"Hop! Mayne homentashn" is a Yiddish Purim Song.

Yente Deborah is originally "Yachne Dvoshe" in Yiddish. "Yachne" was a given name that fell out of fashion. It means the same as "Yente" which was also a given name. Both are pejorative words that refer to a gossipy, meddling woman.

The pronunciation can be found in the Song Notes below.

Notes

Lyrics: Yitzhak Pirozshnikov (1859 - 1933) – He was born in Ukraine and immigrated to the US.
Tune: Ukrainian humorous folk song Пішла мати на село "Pishla maty na selo" (Mother Went to the Village).

Transliteration of Yiddish Text:

Yachne Dvoshe fort in shtot,
Zi halt zikh in eyn pakn,
Zi darf af Purim koyfn mel,
Homentashn bakn.

Refrain:
Hop! Mayne homentashn
Hop, mayne vayse
Hop, mit mayne homentashn
Hot pasirt a mayse!

S'geyt a regn, s'geyt a shney,
S'kapet fun di dekher
Yakhne trogt shoyn korn-mel,
In a zak mit lekher.

Refrain

Nisht kayn honig, nisht kayn mon,
Un fargesn heyvn,
Yachne macht shoyn homentashn,
Es bakt zich shoyn in oyvn.

Refrain

Yakhne trogt shoyn shalachmones
Tsu der mume Yente,
Tsvey dray shvartse homentashn,
Halb roy, halb farbrente!

Refrain

*****

Norman Kasser wrote:

"My Yiddish instructor had a different translation for the first line of 'Hop! Mayne Homentashen' that I would like to pass on to you.

She said, 'Yente Deborah goes to town, she keeps on packing [prior to leaving].
She said, 'haltn zikh in eyn' means 'to keep doing something continually'."

Comments

The chorus is often sung twice in a row and the 2nd to last verse is often omitted.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Norman Kasser for his correspondence!

Image: 3 Hamantashen. At top: Poppy seed. Bottom left: Raspberry. Right: Apricot. Photographed in New Orleans, Purim, wikimedia, cc.