JewishGen Discussion Group #JewishGen RE: Meaning of "occupations" vital records (Polish) #general
Alexander Sharon
"Szpektor" derives >from Polish and Russian "inspektor" (inspector).
Word had several meanings, mostly associated with the supervising activities and one them, used in Russian Poland was a school principal's deputy. Source: "Slownik jezyka polskiego" by PWN. Best Alexander Sharon JGFF editor --- Ira Leviton wrote: David Nesher asked about the accuracy of occupations in Polish vital records because they seemed to change too frequently. I answer, perhaps the problem is in the translations. For instance, David translated "belfer" as "teacher" and "szpektor" as "supervisor(?) I struggled finding the right translation for szpektor several years ago - I even showed my ancestor's document with that word to somebody who was very fluent in Polish, a native speaker by virtue of having grown up in Poland. He looked at the word, furrowed his brow, and said aloud, "How is it that I read Nowy Dziennik [the Polish Daily News] every day and I never saw this word before?" Szpektor might be Kaszubian, which is called a dialect of Polish by some but I believe considered a separate language by most experts. According to the very useful file at http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/krakow/kra_occupations.htm, szpektor means "teacher's assistant," which is an sensible alternative to belfer.
|
|