# Yiddish (?): shpolnik



## Maroseika

Shalom,
We have a problem at the Slavic forum: is there anything in Hebrew or may be in Yiddish explaining the word shpolnik (шпольник)? This an occupation and appears in the following text:

Borough of Granica, N. Ukl 25. Israel Shmul Shiter (or Sheter)
Made up in the town of Gniewoszow 08 October 1881 at nine a.m., Zelman Shiter, merchant, 21 years old, inhabitant of the town of Granica came in person, and in the presence of witnesses Sakschneider Khaykin, shpolnik 34 years old, inhabitant of the town of Gniewoszow and Leysor Glyasman shpolnik 46 years old inhabitant of the borough of Granica, has presented us an infant of the male gender stating that he had been born in the town of Granica 30 September at seven p.m. from his illegitimate wife Ruflya Ruftman 19 years old; said infant by the religious ceremony had been given the name of Israel Shmul Ukl, we have read this act to the declarer and the witnesses, for the declarer and the witnesses have stated of their being illiterate.
Supervisor of Acts of Civil Status
Signature

Russian original is here:
http://data.jewishgen.org/Viewmate/hold/9055.jpg
Посад Граница, Н. Акла, 25, Израел Шмуль Шитер.
Состоялось в посаде Гневошеве восьмого октября тысяча восемьсот восемьдесят первого года в девять часов утра, явился лично Зельман Шитер, торговец, двадцать один лет от роду имеющий в посаде Граница жительствующий в присутствии свидетелей Хайкина Сакшнайдера шпольника тридцати четырех лет в посаде Граница и Лейзора Глясмана шпольника сорок шести лет от роду имеющих в посаде Гневошев жительствующих, представил нам младенца мужского пола объявляя, что он родился в посаде Граница тридцатого сентября в семь часов вечера с незаконной его жены Руфли Руфтман девятнадцать лет от роду имеющей, младенцутому при совершении религиозных обрядов дано имя Израел Шмуль Акл сей объявляющему и свидетелям прочитан нами подписан ибо объявляющий и свидетели заявили что грамоте не знают.
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## Nunty

I found שפולניק as a family name in an Israeli phone book, but no other references. I'll see if my Yiddish dictionary is around anywhere.


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## Maroseika

Nun-Translator said:


> I found שפולניק as a family name in an Israeli phone book, but no other references. I'll see if my Yiddish dictionary is around anywhere.


Well, I also came across it like a surname, that's why I think this really could be some occupation.
Thank you for your efforts, I hope Yidish will give us a key.


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## Flaminius

Google search reveals a Judaic personage by the name Shpoler Zeide (Grandfather from Shpol).  This Shpol seems to be a town in Belarus.  If the minuscule шпольник is an adjectivised proper name, it should mean "someone from the town of Shpol."


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## Maroseika

Flaminius said:


> Google search reveals a Judaic personage by the name Shpoler Zeide (Grandfather from Shpol). This Shpol seems to be a town in Belarus. If the minuscule шпольник is an adjectivised proper name, it should mean "someone from the town of Shpol."


This is very interesting idea. 
However this suffix "-ник" looks rather rare as a surname-producing; to say the truth I just don't know any other surname produced from the place name such a way.  
In contrary, "-ник" isquite productive in the surnames derivating from the professions: Бакалейник, Мучник, Мельник, etc. In these cases surnames just reproduce corresponding Russian nouns for professions. 
That's why I think шпольник must be first of all an occupation. And its sounding makes me await to find it in some German language, like Yiddish.


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## Nunty

Since we are pretty sure this is not Hebrew, maybe we should have the thread moved to Other Languages? I am not sure how many Yiddish speakers besides me are in the Hebrew forum, but there are several in OL.

I did not find anything in Yiddish, but my resources are incomplete.

One other possiblity: In Yiddish we sometimes take a word in some other language and add -nik at the end. I'm assuming you've made sure that _shpol_ or doesn't mean anything in the languages spoken in the area in question.

Good luck!


