B 3ACTEHKE?

[Elena Gapova]

"Zastenak" has several meanings.
In Belarusian (and Kaunas belongs to the Belarusian-Lithuanian linguistic
area) it can be:
1. prison;
2. a small and impoverished estate, similar to "хутор" ("засцянковая шляхта"
- small nobility which did not have the land of its own and had to rent);
3. a village type which emerged in the 16th century: see
http://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BA

Most probably, if someone was born "v zastenke" followed by a proper name,
this should be translated as "in the village of..."

e.g.

2010/9/2 J F Levin <ameliede at earthlink.net>

> Colleagues:
> I just got a query from the manager of one of the Jewish genealogy lists
> regarding a translation being done
> of some archival material i Kaunas.  The translator translated "v zastenke"
> as "in the torture chamber" followed
> by a place name.  I could not find zastenok in online Dal', and of course
> in my Ozhegov it seems to mean more or
> less that.  But the gentleman who sent the query and I are both sceptical.
> I assume this is a 19th Century record, what could it be?  Could it have
> just meant something like "punishment cell"
> in a prison?
> Jules Levin
> PS  Don't let the "Cyrillic" on the subject line fool you.  I cannot write
> Cyrillic in eudora--it was cleverly made entirely
> from the Latin keyboard.  So please transliterate if you cite from a
> Russian source.
>
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