LL-L: "Judaica" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 28.MAY.1999 (04)

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at geocities.com>
Subject: Judaica

Dear Lowlanders,

I have done some casual, preliminary research on Jewish language varieties
that
are possibly specific to the Continental Lowlands.  I can report a little bit
of
progress on the basis of the following works:

==
Aptrop, Marion (1986): Dutch impact on Amsterdam Yiddish Prints; 7-11 in Katz
a.

Katz, Dovid (1986a): _Dialects of the Yiddish Language: Winter Studies in
Yiddish, vol. 2: Papers from the Second Annual Oxford Winter Symposium in
Yiddish Language and Literature_, 14-16 December 1986; Oxford, UK: Pergamon
Press.

Katz, Dovid (1986b): Origins of Yiddish dialectology; 39-56 in Katz a.

Weinreich, Uriel (1954): _The Field of Yiddish: Studies in Yiddish language,
folklore, and literature_; New York, USA: Linguistic Circle of New York.

Beem, H. (1986): Yiddish in Holland: Linguistic and sociolinguistic notes;
122-133 in Weinreich.

==

This digest of mine consists of two sections:

(1) Dutch and Yiddish
(2) Low Saxon (Low German) and Yiddish.

It deals with Yiddish -- essentially a German-derived language -- under the
influence of both Dutch and Low Saxon, and it also briefly mentions Yiddish
influences on Dutch.

==

(1) DUTCH AND YIDDISH

Aptrop gives us a very brief introduction to the beginnings of Yiddish in
Amsterdam:

"When Yiddish printing was launched in Amsterdam in the first half of the
seventeenth century, the Yiddish language had not long been spoken in the
Netherlands. Until 1600 there were hardly any Jews in the country. Although a
small number of Jews had lived there during the Middle Ages, they seem to have
disappeared in the sixteenth century under the reign of the austere Catholic
king Philip II of Spain."

"Around the year 1600, when the Seven Provinces of the Northern Netherlands
had almost completely freed themselves from Spanish rule, Jews returned to the
Netherlands, particularly to Amsterdam. The relative peace and prosperity soon
attracted many Ashkenazi Jews. At the time, the Republic of the Seven
Provinces was very wealthy and one of the most powerful states in the world."

"The first large number of Ashkenazi Jews arrived in Amsterdam around 1620,
establishing the first congregation in 1635. Many refugees came from Germany
to escape the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Later, refugees also came from
Poland
and Lithuania. Polish Jews sought refuge from the Chmielnicki pogroms
(1648-1649) and from the war between Poland and Sweden (1656)."

"The Ashkenazi Jews brought with them their own language, Yiddish. Beem (1954,
p. 192) assumes that German Jews were predominant in the formation of the
Ashkenazi communities in the Netherlands because of the distinctly Western
character of Dutch Yiddish. The influence of Jews from Slavonic territories on
Dutch Yiddish was small and left only casual traces."

And she goes on to discussing Dutch influence on Netherlands Yiddish of the
early days and possible influences of Netherlands Yiddish on other Yiddish
dialects by way of publishing:

"Fuks-Mansfeld (1981, p. 9) assumes that the Dutch language almost
imperceptibly permeated the speech and writing of the Ashkenazi Jews and
presented no
difficulties because it was so like their own language. She claims that 'they
soon spoke Dutch fluently, albeit with an unmistakable accent, and many
educated Jews read it also.' According to her, this explains the large number of

translations from Dutch into Yiddish. It is true that the translations show
that some Jews knew both Yiddish and Dutch, but the very need for these
translations indicates that many Jews could read only Yiddish."

"The Dutch influence on the Yiddish printed in Amsterdam has not yet been
carefully studied. Beem (1954, p. 122) notes that the resulting gap in Yiddish
historical linguistics is a substantial one. In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, Amsterdam was a leading centre of Yiddish publishing for a
pan-European market and, according to Beem, books printed in Amsterdam exerted
an important linguistic influence which has left traces in dialects of Yiddish
outside the Netherlands."

