# Plañidera or "hired mourner"



## cherine

There's a certain "job" in some countries, consisting of getting paid to weep in funerals. 

The woman who does this job -because it's a woman's job  - is called:
- in literary Arabic (or MSA) نادبة (naadiba)
- in colloquial Arabic of Egypt ندابة (naddaba) or معددة (me3addeda)
- in Spanish *plañidera*
- in French *pleureuse*
- and I learned she's called *hired mourner* in English.

To my humble knowledge, this job exists in most -if not all- Mediterranean countries, and maybe also Latin America. What do you call it in your language. That is _*if*_ such a job exists in your culture 

Also, does this job still exists where you live? I don't think we still have it in Egypt.

Thanks


Edit: I just learned that it's also called keener in English.


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## jonquiliser

In Swedish they are (well, were) called "gråterskor" (pl), which also indicates this profession was mainly (or exclusively) taken on by women. Sometimes also called "hyrd gråterska" (sg)= hired crier.


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## Chazzwozzer

It's* "ağıtçı"* _*(keener)*_ in Turkish.

It doesn't exist where I live, but it's still maybe alive in some parts of rural Anatolian villages.


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## Aurin

In German:
das Klageweib (singular) - die Klageweiber (plural)


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## Etcetera

In Russian, such person is called пл*а*кальщик / pl*a*kalshchik (literally, "crier"). But this job used to to be performed mostly by women, so the feminine form, пл*а*кальщица / pl*a*kal'shchica, is more common. 
Don't know is such a profession still exist here, though.


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## Reema

cherine said:


> Also, does this job still exists where you live? I don't think we still have it in Egypt.
> 
> Thanks
> .


 
My professor, he is Egyptian, says that it still exists in Egypt; among the uneducated, though. ​


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## jonquiliser

I fear the profession has disappeared (here); now people just have to face their own hypocrisy at funerals, no one else doing the crying for them


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## Outsider

In Portuguese, it's *carpideira*.

I have never heard of this custom in Portugal.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In Dutch:
klaagvrouw (plural: -en)

Groetjes,

Frank


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## DrWatson

In Finnish she's called most frequently *itkijänainen*, literally "cryer woman", and they've been usually elderly women. This is a custom that is, or at least has been practised in the Karelian area which is situated partly in Finland, partly in Russia. It has even been a profession, but nowadays it's not that common.


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## jonquiliser

Not that common?! Where around here *do* they do it? This is intriguing!


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## irene.acler

In *Italian* there is the word "prefica". And I also found "lamentatrici di professione".
Where I live they don't exist.


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## DrWatson

jonquiliser said:


> Not that common?! Where around here *do* they do it? This is intriguing!


Well, according to Wikipedia (which I may have been using way too often nowadays ) the evacuees from Karelia keep up the tradition, wail associations have been founded lately and courses on the subject are held. I lack first-hand experience, so I tried to discover additional info via Google but didn't get much. The whole professional crying thing seems to be "katoavaa kansanperinnettä", unfortunately.


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## Vanda

Cherine, that was my very first participation in WR forum!! Ok, you can edit this part if it is off-topic.

As Outsider said, we call them carpideiras, and as I've said in that thread we still have them in very small towns and villages, mainly in my state and in the Northeastern states. I think it is funny, even in this modern globalized world such old habits do survive!


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## nhv1121

In Dutch: Huilebalk, a hired cryer, either male or female, for funerals.


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## Maja

In Serbian, it is "*narikača */* нарикача*" (pl. narikače / нарикаче). 
Аs far as I know,  it is solely women's "profession", if it can be called profession in the first  place. 
Don't know if anyone still hires them, though.


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## parakseno

In Romanian we have "bocitoare" (from the verb "a boci" - "to cry aloud"). There are parts of Romania (rural areas, mostly) where such a "profession" still exists .


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## Alijsh

cherine said:


> There's a certain "job" in some countries, consisting of getting paid to weep in funerals.
> 
> To my humble knowledge, this job exists in most -if not all- Mediterranean countries, and maybe also Latin America. What do you call it in your language. That is _*if*_ such a job exists in your culture


Well, In Iran when you go to cemetery, there are people there to which you can give money to read some Quran and other prayers for your deceased on their grave. We call them *nowhe-khân* (*nowhe*: mournful verse; *khân* is present stem of *khândan*: to read), *Qor'ân-khân*.


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*:  _funebristino_.  It’s given in the feminine form in the dictionary and defined as a woman who is hired to show profound sadness at a funeral.


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*: *siratóasszony *[sirat(mourn for), sirató("mourning"), asszony (woman)]


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Μοιρολογίστρα»
mirolo'ʝistra _f._
or
«Μοιρολογήτρα»
mirolo'ʝitra _f._
(depending on the region).
From the verb «μοιρολογώ» (mirolo'ɣo) which in modern Greek means _to keen, lament_; these women were hired to sing in funerals specific folksongs called «μοιρολόϊ, -για» (miro'loi _sing. n._, miro'loʝa _pl. n_). The word derives from the ancient verb «μοιρολογέω/μοιρολογῶ» (moirolo'gĕō [uncontracted]/moirolo'gō [contracted])-->_to tell a man his fate_. They are not so common nowadays.

[ʝ] is a voiced palatal fricative
[ɣ] is a voiced velar fricative


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## merquiades

Also AE:
a weeper


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## mataripis

_TAGALOG: Bayarang Tagatangis/Upahang Taga-iyak_


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