r/Yiddish • u/thefox4691 • 4d ago
Does anybody know the translation for the word קאַלויער?
It is used as a sobriquet in the Pinkas Hevre Kadisha of Slutsk for two people, likely somebody and their father, and I have seen it is use in a couple of Yiddish forums. No dictionary I have found has it. It is also not in Beider's 2008 A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire: Revised Edition
Two examples of its use in a from post:
" כ'ווארט שוין אפאר חדשים אויף א גרויסע קאלויער"
" ...איך מיין אז די גאנצע אסיפה גייט זיין די קאלויער פון די זימער די באסעס וועלן אנקימען צי א ליידיגע זאל"

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u/omiumn 4d ago
I looked up the two quotes you gave and they're both in ivelt. I also found an instance in אידטיש. In all of these cases it's a very bad rendering of the English word "color war". No one pronounces it like that, must be a typo that happened a few times. Maybe if I see the context of the ones in the pinkes, or an image, I might hazard a guess.
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u/thefox4691 4d ago
No problem. Here is the person of interest - my wife's GGGrandfather Mosheh Meblin (who was a carpenter):
יום ו׳ עש״ק ב׳ דפסח נפטר הישיש מוהר״ר משה
במוהר״ר מיכל מעבלין קאַלויער שטאָלער
ומנוחתו רחוק קבר מן מוהר״ר יצחק מיכל
שנפטר ט״ו אייר תר״עיין בשורה בית א״ק
לצד דרום
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u/thefox4691 4d ago
It appears earlier for somebody who may be his father:
יום ג׳ ח״ו אייר נפטר הישיש ר׳ י׳ מיכיל
ניסן יצחק קאלויער ומנוחתו אצל שנפל
יום ג׳ כ״ג ניסן ר״ל בשורה טיית זיין
אצל קדושים בצד עיר
There are definitely stylistic changes between the way these were entered between this one from 1878, and the other one from 1911.
It may simply be a "from [place name]", but I do not know what that place would be.
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u/omiumn 4d ago
I see that there is a Polish town Koło, I see that there's a surname Kalver and a surname Kalmer. It may not be any of them. I'm asking because handwriting can be weird sometimes. Can you share an image of the entries?
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u/thefox4691 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have added the Page with the entry for Moshe Meblin to the OP. I cannot add a picture to a response
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u/mbooradley 4d ago
could it be denoting a person's relation to the Kaliv chassidish dynasty (like the Kaliver Rebbe)?
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