Jewish nicknames in a Ukrainian ‘shtayteleh’
Open letter written by Ethy Kipperman to Jakov Tsapovsky
Please be noted — the author is using words of the Ukrainian (southern) dialect of Yiddish. The text is translated from Russian.
“Thank you very much, Jakov, for your story. I’m enjoying our Jewish chochmes (jokes) a lot — they are unputdownable indeed! I do enjoy it. I can clearly see your native shtaytel, Tomashpol, I can hear our “mame-loshn”, our kleyneh mencheleh (little people), as Sholom-Aleykhem once called them…
Unfortunately, I’ve never been to Tomashpol, but all these Podolian kleyneh shtayteleh (little towns) are so dear to my heart: Pikov, Litin, Yanov, Ulanov, Zhmerinka, Bar, Gaisin and others…
Shtayteleh... They are like a twin sisters. My native Khmelnik is the most beautiful one! Don’t be offended, Jakov, but I really think so.
Next time I will tell you more on my Khmelnik, but now I want to tell about local nicknames and monikers that still survived in my memory.
That was a lifetime ago…
I remember Haskeleh-Gey-Trinkn-Tey-Mit-Ziker…
Dvoyrah couldn’t become a mother for years. Out of the blue, once she finally became “a gliklechech Yiddishe mame” (a happy Jewish mom). She named her son Haskeleh, a real Biblical name, shortened for Yezekiel. May God grant him a good health!
Haskeleh, kaynhoreh (not jinxing it!) was just as good as Mendeleh, Itsikl, Shloymeleh, he was raised in Dvoyrah’s joy. She was calling her sonny, her yingeleh (little boy) for all the world to hear: “Has-ke-leh! Gey trinkn tey mit zike-r-r-r!” (Haskeleh, go to drink tea with sugar!)
What was wrong about it? The mum always wanted the best for her yingeleh. And every day all the neighbors, all the kids heard Dvoyrah’s loud call: “Haskeleh! Gey trinkn tey mit zike-r-r-r!”. This is how Haskeleh got his nickname — “Gey-Trinkn-Tey-Mit-Ziker”. And no offence was meant!
Surah-Yoske, Sheyndl-Shendya and Ester-Stysya
These women’s names were totally and traditionally Jewish: Surah (Sarah), Sheyndl (“pretty thing”) and Ester. Who nicknamed them with those silly monikers, I had no idea (after all, I was a kid at the time).
I knew that Surah was a very warmhearted person. She could treat people that caught cold. She always carried around a cupping-glasses!
If you call her, there she is, with her cupping-glasses (“styoklushki”, as she said in Ukrainian) and you got well — almost immediately... According to your conscience, put a byssele geld (a little bit of money) in her pocket.
Why was she called “Surah-Yoske”? Because she always cut her hair in a boyish style (“like Yoske!”)
Sheyndl. Who cares that she is a shtinkern? (sloven). All slovens in Khmelnik were called “shendya” (after our Sheyndl!). It sounded like a visitation of G-d: “You are shendya, no one wants to deal with you!” Oh, did she deserve such a nomen? (name)
Ester-Stysya — there was a special curse that mentioned her name — “Schob na tebe Stysya napala!” (May Stysya to be down on you! — in Ukrainian) Ester-Stysya was a chicken reseller at the market. She bought meat for cheaper and traded it up — it was her business, gescheft. She was an extremely sharp-tongued person — all goykes were afraid of her. Thus that saying was born first — amongst Ukrainian women who lived at our shtaytel: “Schob na tebe Stysya napala…”
Let them rest in peace!
Fun di Katchkes
There was a mischpochech (family) called Katchkes (ducks). They had a family trait — waddling type walking, they walked like a ducks. So, this physical defect was noticed by the fellow villagers. Even despite of the fact that one of the “Katchkes” son, Isaak, was a KGB serviceman, he still was called “fun di katchkes”.
Godl Parech
Was he guilty that he had a scab when he was a kid? “Parech” is a skin disease, scab, or impetigo, I don’t know why goyim think that this disease is common amongst Jews, and this is how that abusive term, “zhid parkhaty” (scabby Jew) appeared in Russian language. Godl was a good, kind-hearted man, he was aware of his nickname and was not offended by this at all. Disease is not a sin. What’s the main, he was not a shikornik (drunkard), nor a ganev (thief) and not a ligner (liar). He couldn’t say boo to a goose. He went to synagogue every Shabes, he educated all his children. Mireleh, Foygeleh, Yoseleh and Motheleh were dead ringers for their father. And his elder daughters, Giteleh and Ester were their mother all over — pretty girls, sheyneh meydeleh. Godl said about his wife Chayka: “a goldeneh vayb” (golden wife), “Nito kayn besser ayf der welt” (there’s nobody better in the world).
Shlyomkeh fun der pocht
He was a postman. His zeydeh (grand-dad) was a postman, so Shlyomkeh “inherited” this state service from him. “Shlyomkeh-fun-der-pocht” sometimes had luck: when, out of the blue, he brought to your home a letter or even a parcel from America — that was sent by your dear uncle, or even better: by your son or daughter. America! It’s not a Berdichev, not a Khmelnik — they don’t begin to compare, well, you know!
Shlyomkeh was happy seeing your joy. And a glikeleh (happy) addressee gave him a bysseleh gelt that he could bring to his wife Malkah and kids. He had, thanks G-d, (kaynhoreh!!) tsvey meydelech (two girls) un drey yingelech (and three boys), giteh kinder vee der tateh! (good kids of father).
“Shlyomkeh-fun-der-pocht” knew everyone, even without surname, just by profession: Usher-baker (baker), Moyshe-shister (shoemaker), Arye-klezmer (musician), Shlyomkeh der Royfeh (paramedic), Hershl-shnayder (tailor), Boruch-stoler (cabinetmaker), Pinya-melamid (teacher) and others. He knew by heart all our addresses…
I love my brothers and sisters. I will never forget them. Let them rest in peace, all my people who were killed during that horrible and cold winter of 1941/1942 — my tateh, stoler Idl Kipperman, my mamenyu Dvoyrah, my shvester Freydah with her kids and all long-suffering residents of the shaytel of Khmelnik.
(c) Ethy Kipperman (Tveria, Israel), published in Russian-speaking newspaper “Novosti nedeli”, October 17, 2002
