I've decided to include the original Yiddish (in Hebrew characters) and a translation of the title, publisher, etc. Here is the title: עדעלשטאט'ס פאלקס-געדיכטע. נייע...

אָ as [o] in an open syllable and [ɔ] in a closed syllable but ע as [ɛ] consistently? From the alef-beys video here: Yiddish Alphabet Video | Yiddish Book Center Am I hearing that right? If so, is it a mixture of Western and Eastern traditions? If not, is it Western or Eastern, and how come...

Hi there. In the recently released film The Limehouse Golem there is a part where the actress is tricked into saying what she believes to be "enjoy the show" to a Victorian London audience consisting mainly of Jews. It apparently means "die quickly" (or "die soon", can't quite remember). I'd...

Good day, On the "Special Thanks" page of a book, the author lists the name of his wife and children, mentioning their names one by one, then the last of his children's name is followed by these two letters written this way: (K"H). I posted the question on the English Only forum and was...

Hello everybody, This is a question in yiddish, so that I hope I am in the right Forum. I remember that my parents used this word to describe a bad looking girl/woman. One theory is that the word comes from the hebrew מנובל (with a distorted meaning). Can you please confirm? Thanks in advance

According to one native speaker from New York 'where are you from' is 'fin vi bisti', 'and' is 'in' and so on. Is this how people speak today? Would 'fun vu bistu' be obsolete?

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet Some symbols/letters might not be written accurately. I tried to look at a Yiddish alphabet reference, and couldn't identify some of them.

Sholem! My question is on Yiddish dialects. The thing is that I'm very interested in learning Yiddish but it seems like there are multiple - very different - dialects. The study material I've used so has, for instance, claimed that there are three definite articles (that might change depending...

Can anyone who is well-versed in Modern Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic explain to me how to pronounce the a-type and i-type vowels in each? Whether they're "ih" and "uh", "ee" and "ah", or some other combination?

Hello, Is there anybody who could tell me about Yiddish? I want to use the words in bold in the Yiddish sentence (1) to make a sentence that corresponds to the English sentence (2). (1) Maks hot af der bine gezungen. (Max sang on the stage.) (2) The song sung on the stage (by Max) is my...

What does the Yiddish expression אָן אַ שיר (on a shir) mean? I have seen it used in a few songs to as an intensifier for love and other things and I imagine it has to mean something more than the literal "without a song". Examples: מײַן האַרץ טוט מיר וויי גאָר אָן אַ שיר (mayn harts tut mir...

I'd like to know if " מיר וועלן לעבן אויף אייביק " is grammatically correct and if not what should be the correct form. It should mean "we will live forever" but unfortunately I'm not so sure. Can anyone help me, please?

Hi. :) I've been listening to a song by a group called 'THE CHEVRA', called 'CHAI'. I know what that means... but there's a Hebrew word in there when singing a certain verse to HaShem in English, & I'd like to know what that word means. The verse goes... Oh, High & Mighty... forever...

Hi everyone, I'm reading S.Y Agnon and ran into this - אויסגירכנט הייטע. It's from his story פנים אחרות. "עכשיו רואה אותי טוני בניוולי. הרהר בלבו, אויסגירכנט הייטע, דווקא היום ריגן בין שפתיו" Does anyone know what that means?

I am using music software to format a version of the song טום־באַלאַלײַקע for a balalaika club. I need to put in the lyrics to help me keep track of where I am in the song, but I would like to do it in some sort of universal way. Is there a standard way for putting Yiddish lyrics into sheet...

Hi everybody! I am translating a book from French and there are some words in hebrew in it, as the family of tha main character is Jewish. I am not sure if that is also the case with the word "plotke", and therefore I'm asking you to help me. Is it hebrew? Or Yiddish? According to the context...

Hey everyone, So I was listening to this video (<<link removed by moderator>>) and he said that there is a yiddish word for when you deeply care for someone that their success feels like your success. He said it was "naa khiss"...Anyone know the etymology as well as how to properly say/write...

Hello, My friend does not speak Hebrew but when he went to Google Translate he put in some unknown text, translated it and then said this to me: "איר גייז שמעק". I have no idea what this means, but when I went to Google Translate and went from Hebrew to English, it said "Air GAY Ongoing" and...

Hi all, I'm doing something about "testimonial literature" (literatura testimonial, Zeugnisliteratur), notably the literature written by eyewitnesses or survivors of terrible events like the Nazi camps or Gulag camps. I'm trying to do a little artwork with the term in different languages...

Hi all, I am working on a stage play about Mayor LaGuardia, and there is a short Yiddish passage in the text that I think was written phonetically, only to be pronounced. We think the rough translation is as follows: "My Yiddish friends from the state of New York, your support for Fiorello...

Hi there, Am reading The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine. One passage is about Joseph and Betty meeting a mediator (as they are getting a divorce). Here it is, "The mediator did not smile. But she did hold out her hand and introduce herself. Her name was Nina Britsky. A...