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## maxl

Seems to me it must be the German _Spule_ 'Spool' (and then the name of profession connected with it) which made its way into Polish and Russian. See for example in Dal's dictionary Шпульник, -ница, фабричн. кто мотает, готовить цевки. (online edition at: http://vidahl.agava.ru/P251.HTM)


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## Thomas1

maxl said:


> Seems to me it must be the German _Spule_ 'Spool' (and then the name of profession connected with it) which made its way into Polish and Russian. See for example in Dal's dictionary Шпульник, -ница, фабричн. кто мотает, готовить цевки. (online edition at: http://vidahl.agava.ru/P251.HTM)


That seems very much plausible since many terms for tools, and things of similar sort came into Polish from German.
As for the original question, there’s no such word as _szpulnik _in modern Polish* (to tell the truth I am not sure of its existence in Old Polish too—can’t look it up). However, if I were to define its meaning I’d say that it is someone who makes _szpule_ (spools). 


Tom

*I don’t mean here specialist terms, as usually jargons have many words that are not used and even heard by someone who uses “regular” words; mind you, I looked for the word in the encyclopeadia and a few dictionaries with no effect.

Edit: I looked up the origin of _szpula_ (spool) and my dictionary of loanwords in Polish by PWN corroborates its German origin (szpula […] (niem. _Spule_).


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## Spectre scolaire

*shpolnik revisited*

_Urban Dictionary_ (on the web) has spolnik, “To be the uncoolest of the uncool” with the ex. “Man, you’re such a spolnik, it hurts.”

This lemma reminded me of a note I had made about the “shpolnik thread.” There is no etymology in _Urban Dictionary_, but looking through the information supplied by _Maroseika_, I thought of the German word Spüler, a profession which has developed derogatory meanings in more languages than just German.

Here is what _Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, __Leipzig 1854-1960_, cf. http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/DWB, says about this word:

SPÜLER, m. der gefäsze spült: spüler, spülerinn, mas et femina lavans, purgans, ad fontem nitidans; bei den soldaten: lixa, ein koch und spüler, wäscher under dem troszvolck im krieg; spüler, koch under den kriegeren, lixa; mhd. in der zusammensetzung schüel-spüeler, einen der niedrigsten küchendiener bezeichnend; kochbuben, schüszelspieler, bratspiszwender; dann geradezu einen schmarotzer: parasitus; und den sinn eines armen schluckers gewinnt auch das einfache spüler in der sprichwörtlichen, reimenden redensart: farender schüler bleibt ein spüler, das ist, er wirt nit reich.​I have partly edited the article: All references are skipped (including one to a Tirol dialect), definitions are printed in red, Latin (being an academic alibi of the time) is printed in brown, introductions to definitions are underlined and an idiomatic expression is printed in blue. The orthography (including the lack of majuscules for nouns, a fad in the late 19th century), is conserved. The abbreviation mhd. means _Modernes Hochdeutsch_.

It seems to me that Spüler has the potential requirements of Russian шпольник (< Yiddish), but the suggestion (which implicitly rejects German _Spule_, cf. _Thomas1_) is of course open to debate. I wish I could consult Leo Rosten’s _The Joys of Yiddish_ (1968), but I am very far from my library.
 ​


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## Lugubert

No close resemblance in Rosten's book.


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## Spectre scolaire

maxl said:
			
		

> Seems to me it must be the German _Spule_ 'Spool' (and then the name of profession connected with it) which made its way into Polish and Russian.


 Sorry _maxl_, I credited the wrong person for the _Spule_ etymology! 

My own etymology is just another attempt to find a reasonable explanation. If it has any merit, it would be the fact(?) that the word exists in Yiddish – even if that also remains to be proven beyond doubt. 

If the word is not registered in Rosten’s book – the most hilarious dictionary I have ever come across! – it doesn’t mean that the word is inexistent in Yiddish. In fact, there is a new edition of _Rosten_ which I have never seen. He has allied himself with an co-author – probably to exhaust the last drop of Yiddish in New York... Did _Lugubert_ check this book from 2001 (I think it was)?
 ​


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## Lugubert

Spectre scolaire said:


> Did _Lugubert_ check this book from 2001 (I think it was)?
> 
> ​


My copy was published in 1971 (Penguin Books).


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