Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Yiddish counting-out game/ Считалка на иврите/ Viena žydų skaičiuotė

Here is the video record of old enough Jewish counting out game (אויסגעצעלונג), which played before seek-and-hide (באהאלטענעס):

(Recorded in Vilnius 2011 by Dovid Katz from Ruvn Seligman from Šilalė in Žemaitija, or in Jewish geographie: Šilal in Zamut.)

Text goes in Ashkenazic Hebrew and in the end switches to Russian and then to Lithuanian:

אֲנִי הַלְכָּתִּי בַּדֶרֶך
וּפָגַע בִּי
אִיש חָזָק
,שְׁמוֹ קָזָק
,נֶעגײַקֶע בְּיָדוִ
.נעֶחאַווֶע בְּצִידּוִ
:אָמַר אֵלַי
,דֶענגִי דאַוואַי
,פִּינֶעגוּ ניעֶטוּרִי
.וואַזשוּאָק נאַמאָ
Ani holáxti ba-dérex
u-fóga bí,
íš xozók,
šmó kozók:
Nagájke be-juódi,
nexáv’e be-tsídi,
ómer eláj:
Dén’gi daváj!
Pinigų neturi,
važiuok namo.
I went by the road
and met to me
a strong man
named Kozok,
nagayka (lash) in his hand,
? on his side,
He told to me:
(Russian:) Give me money!
(Lithuanian:) (if) you don't have money,
(then) ride home.

Here are given other variants of this counting-out game, the earliest is:

אֲנִי הָלַכְתִּי בַּדֶּרֶךְ
וּפָגַע בִּי אִישׁ חָזָק,
וּשְׁמוֹ קָאזַאק.
נַאגַאיְקֶע בְּיָדוֹ,
וְחֶרֶב בְּצִדּוֹ.
אָמַר אֵלַי:
דֶענְגִי דַאװַאי!
אֵיינְס, צְװֵיי, דְרַיי —
דוּ גֵעהְסְט פְרַיי!
Ani holachti ba-Derech
Upoga bi Isch chosok,
Uschmei Kosak.
Nagaike b’Jodei,
W’Cherew b’Zidei.
Omar eilai:
Djenjgi dawai!
Eins, zwei, drai —
Du geihst frai!
(Recorded in Vilnius/Wilno and in Kaunas/Kowno region: Д.Г.Гальпернъ (Вильна). Б.М.Кассель и А.Д.Пикъ (Ковенск. губ.). Quoted from С.М.Гинсбург, П.С.Марек. Еврейские народные песни. СПб., 1901. №84..)

Another variant is published in 1910, without Lithuanian, but including Hebrew-Russian word play, where Hebrew words are interpreted by Cossak as Russian words, "dam" is Hebrew דַם 'blood' and Russian дам 'I shall give' and so on. It seems to be rather a funny poem, than a counting-out game, unlike two above.

Holachti baderech
Upoga bi isch chosok
Uschmei Kosak
W'nagajke b'jodei
W'cherew b'zidei
W'omar eilai
"Djenjgi dawaj!"
W'omarti lei
Dal ani
W'omar li
Komu ti dal
W'hiko oissi b'nagaike
Schloischo p'omim
Ad schejoz'u domim
W'omarti lei
Dam, dam, dam!
W'omar li
Wot tak-sche gowori
Ich ging des Weges
Und es begegnete mir ein kräftiger Mann;
Sein Namen ist Kosak,
Und eine Peitsche was in seiner Hand
Und ein Schwert an seiner Seite
Und er sagte mir:
Geld gib!
Und ich sagte ihm:
(russ.) Ich habe gegeben, (hebr.: ich bin arm)
Und er sagte mir:
Wem hast du gegeben?
Und er schlug mich mit der Peitsche
Dreimal,
Daß Blut floß.
Und ich sagte ihm:
(hebr.) Blut, blut, blut (oder russ.: "Ich werde geben")!
(Da) sagte er mir:
(russ.) Hättest du so vorhin gesprochen!
(S.Beilin. Jüdische Kinderlieder und Spiele aus Rußland // Mitteilungen Zur Jüdischen Volkskunde. Vol. 13. No. 4 (36). 1910. S.128.)

Here one can observe peculiar evolution of vov-ending (ידו): from [oi] to [ei] and then to [i] in Šilalė variant.

UPD: for more variants see here.

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