LL-L: "Judaica" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 16.MAY.1999 (03)

[sassisch]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 16.MAY.1999 (03) * ISSN 1089-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: "R. F. Hahn" <sassisch at geocities.com>
Subject: Judaica

Dear Lowlanders,

I wrote:

"Georg Deutsch and I, at the very least, are very interested in any
possible non-English Lowlands-based Jewish language varieties.  We had also
heard about a special form of Yiddish (West Yiddish?) being used in my native
Hamburg even as recently as in the 19th century.  Might it have been some
form of Amsterdam Yiddish?  The speakers appeared to have had connections to
Amsterdam.  I wonder if you know anything about this and might be able to
point to relevant sources."

In the meantime I have done a tiny bit of research, concentrating, as should be
expected, on Glueckel of Hamelin (Glückel von Hameln, 1646-1724), a woman who
was born and raised in Hamburg, lived in a few other Northern German places, in
old age lived in Alsace and left us with her memoirs in what is referred to as
"Yiddish" or "Jewish German."  I have not yet read her biography nor any of the
major works about her.  However, judging by the titles I was able to find in our
library database it can be said that the language she used was Western Yiddish,
a language that is now virtually extinct.

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.

Zikhroynes: die Memoiren der Glückel von Hameln, aus dem Jüdisch-Deutsch von
Bertha Pappenheim ; [mit einem Vorwort von Viola Roggenkamp], Weinheim : Belz
Athenäum, 1994. ISBN: 3895470406.

Klayman-Cohen, Israela. Die hebräische Komponente im Westjiddischen am Beispiel
der Memoiren der Glückel von Hameln, Hamburg : Helmut Buske, 1994. ISBN:
3875480767.

The remaining questions are these: Is this a specifically Lowlandic form of
Western Yiddish?  Is the dialect specific to Hamburg or Northern Germany, or is
it a transported variety?  Might there be Low Saxon (Low German) influences in
it, at least indirectly via Northern German?  (In Glückel's days, Low Saxon had
begun to recede into the woodwork in "educated" circles but was still
extensively used by common people, even in the large city of Hamburg.)

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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