[Fwd: Re: lyrics question: iz + geven]

[Kame'a Media <media...>]

Kevin Cohen wrote:
> 
> so, let's if i've got it:
> 
> mir iz shiker geven 'i was drunk'
> du bist a naar geven 'you were a fool'
> zayn fon iz libshaft geven 'his banner was love'
> mir zenen soldaten geven 'we were soldiers'
> zey zenen bekhen fun bromfn 'they were rivers of whiskey'
> 
Dear Kevin:

Many  native Yiddish-speakers are likely to say:
<ikh bin shiker geven> or <ikh bin geven shiker>
Likewise, <geven> could come before <a naar>, <libshaft>, and <soldatn>.

The Yiddish for "river" is <taykh>.  <Bekhem> is possibly an erroneous
 <bekher> ("goblet").   Unless you intend your last line to be poetic, I
think you mean:  <es zenen geven taykhn fun bronfn> or
 <es zenen taykhn fun bronfn geven> ("There were rivers of whiskey")

Wolf Krakowski
http://www.kamea.com