לאַפּסערדאַק

Yiddish

Alternative forms

לײַבסערדאַק (laybserdak)
לאַבסערדאַק (labserdak)

Etymology

Following Šapiro, Russian etymological dictionaries (e.g. Preobraženskij, Vasmer) usually derive from לײַב (layb, “body”) (which in Poland was pronounced [laːp] and supposedly had a dialectal meaning “upper body garment”) and Polish serdak, Ukrainian серда́к (serdák, “a kind of men's outer garments”). Taking the meaning “torn clothes, rags” found in Belarusian to be the primary one, Preobraženskij offers an alternative derivation from German Lappen (“rag, cloth”) and Russian серту́к (sertúk), сюрту́к (sjurtúk, “frock coat”).

Perixanjan dismisses the above as folk etymologies and sees the origin in Persian (laspardarak, “handkerchief”), itself borrowed from Sogdian ܕܣܦܪܛܪ (dsprtr /⁠*ẟaspartar⁠/, “handkerchief”), through a sp → ps metathesis and haplology. She explains the arrival of the Iranian word into Eastern European Yiddish by Khazar mediation. The commercial links of Khazars with Iran and Central Asia are well-known.

Noun

לאַפּסערדאַק • (lapserdak) m

lapserdak
(colloquial) tallis koton, tallit katan
(figuratively) ragamuffin, ragged fellow

Synonyms

(lapserdak): קאַפּאָטע (kapote)
(tallis koton): אַרבע־כּנפֿות (arbe-kanfes)

Descendants

→ Belarusian: лапсарда́к (lapsardák), лапсярда́к (lapsjardák), ла́псурдук (lápsurduk), ла́псырдзікі (lápsyrdziki)
→ Polish: łapserdak
→ Russian: лапсерда́к (lapserdák)
→ Ukrainian: лапсерда́к (lapserdák), лапсердик (lapserdyk)

References

Perixanjan, A. G. (1982) “Etimologičeskije zametki. I [Etymological Notes. I]”, in Patma-banasirakan handes [Historical-Philological Journal]‎^[1] (in Russian), number I, Yerevan: Academy Press, →ISSN, pages 56–57
Preobrazhensky, A. G. (1910–1914) “лапсердакъ”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), volumes 1 (А – О), numbers 1–9, Moscow: G. Lissner & D. Sobko Publishing House, page 434
Šapiro, M. M. (1873) “Bibliografičeskaja zamětka. Slovarʹ Bělorusskago narěčija, sost. I. Nosovičem, S.-Prb. 1870 g. 752”, in Filologičeskija zapiski (in Russian), volume I, Voronezh, page 13
Tyščenko, Dmytro (2014) Jidyš-ukrajinsʹkyj slovnyk [Yiddish–Ukrainian Dictionary], Kiev: Art Ekonomi, page 481a
Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “лапсердак”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress