bubbe

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbʊbə/, /ˈbʌ-/, /-bi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbʊbə/, /ˈbʌ-/, /ˈbɔ-/, /-bi/

• Audio of /ˈbʊbə/ (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊbə, -ʊbi, -ʌbi, -ɔːbə, -ɔːbi
• Hyphenation: bub‧be

Noun

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

• bobbe, bobeh, bubbeh, bubbie, bubby, bube

Coordinate terms

• zayde

Related terms

• bubbe meise
• babushka (possibly cognate)

Translations

grandmother — see grandmother

elderly woman — see old woman

Further reading

• grandparent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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