Re: lyrics to "Shnirele or SHIRELE

[Dick Rosenberg <mashke...>]

I thought "fon" meant "banner", not fan, as in Oyfn Pripitchik

Der bakomt a fon

(Whoever learns Hebrew quickly)

That one received a banner

But I don't claim to be an expert in Yiddish (more like an interested
observer :-)

Dick

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sam Weiss" <SamWeiss (at) bellatlantic(dot)net>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: lyrics to "Shnirele or SHIRELE


> At 02:40 PM 12/26/03, Sylvia Schildt wrote:
> >Has anyone come across the alternative "Shirele, Perele.?  Prof. Dov Noy
> >suggested that the words shnirele, perele are incorrect and make no sense
> >anyway. Shirele, perele, a little song a little pearl, makes more sense,
> >he argues. Any opinions?
>
> Semantically "A little song, a little pearl" makes less sense than "A
> little string [of pearls], a little pearl."  "Shirele," moreover, does not
> mean "little song" in straightforward Yiddish, but is a girl's name, as is
> Perele -- thus the two words may hang together semantically somewhat
better
> than  "shnirele perele."  But then the following phrase ("golden fan")
> makes even less sense than it does  after "a little string , a little
> pearl" since in the latter version the three share the characteristic of
> being objects.
>
>
> _____________________________________________________________
> Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ
>
>
>
>


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