Judezmo (was [UA] Golem Family Reunion)
con_job at excite.com
con_job at excite.com
Tue Apr 16 09:16:13 PDT 2002
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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.
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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 />
> German, you may need to find an interpreter for some words (no easy 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 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.
<br />
<br />
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.
<br />
<br />
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.
<br />
<br />
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.<p><hr>
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