"Im schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon" ("In

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...

's Black Whale") is a popular academic

commercium song Commercium songs are traditional academic songs that are sung during academic feasts: commercia and tablerounds. Some very old commercium songs are in Latin, like '' Meum est propositum'' or '' Gaudeamus igitur''. In some countries, hundreds ...

. It was known as a beer-drinking song in many German speaking ancient universities.

Joseph Victor von Scheffel Joseph Victor von Scheffel (16 February 1826 – 9 April 1886) was a German poet and novelist. Biography He was born at Karlsruhe. His father, a retired major in the Baden army, was a civil engineer and member of the commission for regulating the ...

provided the lyrics under the title ''Altassyrisch'' ( Old Assyrian) 1854, the melody is from 1783 or earlier.

Content

The lyrics reflect an endorsement of the

bacchanalia The Bacchanalia were unofficial, privately funded popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia. They were almost certainly associated with Rome's native cult of Liber, and probably arrived in Rome ...

n mayhem of student life, similar as in Gaudeamus igitur. The song describes an old Assyrian

drinking binge Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions ( see below) vary considerably. Binge drinking ...

of a man in an inn with some references to the

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. The desks are made of marble and the large invoice is being provided in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...

on bricks. However the carouser has to admit that he left his money already in Nineveh. A Nubian house servant kicks him out then and the song closes with the notion, that (compare John 4:44) a prophet has no honor in his own country, if he doesn't pay cash for his consumption.

Charles Godfrey Leland Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe. Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensivel ...

has translated the poems among other works of Scheffel. Each stanza begins with the naming verse "Im Schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon", but varies the outcome. The "Im" is rather prolonged with the melody and increases the impact. Some of the stanzas:

Im schwarzen Wallfisch zu Ascalon
Da trank ein Mann drei Tag',
Bis dass er steif wie ein Besenstiel
Am Marmortische lag.
'In the Black Whale at Ascalon
A man drank day by day,
Till, stiff as any broom-handle,
Upon the floor he lay.
... In the Black Whale at Ascalon
The waiters brought the bill,
In arrow-heads on six broad tiles
To him who thus did swill.
... In the Black Whale at Ascalon
No prophet hath renown;
And he who there would drink in peace
Must pay the money down.

In typical manner of Scheffel, it contains an anachronistic mixture of various times and eras, parodistic notions on current science, as e.g.

Historical criticism Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". While often discussed in terms of ...

and interpretations of the

Book of Jonah The Book of Jonah is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, wh ...

as a mere shipwrecking narrative. According to Scheffel, the guest didn't try to get back in the inn as „Aussi bini, aussi bleibi, wai Ascalun, ihr grobi Kaibi“ (I been out, I stay so, you rude Aschkelon calves). There are various additional verses, including political parodist ones and verses mocking different sorts of fraternities. The song has been used as name for traditional inns and restaurants, e.g. in Heidelberg and

Bad Säckingen Bad Säckingen (High Alemannic: ''Bad Säckinge'') is a rural town in the administrative district of Waldshut in the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is famous as the "Trumpeteer's City" because of the book ''Der Trompeter von Säcking ...

. In Bad Säckingen the name was used on several (consecutive) inns and was namegiver for the still existing club "Walfisch Gesellschaft Säckingen" (Walfischia), honoring Scheffel.

Mathematics International

There is one version just and only one for mathematics, called 'International'.History of Mathematics: A Supplement C. Smoryński, Springer Science & Business Media, 2008

In ancient times, upon the door
Of Plato, there was writt'n:
“To each non-mathematicus
The entrance is forbidd'n.

The same stanza is available in further 13 languages, including Greek (Μελαίνῃ τῇ ἐν Φαλαίνᾳ - Melaínē (black) tē (the) en (in) Phalaína (whale)) and Volapük, which are sung one after the other.

References

External links

Lyrics including a latin version

Lyrics and melody on a large German fraternity wiki

folk versiontraditional
{{DEFAULTSORT:Im schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon Commercium songs Ashkelon Nineveh Governorate Jonah Mathematics and culture

Content

Mathematics International

Further reading

References

External links