Dear Genners:

Does anybody know a translation for the profession that reads in Polish
as szpektora (for a man) or szpektarow (for a woman)? I was stumped by
this word which appears for two individuals on my great-grandparent's
marriage registration; it did not appear in several Polish dictionaries,
and several native Polish speakers have told me that there is no such
word. (One even remarked, "I read Nowy Dziennik every day, but I've never
seen that word.)

I found the word "szpektor" translated as teacher's assistant at
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/pl-occ.txt, but is this actually an
arcane term for something different? Or does anybody have a reference for
the Jewish Gen translation?

Thanks, everybody.

Ira Leviton, New York, N.Y.

searching for LEWITAN (Rypin and Myszyniec, Pol.), NIEDOBITEK (Rypin,
Pol.), BLANK, STRICK, KORN, REBHUN, REPHAN, RAPHAN, (all >from Niedzwiada,
Mala, Debica, Rzemien, Mielec, Gorlice, and Ropczyce, Pol.), and ATLAS
(Wien/Vienna, Austria)

There is no such word in contemporary Polish, and I haven't heard of it
ever. Perhaps it was a localized form of 'inspector' transferred into
'inszpektor' and then 'szpektor' - just guessing...

I have the same problem with Warsaw - the 1856 directory of inhabitants
says: profession 'szajder' - what can this be????

Regards,

G. Gembala
Krakow, Poland

Hi, Grzegorz,

Actually, "szpektor" in the Kaszubian dialect is translates as 'inspector.
Kaszubian is Polish-German or German -Polish dialect of the native people
known as Kashubs residing in ex East Prussian territory bordering with our
Litvaks.
Refer to Kashubian - Polish dictionary at:

http://www.kaszubia.com/sloworz/sloworzk.pdf

As to the 'szajder', Grzegorz, try to replace it with the 'sznajder' ot
tailor - someone have lost latter 'n'

Regards,

Alexander Sharon
Calgary,AB

Does anybody know a translation for the profession that reads in
Polish as szpektora (for a man) or szpektarow (for a woman)? I was
stumped by this word which appears for two individuals on my great-
grandparent's marriage registration; it did not appear in several
Polish dictionaries, and several native Polish speakers have told me
that there is no such word. (One even remarked, "I read Nowy Dziennik
every day, but I've never seen that word.)

There is no such word in contemporary Polish, and I haven't heard of it
ever. Perhaps it was a localized form of 'inspector' transferred into
'inszpektor' and then 'szpektor' - just guessing...

I have the same problem with Warsaw - the 1856 directory of inhabitants
says: profession 'szajder' - what can this be????

Regards,


--
G. Gembala
Krakow, Poland

Researching Gleich, Pillersdorf, Kletzel,
Eskreis, Janczer (Galicia), Simson (U.S.)

Gershon bi-Kroke < gershon_gp@... > writes

Subject: Re: Translation of the Polish word "szpektor"

Does anybody know a translation for the profession that reads in
Polish as szpektora (for a man) or szpektarow (for a woman)? I was
stumped by this word which appears for two individuals on my great-
grandparent's marriage registration; it did not appear in several
Polish dictionaries, and several native Polish speakers have told me
that there is no such word. (One even remarked, "I read Nowy Dziennik
every day, but I've never seen that word.)

There is no such word in contemporary Polish, and I haven't heard of it
ever. Perhaps it was a localized form of 'inspector' transferred into
'inszpektor' and then 'szpektor' - just guessing...

In old Polish documents a "szpektor" refers to a "teacher's assistant".

--
Michael Tobias
Glasgow
Scotland

Dear researchers,

If a Polish profession name is encountered, it would be a good idea
to link at the Page of Polish Occupation Definitions English Translations
compiled by Lauren B. Eisenberg Davis and available at
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/pl-occ.txt

In this Page the profession szpektor is translated as "teacher's assistant".
There were a lot of teacher assistants so no wonder that a lot of Jews
and not only Jews have the family name Spektor, Spector or Szpektor.

The word "szajder" was not found in this Page. It may correspond to
the German profession name "scheider" which is a person who makes
scabbards, sheaths. Definitely a needed profession but, of course, not so
popular as teacher assistants.

Bruno Martuzans
http://www.roots-saknes.lv
(The Website contains a lot of information concerning Jews also)

Alexander Sharon wrote:

Dear Genners ,

The origin of both the English inspector and Polish "szpector" must be the
Latin spectator-oris meaning :onlooker.Of course the (spectator in English
has the same origin.
Katalin Got
Adelaide
Australia

As to the 'szajder', Grzegorz, try to replace it with the 'sznajder' ot
tailor - someone have lost latter 'n'

I doubt it would say sznajder - it was my first thought,
but the book includes such categories as 'krawcy damscy'
'krawcy mescy' - so szajder is more likely to be the
manufacturer of sheaths and scabbards as
someone suggested.

Regards,

G. Gembala
Krakow, Poland

Researching Gleich, Pillersdorf, Kletzel,
Eskreis, Janczer (Galicia), Simson (U.S.)