bubbe

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English[edit]

WOTD – 20 February 2023

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Yiddish באָבע (bobe, “grandmother”), and then either from a Slavic language[1] or from eastern Middle High German bābe (“old woman”), both from Proto-Slavic *baba (“old woman”) and ultimately imitative of a child’s babbling.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bubbe (plural bubbes) (chiefly in Jewish contexts)

  1. A grandmother.
    • 1892, I[srael] Zangwill, “The Sweater”, in Children of the Ghetto […], volume I, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, book I (The Children of the Ghetto), page 34:
      The Bube explained the situation in voluble Yiddish, and made Esther wince again under the impassioned invective on her clumsiness. […] If the family died of starvation, their blood would be upon her grand-daughter's head.
    • 1987, Linda Barnes, chapter 1, in A Trouble of Fools (A Fawcett Crest Book), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 1:
      I never met my bubbe, my grandma, the source of all my mother's Yiddish proverbs, […]
    • 1992, Steven C. Dubin, “Acknowledgements”, in Arresting Images: Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 1994, →ISBN, page x:
      I dedicate this book to my late grandparents, Morris and Bala Baellow. My bubbe’s inability to write in English turned out to be a blessing: she pressed me into service as her scribe at an early age.
    • 1998, Elizabeth Sussman Nassau, “Raisins and Almonds”, in Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Dov Peretz Elkins, editors, Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul: Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit, Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Health Communications, published 2001, →ISBN, part 5 (Family), page 238:
      Once, when I poked my stick in a bed of brown leaves, I found a shimmery snakeskin. When I showed my bubbe, she said I had found a memory of the snake, and that memories were precious.
  2. An elderly woman.
    • 1979 December, Stephen Longstreet, chapter 15, in The Dream Seekers, Los Angeles, Calif.: Pinnacle Books, published January 1981, →ISBN, page 174:
      "I wanna more chocolate, bubbe," said Karl. […] "You heard the bubbe," said Josie. "There isn't any. You act up and cry and I'll give you the back of my hand."

Alternative forms[edit]

Coordinate terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

grandmother — see grandmother
elderly woman — see old woman

References[edit]

  1. ^ “bubbe, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “bubbe, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Sidamo[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈbubːe/
  • Hyphenation: bub‧be

Noun[edit]

bubbe f 

  1. wind

Declension[edit]

Declension of bubbe (feminine)
unmodified modified
predicative bubbe
nominative bubbe bubbe
genitive bubbete*) bubbe*)
dative bubbete bubbera
accusative bubbe*)
ablative bubbetenni bubbenni
*) Stressed on the final vowel.

References[edit]

  • Kazuhiro Kawachi (2007) A grammar of Sidaama (Sidamo), a Cushitic language of Ethiopia, page 81
  • Gizaw Shimelis, editor (2007), “bubbe”, in Sidaama-Amharic-English dictionary, Addis Ababa: Sidama Information and Culture department
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