Re: Possible spoiler - "I married him"

Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
"jerry_friedman@xxxxxxxxx" <jerry_friedman@xxxxxxxxx> writes:


To say something on topic, that book's plural of "zuz" as "zuz"
strikes me as odd, since that's not how you usually form plurals in
any of the relevant languages. Though I've seen such plurals
elsewhere.


It struck me as odd, as well, but that seems to be the way it's
typically given.


Maybe the best bet is "zuzes", like "marks" (remember them?),
"rupees", "dirhams".

I've also seen "bi-trey zuzey" translated as "for two zuzim", bringing
a whole other language into it.


We always sang it as "b'srey zuzey", but I learned it from Ashkenzi
speakers. I had thought that that was closer to Aramaic
pronunciation, but the Wikipedia article on the language implies that
[t] (or possibly [T]) is more likeley.

I also learned it from Ashkenazim but with the same pronunciation as Jerry.


It may also, of course, be the case that there was a bit of
inflation between the time the Mishnah was written and the time
Chad Gadya was written. Wikipedia doesn't give a date for the
last, but says "It is believed to have developed from Medieval
German folk music," which would put it a fair bit later.

I didn't know that. But since the zuz was no longer current by
then, the question is where someone got the price of a kid. It
might also be from the Mishnah. In fact, for all I know, the price
of a kid given in some ancient source may date from some time
earlier than the rabbinical calculation of a year's sustenance.


My best guess is that, like the rest of the song, the "two" is
allegorical. The most plausible guess I've seen is that "father"
(God) buys the "kid" (Israel) for "two zuzim" (the two tablets of the
covenant).


Which is what I was taught at cheder.

Wolf Mankowitz's book and film of the 1950s "A Kid for Two Farthings" is a touching (some may think overly sentimental) reference to this.

[<wonders> Is this my STS for the day or will I trip over something else in another post?]

--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
.

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