THE THINGS WE DO...: All you'd want to know about woodworking (07/10/05)

THE THINGS WE DO...

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

All you'd want to know about woodworking

I am not a linguist, but I sure enjoy words, their definitions and their origins. Even as a kid I would wonder about why, in both Ukrainian and English, certain words were the way they were. I remember reading dictionaries for fun. I also enjoy listening to languages, trying to figure out what is being spoken. Just recently I was pleased that I guessed a song playing on the radio was Turkish. I don't know how, I just knew.

Books on folk art are among the many I bring back from Ukraine each year, so many that I have to mail them back to myself. (The extra weight charges would be painful.) One of my many finds last year was a small book, by Yevhen Shevchenko, "Narodna Derevoobrobka v Ukraini: Slovnyk Narodnoi Terminolohii" (Kyiv: Artania, 1997. 260 pp. illus. ISBN 966-95170-0-1), whose title translates as "Folk Wood Work (Processing) in Ukraine: A Dictionary of Folk Terms." This very nicely illustrated book, with line drawings and 48 archival photos, covers all aspects of woodworking: folk wood architecture, transportation (wagons, sleighs, etc.), implements and vessels, beekeeping, carpentry, musical instruments and woodcarving. About 2,800 words are listed, as well as a list of native trees, folk measurement, tools for woodworking, and professions in woodworking. A thorough introduction explains everything you ever wanted to know about woodworking in the Ukrainian tradition. The definitions also list the region of the term (Boyko, Hutsul, Poltava, etc.).

I have no knowledge of woodwork other than liking the many Hutsul forms of carving, both plain and with inlay. I vaguely know that certain kinds of wood are better for this or that, that fruitwood (pear, cherry) is often used, that woods come in different and subtle colors, and that oak is a hard wood to carve.

Poring over this book, I learned the names of objects and implements, buildings and modes of transportation, furniture and instruments. It should not have been surprising to learn that a familiar word does not denote what you expect in this very specific field. And the definitions carry you from one idea to another. The richness of the language sure comes out in all the folk terms, be it plants, folk art, or anything else.

"Baba" has very many meanings. In this book, it has two: it is a large sledge-hammer for pounding in stakes or tamping the ground, and it is a type of wooden puppet used in the gestures of the "plysaky" (or "pliesaky"), the Hutsul carolers and dancers. "Babka" (usually, old woman, diminutive of grandmother) has three totally different definitions here, none related to grandma.

"Dido" and "didok" [usually old man, grandfather] have a few, too. I did not know there is a difference between "bodnar" and "bondar" - I thought both meant cooper, barrel-maker (similar inversion to "medvid/vedmid" for bear). Even some Ukrainian dictionaries have them as synonymous terms. But, a bodnar is a craftsman ("maister") who makes "bodni" (a cask or tub with a cover, also a type of beehive), while a bondar is one who makes vessels using "klepky" (singular: klepka) - staves, as used to make barrels. Thus the Ukrainian saying about someone missing a klepka in his head - not all there. A barrel without even one stave doesn't work.

A "kyianka" is not just a female from Kyiv. A "kyi" is a thick staff or cudgel, and a "kyianka" can be a wooden mallet used in woodworking, a padded hammer/drumstick for the Kozak "tulumbas," or kettledrum, and a type of wooden spoon from the Dnipropetrovsk region. The entry for the word "lozhka" (spoon) gives the names for the parts of the spoon, as well as the many regional names and types of the utensil.

In the section on the types of trees in Ukraine, there is an interesting fact on the "tys" or "tysa" (yew - Taxus), which can live to be about 1,200 years old. "...The tree is very beautiful, but is very poisonous; poison was made from wine steeped in cups made of tysa. The poison has no scent or taste. There is no antidote for it. The whole plant is poisonous - the bark, wood, seeds and needles. The only part not poisonous is the red fruit [borne instead of true cones], which has a mucilaginous substance that helps in gastritis and other problems." But poison has its purposes - this is the same tree from which Taxol is obtained from the bark - an important drug against ovarian and other cancers. Maybe pharmacists should also research the fruit.

I was pleased to see a section with word beginning with the letter "g" - because in the Soviet era, and even in some post-Soviet books, this letter is missing. And the compiler almost gets it right, with 18 words entered. But "grazhda" is not in this section, but appears as "hrazhda." No respectable Hutsul would live in a "hrazhda," the Hutsul compound dwelling. Also, according to Volodymyr Shukhevych (1908), the word is "greblo," not "hreblo," for the comb used in carding wool.

My big discovery in this book solved the question of "kara" and "gara." [I'm sure my MacArthur Foundation check is in the mail ...] Ukrainians in Canada and the United States often discuss why the half-na-piv term for car/automobile is different in each country. In the Canadian prairie provinces, you drive a "gara," while in America it is a "kara." Well, in this glossary, the Canadians get five points - there were "garas" in Ukraine, and most probably the term just got transposed to the new mode of transportation. A "gara" is a large wagon with a carriage box; a detail of a wagon; a groove; a large sledge with wheels for transporting heavy freight; "polusanky" - freight sleigh (Boyko and Lemko regions). The American "kara" remains a "kara Bozha" if you have an old clunker ("kara" is punishment or penalty in Ukrainian).

The names for the various craftsmen in wood have left their mark on Ukrainian surnames: "berdnyk," "bodnar," "bondar," "dudar," "klepach," "kolodii," "kolesnyk," "skrypnyk," "snitsar/shnitsar," "stelmakh," "tesla," "tokar" and "trach" are among the 60 listed. The bibliography lists 284 sources, and the archival photos are documented.

All in all, reading this book was an enjoyable and educational journey through the world of Ukrainian woodworking. And now I will look at Ukrainian carvings, fences, buildings and barrels with a new appreciation.

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