"Kon-chuk" - ? Russian/Ukr. for horse whip ?

[Robert A. Rothstein]

George Hawrysch wrote:

> Use of the kanchuk is attested in
> kozak times, in the abuse of serfs, and into the 20th century.  I have 
> not
> heard of it being applied to children, and cannot imagine such a thing.
>
       I don't know about the object itself, but some version thereof 
was apparently used as an instrument of discipline in the traditional 
Jewish religious school (_kheyder_) in Poland. In a song by the Krakow 
folk poet Mordkhe Gebirtig (1877-1942) called "Moyshele, mayn fraynd" 
the singer reminisces about the days when he and his friend Moyshele 
studied together in _kheyder_:
          Ot shteyt far mir der rebe nokh,           
          der kantshik in zayn hant .

          I can still see the teacher standing before me,
          The ferule in his hand.

I've translated Yiddish _kantshik_ (stressed on the first syllable) with 
the rather obscure English (and French) word "ferule," which refers to 
an instrument, such as a cane or stick or ruler, used to punish 
schoolchildren; that seems to be the meaning of the Yiddish term, at 
least in this context. The Yiddish word probably derives from Polish 
_kanczug_ or _kanczuk_ (with an acute accent on the "n"), which refers 
to a braided leather whip with a short wooden handle and which is 
attested in Polish since the mid-17th century.

Bob Rothstein

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