language/dialect again

[A. Maberry]

The question of the origin of the saying "A language is a dialect with an
army/navy" seems to come up with some regularlity. It is usually
attributed to the Yiddishist Max Weinreich, but I haven't seen a reference
to the exact source. I think I might have found it in a speech Weinreich
gave in honor of the 20th anniversary of YIVO (Yidisher visnshaftlekher
institut), titled "Der Yivo un di problemen fun undzer tsayt" ("YIVO and
the problems of our time") published in Yivo Bleter, bd. 25, num. 1
(Yanuar-Februar, 1945) p. 13. Weinreich is telling an anecdote about a course
of lectures he was giving at YIVO in 1944 and:

"Eyn mol nokh a lektsye geyt er [a student] tsu tsu mir un fregt: 'Vos iz
der khilek fun a dialekt biz a shprakh?'  Ikh hob gemeynt, az es ruft zikh
op in im der maskilisher bitul, un ikh hob im gepruvt aroyffirn oyfn
rikhtikn veg, nor er hot mikh ibergerisn: 'Dos veyst ikh, ober ikh vel
aykh gebn a besere definitsye: A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un
flot".

roughly translated; Once after a lecture he came up to me and asked: "What
is the difference between a dialect and a language?" I thought that a bit
of the contempt which characterized the Haskalah period had affected him,
[im not sure how to convey the phrase "az es ruft zikh op in im der
maskilisher bitul" but I think this is pretty much the sense of it--adm]
so I tried to lead him to the right way, but he interrupted me: "I know
that, but I'll give you a better definition: A language is a dialect with
an army and navy."

My apologies if this has been reported before and escaped my notice!

Allen
maberry at u.washington.edu