# Yiddish: אַ שטיין/פֿאַרשטיין קען וואַקסן



## Forero

Yes, this is from the song טום־באַלאַלײַקע.

I have two questions:

1. What does it mean? (The stones in caves grow only with water, so what kind of shteyn is meant?)

2. Would פֿאַרשטיין make sense here, or would it need to be something like פֿאַרשטענדעניש?


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## duvija

A stone/ understanding may grow.
I believe it's something like 'even a stone may grow if 'it/she' understands.'


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## Forero

Hi, Duvija. And thank you for responding.

Most of the lyrics sources for this song have the words as "אַ שטיין קען וואַקסן, וואַקסן אָן רעגן" but one website I found says "אַ שטיין" may be a mondegreen for "פֿאַרשטיין" though nobody sings it that way. I was just wondering if either "A shteyn kan vaksn on regn" or "Farshteyn kan vaksn on regn" makes sense at all.

I love the rest of the song, and it makes a lot of sense to me. And I would like to understand the _vaksn on regn_ part too:

_Vos ken vaksn, vaksn on regn? A shteyn. _(or should it be _Farshteyn_?)_
Vos ken brenen un nisht oyfhern? Libe.
Vos ken benken, veynen on trern? A harts.
Vos iz hekher fun a hoyz? A koymen.
Vos iz flinker fun a moyz? A kats.
Vos iz tifer fun a kval? Di Toyre.
Vos iz biter, bitrer vi gal? Der Toyt._


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## arielipi

I believe its_ A shteyn ken vaksn, vaksn on regn.
_Yiddish is a mix of hebrew,german,english and a  bit russian; Farshteyn is two-words-combined - far is fire, shteyn is stein is rock.
Now,  if farshteyn, it can be lava,coals. 
Do you know the lyrics and their meaning, because a shteyn makes more sense after reading the translated lyrics[and i read both hebrew and english].
Perhaps a german could help too, as they influenced yiddish the most.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbalalaika
It has the lyrics right there.


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## StinaMT

I’ve no knowledge at all of Yiddish.

But “a stone, growing with water in a cave” reminds me very much of stalagmites and stalactites. 

Does this make sense?


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## arielipi

Did you guys read the lyrics? Its not in a cave, its a stone. What can grow, grow without rain, to which she answers stone can grow,grow without rain.
You missed the point of this song...


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## duvija

Yes, it's 'grow without rain'. I also believe it's 'a stone' but 'farshtein' would be a nice idea (albeit it had to be nominalized first). And there is no 'cave ' anywhere in the song.
(Just in case, Yiddish is not 'a mix of...' even if it looks this way.)


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## berndf

Forero said:


> Most of the lyrics sources for this song have the words as "אַ שטיין קען וואַקסן, וואַקסן אָן רעגן" but one website I found says "אַ שטיין" may be a mondegreen for "פֿאַרשטיין" though nobody sings it that way. I was just wondering if either "A shteyn kan vaksn on regn" or "Farshteyn kan vaksn on regn" makes sense at all.


I can't really see any ambiguity in the sentence which, as arielipi and duvija said, means
_A stone can grow, grow without rain._



Forero said:


> I love the rest of the song, and it makes a lot of sense to me. And I would like to understand the _vaksn on regn_ part too:
> 
> _Vos ken vaksn, vaksn on regn? A shteyn. _(or should it be _Farshteyn_?)


Here it says the same thing:
_What can grow, grow without rain? A stone.

_Compare to the logic of the other lines:





Forero said:


> _Vos ken brenen un nisht oyfhern? Libe.
> Vos ken benken, veynen on trern? A harts.
> Vos iz hekher fun a hoyz? A koymen.
> Vos iz flinker fun a moyz? A kats.
> Vos iz tifer fun a kval? Di Toyre.
> Vos iz biter, bitrer vi gal? Der Toyt._


_What can burn and not stop? Love.
What can long/yearn/suffer, cry without tears? A heart.
What is higher than a house? A chimney.
What is faster than a mouse? A cat.
What is deeper than a source/spring/well? The Torah.
What is bitter, bitter as bile? The death._

EDIT: Forero, I know, you can read German perfectly. I'll give you a translation to German with the correct cognates (except _fun _which I will translate as _als _as the translation _von_ wouldn't make sense). That might help you to understand the individual words, especially the _vaksn on regn_ part which you expressly asked for:

_Was kann wachsen, wachsen ohne Regen? Ein Stein.
Was kann brennen und nicht aufhören? Liebe.
Was kann bangen, weinen ohne Tränen? Ein Herz.
Was ist höher als ein Haus? Ein Kamin.
Was ist flinker als eine Maus? Eine Katze.
Was ist tiefer als eine Quelle? Die Torah.
Was ist bitter, bitter wie Galle? Der Tod._


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## arielipi

Note yourself that stone in hebrew is used to describe a cold-hearted person- meaning, he is not very nice and such...


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## berndf

arielipi said:


> Farshteyn is two-words-combined - far is fire, shteyn is stein is rock.


No, this has nothing to do with a stone, _fire stone_ would be פֿײַערשטיין.

פֿאַרשטיין is a verb: _far-_ is a prefix (an intensifier) and _steyn_ means _to stand_. The whole verb means _to understand_. Etymologically, _farshteyn _is derived from German _verstehen=to understand_ and is the same as English _to forstand_ which in dialectal speech can also mean _to understand_.


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## Forero

duvija said:


> Yes, it's 'grow without rain'. I also believe it's 'a stone' but 'farshtein' would be a nice idea (albeit it had to be nominalized first). And there is no 'cave ' anywhere in the song.
> (Just in case, Yiddish is not 'a mix of...' even if it looks this way.)


Are you saying "(dos) farshteyn" could work, or would it have to take a different form?

I am also curious if Yiddish has a word for "understanding" that means "emphathy"/"ability to really listen" rather than "intelligence"/"grasp".

And if "a shteyn" is really what is meant, am I off track to keep thinking about a geological explanation? Is the meaning something obvious, or is the answer meant to be as mysterious as the question?


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## Forero

berndf said:


> Was ist bitter, bitter wie Galle? Der Tod.[/I]


The Yiddish word for the second _bitter_ here is the comparative, equivalent to _bittrer_, but then why the switch from _fun_ (= als?) to _vi_?


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## duvija

Forero said:


> The Yiddish word for the second _bitter_ here is the comparative, equivalent to _bittrer_, but then why the switch from _fun_ (= als?) to _vi_?



'than' vs 'like'?


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## berndf

Forero said:


> The Yiddish word for the second _bitter_ here is the comparative, equivalent to _bittrer_, but then why the switch from _fun_ (= als?) to _vi_?


Sorry, I did overlook the comparative ending. I have no idea why there is a switch. I have no idea why you would use _fun_ (_=of, from, by, _cognate to German _von_) with the comparative in the first place so I can't tell you why not in this case. But I wouldn't put interpret too much into it. There are many variations of the lyrics. This one, e.g., uses _far_ (cognate to German _vor_).


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## arielipi

Perhaps it *is* influenced by hebrew/english there, as we would say hes cold as a stone/ hes got feelings of a stone(=like a stone); Meaning hes emotionless, and 'frozen' people can grow frozenier on nothing, look at depressed/agonied people. Post #5 even strengthens this view.


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