bubbe

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English

WOTD – 20 February 2023

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

bubbe (plural bubbes) (chiefly in Jewish contexts)

  1. A grandmother.
    • 1892, I Zangwill, “The Sweater”, in Children of the Ghetto  In Three Volumes">…], 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

Coordinate terms

Translations

References

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

Further reading

Sidamo

Pronunciation

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

Noun

bubbe f 

  1. wind

Declension

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

  • 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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