Judezmo (was [UA] Golem Family Reunion)

[con_job at excite.com]

--EXCITEBOUNDARY_000__017b1464b4495b7d1bbf8294431a54c4
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 I should have said Landino, not Judezmo.  I need to sleep more...

>  I'm not sure how much Judezmo varies from the
> > "standard" 
> > modern Castillian dialect, but if it's as much as Yiddish varies from
> 
> > German, you may need to find an interpreter for some words (no easy
> task 
> > for a dialect that's been dead for five centuries).
> 
> Judezmo is even more altered from modern Castillian than Yiddish.  Here's
> why.  Yiddish developed in the eighteenth century from Jews who were
> allowed to read and write yiddish but not german, they meanwhile spoke
> german to the general populace when doing business.  Yiddish originally
> developed as an attempt by Jews at the time to write german with Hebrew
> letters.
> 
> As a result, what you have is a pidgen, constantly being updated to a
> pidgen of modern german.  What most people think of as yiddish is this
> pidgen dated between 1900 and 1920, so it's a somewhat dated german
> polyglot with some hebrew words thrown in.  Individual words may need a
> translator, but the context is pretty clear.
> 
> Judezmo developed in the 12th century before the jews were expelled from
> spain the first time.  It had a similar history for a while, then the Jews
> were expelled and it all went to hell in a handcart.  At this point the
> jews moved from major christian population centers and ended up in the
> southern penninsula is exclusively Jewish communities.  The language
> developed from there.  As a result, you have a population who speaks an
> evolved dialect of 12th century andalusian (more jews in andalusia than
> castillo) now grown up along completely different lines than modern
> castillian (or even andalusian) Spanish.  
> 
> To put it into terms that may seem easier.  Imagine an isolated population
> during Chaucer's day that spoke middle english and Arabic.  Now imagine
> modern adults spoke a polyglot of the language that developed there from
> middle english.  It would have as much in common with our english as
> Romanian shares with Italian.  They're both romance languages, and there
> are some common roots, but it ain't the same.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------
> 
> 

------------------------------------------------


--EXCITEBOUNDARY_000__017b1464b4495b7d1bbf8294431a54c4
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 I should have said Landino, not Judezmo.  I need to sleep more...
<br />

<br />
>  I'm not sure how much Judezmo varies from the
<br />
> > "standard" 
<br />
> > modern Castillian dialect, but if it's as much as Yiddish varies from
<br />
> 
<br />
> > German, you may need to find an interpreter for some words (no easy
<br />
> task 
<br />
> > for a dialect that's been dead for five centuries).
<br />
> 
<br />
> Judezmo is even more altered from modern Castillian than Yiddish.  Here's
<br />
> why.  Yiddish developed in the eighteenth century from Jews who were
<br />
> allowed to read and write yiddish but not german, they meanwhile spoke
<br />
> german to the general populace when doing business.  Yiddish originally
<br />
> developed as an attempt by Jews at the time to write german with Hebrew
<br />
> letters.
<br />
> 
<br />
> As a result, what you have is a pidgen, constantly being updated to a
<br />
> pidgen of modern german.  What most people think of as yiddish is this
<br />
> pidgen dated between 1900 and 1920, so it's a somewhat dated german
<br />
> polyglot with some hebrew words thrown in.  Individual words may need a
<br />
> translator, but the context is pretty clear.
<br />
> 
<br />
> Judezmo developed in the 12th century before the jews were expelled from
<br />
> spain the first time.  It had a similar history for a while, then the Jews
<br />
> were expelled and it all went to hell in a handcart.  At this point the
<br />
> jews moved from major christian population centers and ended up in the
<br />
> southern penninsula is exclusively Jewish communities.  The language
<br />
> developed from there.  As a result, you have a population who speaks an
<br />
> evolved dialect of 12th century andalusian (more jews in andalusia than
<br />
> castillo) now grown up along completely different lines than modern
<br />
> castillian (or even andalusian) Spanish.  
<br />
> 
<br />
> To put it into terms that may seem easier.  Imagine an isolated population
<br />
> during Chaucer's day that spoke middle english and Arabic.  Now imagine
<br />
> modern adults spoke a polyglot of the language that developed there from
<br />
> middle english.  It would have as much in common with our english as
<br />
> Romanian shares with Italian.  They're both romance languages, and there
<br />
> are some common roots, but it ain't the same.
<br />
> 
<br />
> ------------------------------------------------
<br />
> 
<br />
> <p><hr>

--EXCITEBOUNDARY_000__017b1464b4495b7d1bbf8294431a54c4--

_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua