looking for a definition of the surname  KORABELNIK. It's my father name. The origin is Suwalki area, poland.

leah Freund
leahfreund@...

The exact meaning of this surname is en epenthesis of the surname Korb which is a german word for basket.
Now, "belnik" is a yiddish suffix for a person´s occupation. Therefore, the epenthesis occurs when you add or substract a letter from a surname. In this case an "a" was added and that is  how Korabelnik means "a basket maker or seller".
Best
Alex

On Jul 29, 2020, at 2:13 PM, alejandro@... wrote:

The exact meaning of this surname is en epenthesis of the surname Korb which is a german word for basket.
Now, "belnik" is a yiddish suffix for a person´s occupation. Therefore, the epenthesis occurs when you add or substract a letter from a surname. In this case an "a" was added and that is how Korabelnik means "a basket maker or seller".

That may be, although Alexander Beider, in Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire (rev. ed.), says it means "hawker" or "peddler."

David

Hi Leah,

My great grand aunt Rebecca Plotnovosky from Raczki in Suwalki gubernia married Solomon Berkowitz Karobelnik from Kovno in Hull, UK in 1887. He dropped the Karobelnik as apparently it means a tinker, or travelling salesman and is derogatory, and he was known as Berkowitz. His children shortened the name to Birks - I am in contact with this family who are on MyHeritage.

In the course of my research, I found that Suwalki Karobelniks went to France, and there is a famous surgeon amongst their descendants who is on the internet.

Jill Whitehead, Surrey, UK