"The general observations that until 1700 the Yiddish printed in Amsterdam was a

standard literary language and that a gradual Hollandization of the language
took place in the eighteenth century, have been illustrated by only a few
examples. A further study of Hollandization is necessary to prove the validity
of these observations. It seems that they are generalizations and do not take
into account the different genres and the different groups of readers to whom
the texts were addressed."

Like other writers, Aptrop mentions relative closeness between Yiddish and Dutch

(and Low Saxon (Low German)) as having facilitated a degree of "Lowlandization"
[my term] of emerging varieties of farwestern Yiddish.  Interestingly,
Dutch-based preterite forms (rarely or never used in Eastern Yiddish (EY)) and
past participial forms are found, such as _shtond_ for 'stood' (< D. _stond_
vs. EY _geshtanen_), _givezd_ for 'been' (< D. _geweest_ vs. EY _geven_), _zakh_

'saw' (< D. _zag_ vs. EY _gezeyn_), and _tet_ (< D. _deed_ vs. EY _geton_).
An interesting example of semantic shift is the verb _broukhn_ (EY _broykhn_)
'need' which came to be conflated with Dutch _gebruiken_ 'use'.  The meaning
'use' of _broukhn_ came to predominate, and a new expression for 'need' was
introduced: _neytik hobn_, based on Dutch _nodig hebben_.  Dutch loanwords
appear as calques, as phonetically Yiddishized (e.g., _ankomsht_ < D.
_aankomst_ 'arrival' vs. EY _ankumft_) and virtually unchanged (e.g., _zondir_ <
D.
_zonder_ vs. EY _oyn_).  (The letter _jud_ seems to have been used to
represent not only /i/ but also /@/ (schwa).)

Beem stresses his/her assumption that Dutch Yiddish was primarily based on
German Yiddish, and he/she makes mention of the role of Emden in both Sephardi
and Ashkenazi migration into and across the Lowlands:

"The distinctly Western character of Dutch Yiddish supports the assumption
that it was German Jews who were predominant in the formation of the Ashkenazic
communities of Holland. Not that the German-Jewish settlement of Holland took
place entirely by way of Amsterdam: many smaller but not insignificant
communities in the north and east of Holland were also founded by immigrant
German Jews. Thus the town of Emden, which is well known as a Portuguese point
of transit, seems to have been a jumping-off point for the founding of Jewish
communities in the north of Holland; their _mémorbikher_ ('memorial books')
often reflect Emden traditions, such as an annual memorial prayer for Rabbi
Uri Fayvush Halevi who taught Judaism to the marranos* of Emden. To be sure,
Amsterdam absorbed many Jews from Slavic territories, too, but their influence
on Holland Yiddish was slight and did not leave any but the most casual
traces. It should be recalled that in the seventeenth century the difference
between
the two types of Yiddish was in any case not as great as later on."

(* _Marranos_ are Iberian Jews who had been forcibly Christianized during the
Inquisition but in most cases continued practicing Judaism. [My own note.])

Beem mentions _plechtig_ 'solemn', _solemniteet_ 'solemnity' and _gezindheden_
'inclinations' as examples in a flood of Dutch-derived words that made
Amsterdam Yiddish of the 17th and 18th centuries a special variety as educated
local
Jews became fluent in Dutch and even published in Dutch.  Yiddish retained its
stronghold among ordinary folk in the Jewish quarter.  A local Yiddish saying
mentions River Amstel as a division between the Yiddish- and Dutch-speaking
populations: _for dii brik retish, hinter dii brik ramenás_ 'before the bridge
"retish;" behind the bridge "ramenás"' referring to the then Yiddish and Dutch
words for 'radish' respectively (Modern D. _radijs_).  However, there were
sections that resisted Neerlandization, using mottos like _mir veln bleybn vas
mir zenen_ 'We want to remain what we are,' and liked to claim _galkhes kenen
mir nit laaynen_ 'We can't read ("priestish" = "Christian" =) Dutch.'

