Re: Yiddish on List (was: Itsy Bitsy Spider and other Liturgucal Themes)

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

Vocabulary from my latest post:

Hayom--today-- (Hebrew)  The name of a prayer sung on the Rosh Hashana.
(Strengthen us today...)
Rosh Hashana-- (Hebrew) Rosheshone (Yiddish pronunciation) Jewish New Year
Adoshem, Adoshem, Keyl Rakhum v'Khanun (Hebrew)--The Lord, G-d is a
merciful and gracious G-d. (Adoshem and Keyl are substitutes for the name
of G-d which are not written out except in holy books or spoken except in
actual prayer.)
chazn or khazn--(Yiddish) chazzan (Hebrew) --Cantor
Yomim Naroyim  (Yiddish), Yamim Naroyim (Hebrew)-- Days of Awe--the High
Holidays
rakhmones--(Yiddish pronunciation)--mercy, pity, compassion
davenen--(Yiddish--infinitive)--To pray in the way that Jews traditionally
pray, i.e. to chant the prayers, sometimes aloud, sometimes in an
undertone, sometimes silently while mouthing the words, while swaying
(shoklen). (Note:  the word davening, as I used it in my post, is
Yinglish--adding an English ending to the Yiddish root.)
Shabbos--(Yiddish)--Shabbat (Hebrew)--the Sabbath, Saturday
Minkhe--The afternoon service
nusakh (Yiddish/Hebrew) --melodic patterns that are the building blocks of
the chanting for prayer.  Each service has it's own characteristic nusakh
that is in a particular musical mode.  High Holidays, Shabbos, festivals,
fast days, week days, each have their own nusakh for morning service,
additional service, afternoon service, Torah service, et c.  Nusakh can be
applied to any paragraph by using an opening pattern, a middle pattern and
its variants, and a closing pattern so that each paragraph or each time a
paragraph is chanted it can be different from the other paragraphs in a
given service, but be consistent with them and convey a consistent mood.
Although I heard one teaching tape pronounce that there is one proper
system of nusakh, so that Jews all over the world chanting traditional
nusakh would be chanting with the same melodic patterns for any given
service, I believe that there are many regional variations.  I have, for
example, a tape of a rabbi who worked in Trieste for three years singing
some prayers in the nusakh of Trieste that seemed different from any other
nusakh I've ever heard.

At 2:46 AM 3/2/98, elliott wrote:
>            Do you know if there is a Yiddish or Hebrew Dictionary on
>the internet?
>                        ellllll     eli-ah-hoo

Maybe that would be a better way of doing this.  It took me more time to
write out this vocabulary list than it took to write the original posting.
Ari-- do you think your website could have a vocabulary page with words in
Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Farsi, etc. that are commonly used in the
discussion of Jewish music?  People who use words that are unfamiliar to
readers could be encouraged to contribute to the page.


Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
413-624-3204
http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn