Special thanks to E.D. Rosenberger for his invaluable assistance in locating these materials
Translation: Prof. Jürg Fleischer
A Hanukka ghost
Speaker 1: What a nice Hanukkah we always had. How jolly it used to be, when the girls played together. I once invited nineteen [girls], it was wonderful.
Speaker 2: Yes, we also used to make nice invitations. But we went to play once, down in the village, and when we went home, a black cat crossed the street. And Lina and I, we were afraid, and we stood for more than half an hour on the bridge, and didn’t go home until somebody came and got us. But the invitations used to be very nice. And when we were little, we used to play “Grisch”, everyone chipped in a centime or a five centime piece [into a pile of bran], and everyone received a pile, and the blessing thereof was that the entire floor was full of bran.
Speaker 1: And once we played at Mrs. König’s. After that we went home, it was around half past one. I went first and put a sheet over my head, and sat right in the middle of the street. And when the girls came down, a shrieking began, there is a ghost down there! [laughs] And then I went home and to this day I’ve never found out what the girls did after that. If they… how they got home. The next day the entire village was full of the news that a ghost had been there that night!
Speaker 1: duː, ʋi hen miːr als ə preɕtigə xanigə gheːt dəhaːm, ʋi luʃtig is əs als gəʋeː, ʋen dou di maːdliɕ tsamə gʃpilt hen, (ə) hab əmol nointseiən ãĩgəladə ghet, s ʋundərʃøn gəʋeːzə.
Speaker 2: jɔ, ʋir hen ax aləʋail ʃeini ãĩladiŋə gəmaxt, abər miːr sin əmol gəʋeː gə ʃpiːlə, am dɔrf undə. un ʋu mər haːm kaŋə sin, is ə ʃʋatsi kʰats ibər də ʃtraus ibərə gəlofə. uːn di liːnən un iç, mi hen mɔːrə ghet, uns mei as ə halb ʃtund sin mir dɔt uf də bruk obə ʃtẽĩ gəblibə, un sin gaːr nid hãːm gaŋə, bis dɔt nɔx epər kʰumən is un uns mitgənomə hot. abə ʃẽĩ sin di ãĩladiŋə dɔx gəʋeː. un ʋo mər klãː sin gəʋeː, hemər als gəgriʃəlt, un hen jeːdəs ə rapən ãĩə, oːdər ə halb batsən ãĩə gədõũ, un nɔxd hot jeːdəs ə haufə bəkʰumə, und dər seːgə dəfõː is gəʋeː, das dər gaːnts bodə folə griʃ gəʋeːzən is.
Speaker 1: un mər hen əmoul gʃpiːlt, bai də kʰinigən. dərnɔxd simər haːm gaŋgə, is epə halbər tsʋaiə gəʋeːzə. nɔxdə bin iç fəraus gaŋə, un hab ə laintux ibər əm kʰopf gənumə, und bin mits in dər ʃtrous ãĩə gsesə. und ʋu di maːdliɕ aːbə kʰumə sin, is ə gəgøis nɔːxgaŋə, s sei ə gaiʃt dundə. [laughs] un dərnox bin iːɕ haːm gaŋə un iːɕ ʋaːs hãĩt nɔni, ʋas di maːdliɕ gəmaxt hen nɔːxər. ob siː... ʋi si haːm kʰumə sind. dər andər taːg is s gants dɔr(ə)f fol gəʋeː, s sei ə... ə gaiʃt gəʋeːzə tsnaːxt.
This conversation between two speakers of Swiss Western Yiddish Berta Schmuklerski-Guggenheim, born 1878 Endingen (since 1915 lived in Zürich) and Robertine Wyler-Bloch, born on 1881 Endingen (since 1908 lived in Brugg, and since 1947 lived in Zürich) was recorded in 1957. Among other things, they talk about a game called “Grisch” (literally “bran”): Coins are put into a pile of bran, every child gets a part of it and then searches it to find a coin. A literal translation of this recording complete with a linguistic commentary can be found in Fleischer (2005: 171–173, in German).
Source: Fleischer, Jürg. 2005. Surbtaler und Hegauer Jiddisch: Tonaufnahmen und Texte zum Westjiddischen in der Schweiz und Südwestdeutschland. Tübingen: Niemeyer, pp. 171–173