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As it turns out, there are quite a number of references to Zamenhof and
Yiddish on the web, in google books and elsewhere.<br><br>
There are several communications on the subject in: <br><br>
Mendele: Forum for Yiddish Literature and Yiddish Language<br>
<a href="http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/" eudora="autourl">
http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/<br><br>
</a>In the archive, links given to individual pieces don't work, but this
link to a zip file does:<br><br>
<a href="http://shakti.trincoll.edu/%7Emendele/vol06/vol06.zip">Volume
06.zip (zip format)</a> <br><br>
Some of the comments on Zamenhof are written in Yiddish, others in
English. Here I'll just deliver one tidbit.<br><br>
A comic poem:<br><br>
Hista bokhe le Zamenhofe<br>
Meyks mi lakhe on a sofe.<br>
Donerveter!
Sacremento!<br>
Eto sfoso
Esperanto!
<br><br>
In vol. 6.084, we find this post from Sholem Yafe:
<dl>
<dd>Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 01:05:50 -0400
<dd>From: lakejaffe@aol.com
<dd>Subject: Zamenhof and Yiddish<br>
<dd>Mention of Zamenhof reminds me of a bit of comic verse my father used
to enjoy quoting. If I remember correctly, it goes like this . .
.<br>
<dd>I'm sure some of you linguists can help identify the languages
represented in this kashe and botshvene. (I think my dad got it from Der
<dd>Groyser Kundes.)
</dl>A response came in vol. 6.085:
<dl>
<dd>Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 11:42:34 -0500
<dd>From: rturkel@cas.org
<dd>Subject: Zamenhof and Yiddish<br>
<dd>I think the base language here is Hebrew or Yiddish. I can't
make sense of it all, but the end of the first line is le-Zamenhof (to
Zamenhof); "bokhe" is probably Yiddish "bokher"
(young man), from the Hebrew "bakhur." Perhaps the
whole line is Yiddish - heyst a bokher Zamenhof. Then, "makes me
lakhn un a sof (Yiddish: laugh endlessly)." "Donnerwetter"
in German means "thunderstorm," and is a mild curse;
"Sacramento" is the capital of California, and looks to be
there purely for the rhyme. The first word in the last line is
Russian for "this," and the next word is surely Hebrew sof-sof
(in the end).<br>
<dd>The entire doggerel seems to be a play on the fact that Esperanto is
composed of elements of many different, unrelated languages.<br>
<dd>Hope this helps.<br>
<dd>Rick Turkel
</dl>Another response came in vol. 6.087:
<dl>
<dd>Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 15:59:31 +0200
<dd>From: stefan.balzter@musik.uni-giessen.de
<dd>Subject: Zamenhoff and Yiddish / comic poem<br>
<dd>Rick Turkel assumed in issue 6.085 that the word
"Sacremento" might be there just for the rhyme. Yet since the
first word of the line obviously is taken from the German language
("Donnerwetter"), I'd suggest to explain the second one
likewise: In German (mostly Bavarian), "Sakrament" is not only
the word for an ecclesiastical sacrament, but also a mild curse or a yell
of astonishment or surprise - just like the Donnerwetter.<br><br>
<dd>Stefan Balzter
</dl>I still don't know who wrote this piece of doggerel, but it's a
valuable piece of trivia nonetheless.<br>
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