[gothic-l] Gothic was like Yiddish

[M. Carver]

on 5/4/01 11:21 AM, l_labkovsky at hotmail.com at l_labkovsky at hotmail.com
wrote:

> Those who say that the Gothic language was different from Yiddish
> are wrong. If you read "The Thirteenth Tribe" by Arthur Koestler he
> mentions there a German embassador to Constantinopol who met with the
> Crimea Goths in the 16th cenury and they understood each other quite
> well. I don't have the book in front of me so forgive if some details
> are wrong so check for yourself. A.Poliak, an Israeli professor, then
> compared some of those Gothic words with Yiddish words and found them
> quite similar. So read the Thirteenth Tribe just for Ostrogoths.

Mutual intelligibility of two languages may not necessitate their identity,
as many modern languages indicate. To say a Goth and a "German" understood
each other is quite different from saying they spoke the same language--let
alone that they did not know each other's language or spoke in another
language altogether. However well the Goths could understand the Alemanni or
the Chatti communicate with the Cherusci lends no support to the identity of
those languages or the derivation of the one from the other. An entirely
other issue is the state of Crimean Gothic.

I don't doubt that you might have such proof as to say "those who say...are
wrong," but the proof should be clarified. Many people may not have access
to Koestler's work. Is this a fictional work or academic? What are
Koestler's resources? It would be helpful to have quotes of pertinent
sections, too.

Also, to all those discussing: please refrain from offering personal ethnic
identity or familial origin as support for theories and assertions as these
rarely propel the argument.

Cheers,
Matþaius



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