LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.06.05 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 05.JUN.2003 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Theo Homan <theohoman at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2003.06.04 (03) [E]

To whom it may concern:

All the interesting talk about /r/, reminds me a
question that someone of you may know to answer:

When is the oldest evidence for Yiddish?
Or -for not being to much off-topic- what is the
oldest evidence for Yiddish in the Lowland-districts?

Of the many questions sleeping deep inside in me, this
one this time came up.

Thanks.
vr. gr.
Theo Homan

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Theo, Lowlanders,

> When is the oldest evidence for Yiddish?

Since this is somewhat marginal, I will try to be brief about it the
non-Lowlandic part of this.

The oldest extant written piece (in Hebrew script) of what is clearly
Yiddish (referred to as "Old Yiddish") is from 1272/1273, a blessing
added in among Hebrew text in the "Wormser Machsor":

     gut tak im betage
     ze ver diz maxasor 'in
     bes hakneses trage

     A good day be bestowed upon him
     that carries this _makhsor_ into
     [the] Synagogue

(The _makhsor_ is a collection of holiday prayers.)

In the latter part of the 13th century, several epic poems were
published in Yiddish, some based on medieval German epics, others with
Jewish themes utilizing the same styles and techniques, such as _'avroom
'ovinu_ 'Our Father/Patriarch Abraham' and the Esther Epos.  Jews were
found among the ranks of German troubadours (_Minnesänger_), the
best-known being Süßkind von Trimberg who mostly wrote in German but
apparently occasionally in Yiddish.  At that stage, Yiddish still had /ü
/, which later changed to /i/ in the east (e.g., _tür_ > _tir_ 'door',
_rüken_ > _rikn_ 'back', _ir müset_ > _ir mist_ 'you must'), as it did
in those German and Lowlands Saxon dialects that developed in the east.

You need to bear in mind that what was required of a Jewish German male
at that time and place was proficiency in Hebrew and in German as far as
reading and writing was concerned.  People *spoke* Yiddish as
_mame-loshn_ ('mother language'), which began with Judeo-German jargon
(i.e., German peppered with Hebrew terms and expressions, also Latin and
French words).  I therefore assume that the earliest extant Yiddish
texts represent fairly advanced forms of Yiddish.  The main reason why
Yiddish came to be written was to provide females (few of whom learned
Hebrew, could only say their prayers and blessings in it) with access to
translations and interpretations of selected religious texts, especially
of women's prayers and didactic texts.  As a written language it first
came to be know as "women's language" or "women's German."  The written
use of the language was looked down upon throughout most of its
history.  But apparently there was a demand for it, and this spilled
over into popular literature, beginning with troubadour poetry.

> Or -for not being to much off-topic- what is the
> oldest evidence for Yiddish in the Lowland-districts?

Nice recovery!  ;)

This one I would love to know myself.  Yiddish was introduced to the
Lowlands rather late, pretty much after a mass exodus from the
harrassment and ghettoes of the Middle and Upper Rhine and
Bayuvarian-speaking areas to a then more welcoming Eastern Europe.  By
the time sizeable Ashkenazi ("German") Jewish communities of immigrants
from the south came to be established in the relatively more tolerant
northern Low-Franconian- and Low-Saxon-speaking areas, definitely by the
middle of the 17th century (i.e., after the Protestant Reformation),
Yiddish, specifically Western Yiddish, was on the wane and most Jews
used German in public, many of them undoubtedly at least able to
understand the Lowlands language varieties when dealing with Gentiles of
average education.  One of the monuments of Western Yiddish literature
of the north is the autobiography of Glueckel of Hamelin (Glückel von
Hameln, 1646-1724), a woman who was born and raised in Hamburg:

English: _Zikhroynes: the memoirs of Glückel of Hameln_, translated with
notes by Marvin
Lowenthal ; new introd. by Robert S. Rosen, New York : Schocken Books,
1977,
c1932. ISBN: 0805205721 : 6.95.

German: _Zikhroynes: die Memoiren der Glückel von Hameln_, aus dem Jü
disch-Deutsch von
Bertha Pappenheim ; [mit einem Vorwort von Viola Roggenkamp], Weinheim :
Belz
Athenäum, 1994. ISBN: 3895470406.

Also:

East Yiddish: Joseph Bernfeld: _Glikl Hamil, Zikhroynes_, Buenos Aires,
1967
Italian: Roberta Ascarelli, _Le memorie di Glückel von Hameln_
Hungarian: _Glikl Hameln emlékiratai_, 1990
French _Glückel Hameln: Mémoires_, Éd. de Minuit, Paris

There is also a Hebrew translation.  And I *still* have not found a copy
of the original West Yiddish version!

I am not informed about early Yiddish use in Britain.  England had been
particularly hostile toward Jews (such as locking and burning the entire
York community in a church! -- not that sporadic burning did not happen
elsewhere) and had expelled them _en masse_ earlier.  They trickled back
into the country very gradually and cautiously and no doubt kept a low
profile for quite some time, and part of this must have been a need to
be linguistically inconspicuous.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

P.S.: An excellent Yiddish course and source of other information online
for people who can understand German: http://www.jiddischkurs.org/

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