Beem, mentioning resistance to introducing Dutch as a replacement for Yiddish
in announcements and sermons in synagogues throughout the Netherlands:

"... the administrators of the Utrecht community attempted for the first time
to have the sexton read an announcement in the synagogue in Dutch; the indignant

tumult which arose was so great that the plan had to be abandoned."

"In 1844 Koenen, the non-Jewish historian of the Jews of Holland, described
the Dutch language among the Jews as a weak plant on sandy soil which could be
overturned and uprooted by even a feeble wind. In 1867, the _Kerkeraad_
('Church Council'!) of the "High German [Jewish] Community" of Amsterdam
entertained a
motion to discontinue annual Yiddish sermons on _Sabbat hagadot_ and _Sabat
Suba_, but the administrators replied that the time was not yet ripe. As late
as 1850, the house of Proops in Amsterdam considered it worthwhile to publish a
calendar for the year 5611 which is, except for a few pages, entirely in
Yiddish. Even information on ferry and mail schedules, so easily available
elsewhere in Dutch, was here included in Yiddish."

"The last Chief Rabbi to preach in Yiddish was Dusnus of Leeuwarden, who
officiated until 1886. When, after his death, the new Chief Rabbi for the
first time delivered a sermon in elegant Dutch, part of the old guard left the
synagogue in dismay, saying: _in shuul veln mir keyn galkhes heern_ 'in the
synagogue we will not listen to the Christian language.'"

"Yiddish as a language has disappeared among Dutch Jews, of whom only a small
minority escaped the Nazis in the recent war. However, the Dutch language has
absorbed numerous loanwords from Yiddish, more perhaps than other languages.
There is not a Dutchman who does not know the words _gochem_ ( < _khoo-khem_
'clever, shrewd'), _schofel_ 'shabby', _lef_ 'heart', _balleboos_
'householder', _dalles_ 'poverty', _chappen_ 'to steal' (see p. 137 above),
_schiker_
'drunk', _sof_ 'end'. Along with many others, these words have acquired Dutch
citizenship and travel with Dutch passports. What is more important is that in
the speech
of surviving Dutch Jews there are innumerable Yiddish words, locutions, and
proverbs still current, as will be demonstrated by a collection which will
soon be published by the present writer."

"_Shtarbt der rebe, lebt es seyfer_ 'the rabbi dies, the book lives on'.

==

(2) LOW SAXON (LOW GERMAN) AND YIDDISH

Both Aptrop and Beem make mention of Low Saxon (Low German).

Aptrop:

"On the incorporation of both Low German and Dutch elements, Beem touches on a
problem in the study of Dutch influences on Dutch Yiddish printed texts,
namely the difficulty in tracing the origins of certain forms to either Dutch or
Low
German specifically. Beem (1954, p. 129) has pointed out that certain Low
German loanwords in Dutch Yiddish have been incorrectly labelled as
Hollandisms."

"It is difficult to distinguish between Dutch and Low German influence in
cases where Dutch and Low German are similar. We must bear in mind that in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Dutch themselves still regarded their
language as Low German, _Nederduits_, as opposed to High German, _Hoogduits_.
They referred to Yiddish as to High German or Jewish High German, de _Joodse
Hoogduitse taal_ (cf. 'Privilegie' in Vitsnhouzn's _Tanakh_, f.2v). It is
impossible to make a clear distinction between Low German and Dutch influences
as long as we do not know when and where a certain feature entered the Yiddish
language. The fact that we know little or nothing about the writers and
translators does not help."

"The search for phonetic influences is fraught with problems. We are dealing
with printed texts and we do not know exactly how Yiddish was pronounced in
the Netherlands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We cannot rely on
the
older Yiddish spelling which made no pretence at being phonetic. The spelling
is ambiguous and full of inconsistencies."

