My apologies for writing in English, but I would be very grateful to members
of this list for help in translating Polish words that appear in a Yiddish
memoir about growing up in Poland, specifically in Lodz and Kutna. I am
translating a portion of this memoir. The author is Y. Y. Trunk. The title
of the 7 volume work is simply
Poilin, Yiddish for Poland. It was written in NY during the war, and
reminisces about Poland at the turn of the century. The work is
linguistically extremely interesting in the way it uses Yiddish and Polish
words to indicate the intermingling of Polish rural culture in Jewish
culture.
Some of the words I have had some difficulty with are the following.
Sometimes their meaning is at least suggested by the context in which they
appear. I am transliterating from the Yiddish, so my spelling will only
approximate correct Polish spelling:
dugov - stall? place for keeping horses
shoss -highway?
stada - agricultural building of some kind?
klomba - garden?
chalat - a kind of robe described as having large pockets-identifiable with
Jewish or Polish dress?
sermenge - peasant tunic?
zhupan - item of clothing
sutan-ecclesiastical robe, cowl?
shpanzer - item of clothing
nyev zhia - expletive?
Anyol Panski-anthem played on church bells
Thank you very much in advance. Please answer on or off list.
Martin Elsky
City University of New York
