Help with translation, please

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Jules Levin wrote:

> I am translating 19th C. Jewish birth registrations from the Pale of
> Settlement.
> 
> I find in a document I am working on the term "shkol'nik" used for 
> adult witnesses aged 58 and 67. I suspect that these witnesses are 
> employees of the synagogue (shul), and the term shkol'nik was the 
> Russian translation (if anyone actually used it) for a shamus 
> (beadle).
> 
> Can anyone confirm this or correct it? Modern dictionaries do not 
> even give shkola as a Russian rendering of shul, but it would be 
> parallel with German and Italian (scuola), so I suppose it could have
> been a hyper-learned usage...

Not sure what your source language is -- Russian? If so, I'm sure you 
know that "shkol'nik" in current usage would be anomalous because a 
Russian hears "shkola" as a grammar school.

However, etymologically, there is no doubt that it is cognate with En 
school, De Schule, Fr école, Sp escuela, It scuola, etc. etc.

So perhaps a Russian clerk with some knowledge of German mistook "shul" 
as a false friend?

It would certainly be easier to help if you provided more than an 
isolated word. Can you show it in context?

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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