Re: Yiddish terms, klezmer surnames

[Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD...>]

Bill Barabash <billb (at) harlequin(dot)com> wrote:
> 
> Eve Sicular <SICULAR (at) aol(dot)com> wrote:
>  
> > Yiddish for drummer is <<poykler>> (var. "paykler"), from the instrument
> > <<poyk>>.  As in the Rebbi Eli Meylekh lyric.
> 
> I was told that my surname "Barabash" means "drummer".  Maybe it's
> a regional thing;  my father's father grew up in the Bessarabian
> shtetl Benderi.
> 
As soon as I saw your name, I realized that "Barabash" must be 
"drummer."  The "-ash" ending is like "primash" or "kontrash" in
Hungarian.  Surnames are important for klezmer history,
as they indicate common instruments, at least as they existed in
1787 or 1812 (which I think were when laws requiring surnames were
passed in Austria-Hungary and Russia).  Are there others besides
the ones that follow (obviously there are spelling variations)?:

    Spielman
    Musiker, Musicus, Musikant
    Fiedel, Fiedelman, Fiedler
    Zimbler, Zimbalist, Zimbelman
    Basist, Bass
    Pauker 
    Barabash
    
    The fiddle/tsimbl/buben combination seems to be more concentrated 
in the north (Latvia, Russian areas bordering Belarus, etc.), but the 
baraban and buben seem to both be used in Belarus.  Then in Ukraine, 
the baraban, rather than the buben, seems to be standard.  
Interestingly, in Polish Galicia, drum or tambourine aren't used, but
the bass (basolja) and second fiddle are (like Hungary, etc.).  I'm 
talking about peasant music here, but the instrumental combinations 
are also valid for klezmorim, since they probably introduced them to 
those areas.

Paul Gifford




perhaps it is a bit much to distinguish a baraban from a buben.