Re: KLEZMER IN THE WEDDING

[Sigward Birnbaum <maubnrib...>]

 --- Kame'a Media <media (at) kamea(dot)com> wrote: > 
> 
> itzik (at) mindspring(dot)com wrote:
> 
> > I THINK BERT GOT IT RIGHT. THERE WERE SOME
> WEDDINGS IN WINTER BUT LIKE
> > TODAY PEOPLE LIKE TO HAVE THE WEDDING IN THE
> SPRING. AND YES THEY
> > WOULD CUT HAIR TO MAKE A LIVING. THIS ALSO
> INVOLVED BEING A 'FELDSHER'
> > A BARBER-SURGEON.
> 
> Hi Itzik:
> 
> A "feldsher" was a folk-healer or
> herbalist/naturopath.  They may have
> lanced a boil, etc.
> but were not invasive surgeons.
> The "feld" would represent the "field" where the
> healing plants would
> have come from.
> 
> Wolf

Hi Wolf,

Might be so, but in all Germanic languages I know
(German, Danish, Swedish) the "feld" represents the
"battlefield". "Ein Feldscher" (German) or "en
fältskär" (Swedish) was the combined barber, herbal
doctor and surgeon of the army (which in Europe in
these times - the word must at least be documented
since the 15th century) was a highly nomading entity.
I think this (Feld = battlefield) is the original
meaning. In these languages there were then other
words for civil doctors. The last part of the word is
of course "sher" as in the dance; the German "scheren"
means "cut". So originally this is, I think, a loan
from German which has in Yiddish lost its military
over-tones.

Best wishes,
Sigward


> 
> > THE FIDDLER MOYSHE NUSSBAUM WHOM I RECORDED IN THE
> > BRONX FROM WESTERN POLAND WAS MY BARBER AND HE
> STILL HAD HIS BOX OF
> > 'BANKES' (CUPPING-GLASSES). THESE
> KLEZMER-PROFESSIONS WERE GENERATIONS
> > OLD- ITZIK
> >
> > are mostly out-of-doors scenes. It's always
> summertime in the 19th
> > Century.
> >
> > Yes, I know the chuppah-under-the-stars is the
> preferred way to go.
> >
> > Update: not too many folks nowadays get married in
> the winter in
> > Cleveland
> > either, but on a limited basis the bar mitzvah
> bashes (nonexistent in
> > Europe) keep rolling along.
> >
> > So what did the old-time klezmorim do in the
> winter?  Cut hair?
> >
> > Bert Stratton
> > http://www.yiddishecup.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
> ---------------------+
>