The first Yiddish translation of Harry Potter has sold out in 48 hours.
Harry Potter un der filosofisher shteyn was published on Friday and sold out its 1,000-copy print run within two days.
Its Swedish publisher, Nikolaj Olniansky, told the Forward: “It’s crazy, it’s hard to believe... We thought that we wouldn’t be able to sell more than 1,000 copies of a non-Chasidic book.”
A second print run is now available for pre-order.
It was translated by an American, Arun Visnawath, whose mother is Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, author of the Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary.
The translation renders Quidditch, the sport played on flying brooms, as "shoot-broom".
Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore uses many Hebrew and rabbinic phrases and other characters speak with a Lithuianian register so "you can sort of really hear their dialect", Mr Viswanath has said.
Hagrid, whom Robbie Coltrane played in the films with a West Country accent, speaks with "a very deep back-country Polish register".
When Mr Viswanath connected with Mr Olniansky, the publisher had already been approached by another person translating the book into Yiddish.
Mr Olniansky submitted samples of both to two experts in the language and they both chose Mr Viswanath's version.
It was part-funded by the Swedish Government, as part of a programme to protect minority languages.
Mr Viswanath told The Jerusalem Post: "I think the enthusiasm it's generating says something about the deep relationship that many Ashkenazi Jews feel with the Yiddish language, even if they don't speak it.
"I hope that it inspires people to learn Yiddish, not only to read the book itself, but to discover the treasures contained in Yiddish literature, folk music and theater.
"And for those who do speak Yiddish, my hope is that they find a new and meaningful way to experience Harry Potter, or even read it for the first time."