Beem:

"A word might be said about the influence of Low German on the Yiddish of
Holland as a result of the immigration of North German Jews to Holland.
Certain Low German loanwords in Dutch Yiddish have been incorrectly labeled as
Hollandisms. Griinbaum, for example, classifies _dokters_ 'doctors' (occurring
in Biits' Bible, but also in the "Scroll of Vints") in this category, yet the
form is nothing but the normal equivalent of the Latin plural, doctores. The
word shiir 'soon', which survives in the Passover _seder_ song "El bench"
(_almékhtiger got, nu bau daan templ shiire_), was known in this meaning in
medieval German and has little to do with Dutch. Nor are _eiser_ 'iron' (p.
118) or _vakher_ 'awake' (pp. 112, 379) Hollandisms. Yet these examples have
been
uncritically cited even in Brugmans and Frank's History" ... "Van Ginneken
cites 18 Hollandisms from an Amsterdam edition of _Yoysifon_ (_Yosipon_), when
in
reality they are old legitimate Yiddish forms. Some so-called Hollandisms are
rather Low German forms; _fartseyln_ 'to tell'*, cited by Grunbaum as a Dutch
loan because of its prefix, is current not only in Low German and in North
German Yiddish (Glückel!), but also in High German and in the bulk of East
European Yiddish. The real Hollandization which made the Yiddish of Holland
nearly unintelligible to other Yiddish speakers did not take place until the
eighteenth century."

(* North Saxon _fertellen_ (_vertellen_) vs. German _erzählen_, Eastern
Yiddish _dertseyln_ [my note])

In a footnote on page 77, Beem explains:

"Of course, there are a few phenomena in Yiddish with a northern German taint
that have to be accounted for, such as _knaypn_ 'to pinch' (cf. Standard
German _kneifen_) which in de spoken German language is limited to the North,*
while
the Southwest uses _pfetzen_ and the Southeast _zwicken_" ... "or _drist_
'bold', cf. Standard German _dreist_,** in the Mlawa region of northern
Poland."

(* North Saxon _knipen_ (_kniepen_); _kneipen_ probably being "Middle German."
[my note])

(** North Saxon _driist_ (_driest_) [my note])

Also worth mentioning is Katz's observations about the dialect of Carl Wilhelm
Friedrich.  Friedrich, a North German Christianized Jew, published the work
_Unterricht in der Judensprache, und Schrift_ in 1784.  His own dialect
belongs to a group he identifies as being spread over the following area: the
Kingdom
of Prussia (excluding the dialectal island of Halberstadt), the Kingdom of
Denmark, two duchies of Mecklenburg, the electorate of Hanover, and the Duchy of

Brunswick (Braunschweig).  It is examples from this group that he most
frequently gives throughout his work.

The following features may or may not be due to northern influences.  Firstly,
it needs to be mentioned that this West Yiddish group, as also the West
Yiddish group of Swabia and Halberstadt, both of them now extinct, assimilates
/x/ as
do most German and Low Saxon varieties: [X] after back vowels, and [C] after
front vowels, while only [X] is used in other Yiddish varieties (e.g., _ikh_ 'I'
NWY
[I(@)C] vs. EY [I(@)X] ~ [IaX] ~ [jaX]).  Furthermore, a striking
characteristic of this group is vowel breaking, not totally unlike that found in
Frisian;
e.g., [vo:@s] 'what' (cf. [vOs] elsewhere), [jo:@r] 'year' (cf. elsewhere
[jOr]).
This is also found in some Mideastern Yiddish dialects ([nu:@s], [ju:@r], *ich
> [i at X] > [jaX] 'I').  Lastly, there is the feature of lowering before /r/, also

found in some Mideastern varieties; e.g., ['dOr at C] 'through' (cf. elswhere
[dUrX]), ['kErj@] 'city' (cf. elsewhere ['kirj@]), ['XOrvE] 'ruin' (cf.
elsewhere ['XUrv@]), also in variation, e.g., [bErSt] ~ [barSt] 'brush'.
Lowering from /er/ to /ar/ iX-Mozilla-Status: 0009 e.g., _kerk_ > _kark_
'church'; cf. also German _durch_ vs. LS _doerch_ (_dörch_) 'through'.

==

Best regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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