Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 19.005
June 26, 2009

1) oybst/katerinke/makher/kazyoner (Martin Jacobs)
2) khaven (Martin Jacobs)
3) katerinke (Leonard Fox)
4) katerinke (Yelena Shmulenson)
5) kazoyner (Zevi Ghivelder)
6) oybst/katerinke/makher/kazyoner /kyonkash (Zulema Seligsohn)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 18, 2009
Subject: oybst/katerinke/makher/kazyoner

1) oybst: this is a Germanized form of "oyps" = "fruit" ("fun tsaytikn 
oybst" = "of ripe
fruit")

2) katerinke =barrel-organ; katerintshik = organ-grinder (one who plays 
the barrel-organ)

3) makher: as Weinreich says, an influential person, a "fixer." The term 
is sometimes used
pejoratively: a self-important person (one who wants the world to know how 
important he
is), or an influential person who got there in ways not altogether kosher.

5) kazyoner: a kazyoner rov is an "official" or "state" rabbi (in Russia); 
I do not know
how his duties differed from those of other rabbis (see Niborski-Vaisbrot 
dictionary.)

Martin Jacobs

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  June 18, 2009
Subject: khaven

Some time ago I asked for the meaning of "khaven," which occurred in a 
story in which
sailors "loyfn un khaven" when their ship is torpedoed by a German 
submarine during
WW II. Although the text has a khof as the first letter of the word, I now 
think the word
meant is "haven," and "khaven" is a misprint (or a variant?). "Haven," 
according to
Weinreich, means "to hustle," so the sailors were "running and hustling," 
first to save the
ship, then to get into the lifeboats.

Martin Jacobs

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 17, 2009
Subject: katerinke

In my last e-mail, I forgot to respond to Frida Cielak's query about the 
meaning of
"katerintshik."  It means an "organ grinder"; "katerinka" is the Ukrainian 
word for a
barrel organ.

Leonard Fox

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  June 16, 2009
Subject:  katerinke

In answer to Frieda Cielak's inquiry:

"katerinke" is an barrel-organ, so "katerintshik" is an organ grinder.

Sincerely,

Yelena Shmulenson

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  June 17, 2009
Subject: kazyoner

The kazyoner was a distinguished Jew who was able to validate 
non-religious documents
and also acted as a judge when there was some dispute among Jews. My 
grandfather,
Moishe Ghivelder, was the so called "kazyoner rov" (kazyoner ruf, in the 
local
pronunciation) in the shtetl of Britshon, in Bessarabia, around the 20's.

Zevi Ghivelder

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 17, 2009
Subject: oybst/katerinke/makher/kazyoner

1.  "Oybst" is fruit.  In the passage it is "seasonal fruits."

2.  A "katerinke" is a street organ.  The "katerintshik" is the 
organ-grinder.

3.  A "makher" is a guy who can accomplish whatever is needed, as he 
proves in the
passage quoted.

5.  A "kazyoner" is someone who works for the State, or the Crown.  It can 
also mean
someone who was educated at the State's or the Crown's expense.

4.  I have no idea about "Kyonkash."

Zulema Seligsohn
______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 19.005

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