""""Brödbodsidk.""""

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Hi,
 
I found a word which is obviously an occupation of the foster mother of my farmor. I think it has something to do with a bread shop but I can't figure out the last part, which seems to be abbreviated.
 
It is brödbodsidk.
 
I would appreciate help with the last part of that word. I suppose the s in brödbodsidk is a possessive s and the problem part is idk. I have lots of trouble with abbreviations. :-)
 
Our older relatives had told us that this family had a restaurant or fine tearoom. We suspect it really might have been a tiny bakery or, more likely, pastries sold out of her home instead of a restaurant. We heard about lots of pastries being sold. The foster father was a gaständare (I think that means he lit the gas street lamps.)Apparently the foster mother supplemented the family's income.
 
I assume this last part (idk) has something to do with a business. I saw a similar word in a dictionary, which might be a form of the word: idka but I am not at all sure. I would appreciate the help of experts.  
 
Thank you,
 
Judy

[Hans Wikström]

Hi Judy,
 
You are on the right track I believe, although I am not the expert you waited for.
The ending idk certainly stands for idkare which I would translate into proprietor.

[Gudrun Dahl]

To idka a business or an activity means to pursue it, so a brödbodsidkare is a person who runs a small bread shop, a bread shop runner.
Greetings
Gudrun

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Hi Hans and Gudrun,
 
Tack så mycket for your VERY helpful replies! I think you both were very helpful, and Hans, this WAS expert advice for me. I didn't really need the expertise of someone experienced in bread making. :-) I just need the expertise of people fluent in Swedish. I didn't choose the correct word when I used experts.
 
So far there is no sign of pastries in this occupation, but the business might have expanded later on to include pastries as well as bread. :-) That occupation was the first bit of proof we have found for that part of our family story.
 
Tack igen!
 
Med vänliga hälsningar,
 
Judy

[Jan Ek]

Judy,
 
Although there is quite a leap from brödbod to fine tearoom, I think you are drawing up a too strict definition of what could be bought there.  Pastries are called småbröd (small-bread) in Swedish. I think the real distinction was between bakery - where the bread was made, and brödbod where it was sold. I'm sure also a brödbod most often sold a few pastries; Danish, cinnamon-rolls, raisin buns and such. And also the smallest shops could have a table or two in the corner where you could have a cup of coffee.
 
Since these businesses often where paired off under the same roof for obvious reasons, bakery came to be a name for the whole operation. Today with the large baking factories there is really a split between those baking and those selling. The smaller businesses going against the wind being the exception.
 
I remember the very small family bakery next door at my grandmother's, where I spent my childhood summers. Although not having as large selection as the main bakery in town, he made the best Danish! And he always had a few tucked aside with extra much of the yellow cream on top - just for me . . .
 
Lost in memories,
Jan

[Gudrun Dahl]

And small in my answer referred to the shop, not to the bread. Brödbod has no connotation of pastries, the association it offers to me is rather to sturdy loaves. A bod is also usually a rather unpretentious building, for example, like a wooden market stand with walls but an open front but it could also be a small shop. More generally, a bod is a shed for storing things, like a garden shed for utensils.

[Jan Ek]

Gudrun,
 
I'm sure your conception of the word could be just as valid. I also think the size of the city, town, or village has something to do with what you could expect to find inside.
 
A Google search gave me this little interesting story of a street in Värnamo 1860. According to it, house number 3 was built by a baker Cegrell, and had beside the bakery itself; one brödbod and four other small businesses - bodar.
 
Regards,
Jan

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Hi Jan and Gudrun,
 
Thank you so much for this added information. I am thrilled to have had so much help with my question.
 
We never really believed the restaurant or fine tearoom story but the stories we have heard have proven at least partially true as we checked them, and this one is apparently the same. It is exciting to little by little rebuild the memories of our ancestors and those associated with them.
 
That article is wonderful! I can read a lot of it already and I don't think I will need a dictionary on more than a few words. This particular family lived in the Gamla Stan area of Stockholm in the 1890s and maybe later, but this article fits well enough.
 
I appreciate your kindness in adding these details to help my understanding.  
 
Tack så mycket igen!
 
Mvh,
 
Judy