Re: Zmire?

[SamWeiss <SamWeiss...>]

'Zemirah' is OK in Hebrew, but 'zmire' as a Yiddish word is a 
back-formation which has no real standing.  The Yiddish singular is indeed 
rarely heard, but when necessary the word is 'zemer', which Weinreich 
incorrectly defines as meaning only "tune", whereas it more strictly means 
"song" (i.e. with lyrics). "Tune" is 'nign' or 'melodye'.  A secular song 
is, of course, 'lid' -- a word that could never apply to a shabes hymn.

At 04:40 PM 5/14/02, itzik gottesman wrote:
>I have run into the word "zmire/zmiro" in  recent liner notes and books in 
>the sense of the singular of shabes "zmiros/zmires" and am perplexed by 
>it, having never heard it in Yiddish.  I see that the word exists in 
>Alcalays hebrew dictionary as "song, hymn" but only in the plural entry in 
>the dictionary does it have the additional meaning of "Sabbath hymns". Is 
>it used in modern Hebrew in the singular for " a sabbath hymn"? When I 
>asked my Hasidic co-workers about this usage they say there is no singular 
>of "zmires" in the sabbath context. Can someone enlighten me? -

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