IE creole?

[manaster at umich.edu]

On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Miguel Carrasquer Vidal wrote
[i.a.]:

> I'm not convinced that creoles as such ever arose before the era
> of European colonial expansion.

This interests me a great deal.  I was just asking myself
how old the clear examples of Mixed Lgs that we have are.
The oldest I know is Loshnekoudesh, attested first
I think in the 16th or 17th cent., among German Jews
of course.  One question to ask is whether we can
identify sthg as a creole or a Mischsprache if we
have not already identified the components of the mix
or the source(s) underlying the pidgin underlying the
creole.  I think we should be able to, but I don't
know of any such work. Anybody?

A.