Shalom to everyone, First of all, excuse me if probably my question is odd. I've been talking to Sefardis from different places in Europe and Asia and they have a common Spanish tongue sprinkled with local words from the lands where they live (or lived) and it's rather the same old Castilian...

Yes, this is from the song טום־באַלאַלײַקע. I have two questions: 1. What does it mean? (The stones in caves grow only with water, so what kind of shteyn is meant?) 2. Would פֿאַרשטיין make sense here, or would it need to be something like פֿאַרשטענדעניש?

Hi everybody! I wonder if the expressions "OY Gevalt!", "Buhbie" and "Bubeleh" are in use among Italian Jews too. I checked their meaning on Urban Dictionary, so I just need to know if they are used in Italy too and if not, if there's a similar expression in use among Italian Jews. Thank you!

Hello! Could somebody please tell me what the words "es dich git un" mean in the following sentence: הֶער זִיךְ צוּ פֵייטֶעלֶע מַיינֶער, דוּ הָאסְט בִּיכְלַל נִישְׁט קֵיין פֶּעקְל, אוּן אַבְרֶעימְל הָאט אַזַא גְרוֹיסֶע אָנְגֶעפִילְטֶע זַאק מִיט נַאשׁ, זֵיי נִישְׁט קֵיין נַאר, בַּאלְד ווֶען...

Hello everyone, I've been wondering for quite a while now about the roots of the word for jewish prayer/praying: to daven/davening (Yinglish) resp. דאַוונען davnen. Somewhere I've come across the suggestion it may be traced back to "office divin" (french: divine service), but I have no...

Hello, In the context of a post match interview last week-end ; Paul 'O Connell, captain of the Munster rugby team said "I think we started off really well, and I suppose the schmozzel there, kind of put us off our game a bit, and we stopped playing." I know that it means a mistake or...

Hello! I was reading a children's book in Yiddish named "דער אינגער מתמיד"/"Der yinger masmid" and I didn't quite understand the following sentence: דער קדושת יום טוב זי’’ע האט זיך דאן געפונען אין די שטאט קרעניץ, וואו ער איז געפארן אויף אפרו אין די בעדער אויף עטליכע וואכן, און ער האט אהין...

I have a partial text from a postcard (Russia 1918). First of all: is it Yiddish? Second, can anyone help with approximate translation. Thank you

Hi, I'm already back with a new sentence: « Mir huben rachmones tzu dir moydia zein vegen dee Niftoyres foon dein veib Bessa. » Does that mean something like: "We regret to inform you of the death of your wife Bessa" (in French: "Nous avons le regret de t'annoncer le décès de ta femme...

Hi, I'm reading a play based on the book "Tuesdays with Morrie". Morrie is an old Jewish teacher in Sociology and uses from time to time Yiddish expressions like: "Mitch has a good brain. Shana cup. He was very good at writing, very good at sports." which I will try to translate by...

Bonsoir, Bon, peut-être suis-je trop optimiste mais je tente toujours... oui, il s'agit d'un passage yiddish dans un livre américain, donc je me dis que peut-être quelqu'un saurait m'éclairer. "farhaltisht deine licht unter a shorten", je tente avec mes béotiens souvenirs d'allemand: "Ne...

Hello... I have a tattoo on my back that is supposed to say Psalm 23, from the Bible (not the verse but the actual word "Psalms") in Yiddish but I have my doubts that it is 100% correct. I'm hoping that someone can give me a correct translation in Hebrew Yiddish characters!? Anyones help would...

Hola a todos. ¿Alguien tiene remota idea de los que es 'pintel a yid'? Ni siquiera estoy segura de si es inglés, podría ser algún termino judío. Gracias.

alguien sabe qué quiere decir "oy vaï smir"? Creo que es una expresión insertada en un contexto judío...

Hi, I would like to ask for help in translation of the script on the back of the early 20th century photo. The scanned image of the script is attached. I visited local Synagogue and asked the rabbi's apprentice to translate the script. He could name only a few letters. He said it's Yiddish...

Hi to you all In the Yiddish Bible you find "Liebepelech" for "mandrake" in English or "Glückswürzel" in German. Does anybody know where this word "pelech" comes from? Thanks

Hi! I'd like to know how to say "Maccabee" in Yiddish :) Thanks in advance

This is a song by the Andrews Sisters, but does anyone knows what they say? 'schon' or 'schön'? for me it makes more sense the second one than the first one. Any ideas?

Hi, people. I was reading Kafka's Trial in a Yiddish version, where the first sentence goes like: A ponem az emetser hob Josef K. געמסרט; "gemsrt"? Is it a Hebrew word or there's an underspecified vowel here?

Hi! I would like to know what is the etymology of "lobus" (little monster in Yiddish). Thanks in advance! Bartocus ;)