A Gazetteer of Yiddish Place Names: Review Essay

Seyfer haprenumerantn, by Berl Kagan, is a work of great utility for anyone interested in European Yiddish toponymy, Jewish genealogy, and the history of Hebrew printing and publishing. While Kagan's primary purpose is to document popular support of rabbinic literature in Europe and North Africa from the late 18th century until World War II, his book also comes closer than any other to serving as a gazetteer of Yiddish place-names. A total of 8,767 place-names are listed, mostly in Yiddish (or Yiddish transcriptions from other languages), with a separate section for Judeo-Arabic. As such, Seyfer haprenumerantn represents by far the largest published compilation of Yiddish toponyms in existence.