Help with translation, please

[Robert A. Rothstein]

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.  

       Dal' includes the meaning "synagogue" in his entry for _shkola_, 
but also says that "byvshikh kantonistov zvali neredko shkol'nikami."  
There's similar information on the website <mirimen.co>, which states 
(in Russian and in the following transliteration): "SHkol'nikami chasto 
zvali byvshix kantonistov, to est' synovej soldat i voennyx poseljan, 
objazannyx v kachestve krepostnyx obuchat'sja v osoboj voennoj shkole. 
(F) SHkol'nik. V knige Unbegauna familija SHkol'nik rassmatrivaetsja kak 
evrejskaja familija, perevol [perevod] s idish familii SHul'man. Na 
idish slovo sul [shul] oznachaet kak shkolu, tak i xram (sinagogu), a 
familija SHul'man obrazovana ot jetogo [etogo] slova no vo vtorom 
znachenii." 
    In the Jewish context _kantonistn_ were young Jewish boys forced 
into tsarist military service during the reign of Nicholas I. They were 
sent to the kantonist schools (i.e., the schools for orphans and the 
sons of soldiers) until they were old enough to serve.
    But then, in support of Jules' hypothesis that _shkol'nik_ = 
_shames_, the site <www.ancestry.com> suggests that "Shulman" 
(Unbegaun's etymon for _Shkol'nik_) is a variant of "Schulman," which is 
a variat of "Schuler," one of the meanings of which is "occupational 
name for a Talmudic scholar or the sexton of a synagogue, from an agent 
derivative of Yiddish shul 'synagogue'."
    Bob Rothstein

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------