Jenisch Were Integrated in the Judeo-German Speech of German Jews

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HEBREW LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS Volume 2 G–O

General Editor Geoffrey Khan

Associate Editors Shmuel Bolokzy Steven E. Fassberg Gary A. Rendsburg Aaron D. Rubin Ora R. Schwarzwald Tamar Zewi

Volume One

Introduction ...... vii List of Contributors ...... ix Transcription Tables ...... xiii Articles A-F ...... 1

Volume Two

Transcription Tables ...... vii Articles G-O ...... 1

Volume Three

Transcription Tables ...... vii Articles P-Z ...... 1

Volume Four

Transcription Tables ...... vii Index ...... 1

Jenisch were integrated in the Judeo-German speech of German Jews. Their immediate origin was Jenisch (Yenish) is a style of speech that is char- probably the in-group secret lexicon of Jewish acterized by the insertion of a special vocabulary traders, which employed a particularly high into local and regional dialects of German. This density of Hebrew-derived vocabulary in order vocabulary is known only to members of the to camouflage meaning. Jenisch community, and is used to mark ethnic Jenisch in its present form can be traced identity as well as to prevent outsiders from back to the 18th century, when populations understanding key elements of a private conver- of itinerant travelers were invited to settle in sation. The Jenisch lexicon covers basic, every- villages in southwestern Germany and neigh- day terms and typically includes up to five or six boring regions, but carried on their mobile hundred lexical roots. Each Jenisch community trades. Typically, itinerant traders were offered has its own in-group vocabulary, but there protection in villages belonging to private land- is considerable similarity between the different owners in return for taxation, or sought shelter varieties. A large proportion of the vocabulary in remote locations, often at the edge of forests has a long history of serving as a kind of camou- and close to state boundaries. Clusters of vil- flaged lexicon in the speech of marginalized and lages populated by Jenisch people are found itinerant populations in the German-speaking throughout southwestern Germany, Switzer- areas and neighboring regions, and belonged land, and parts of Austria. The settlements to what is often referred to as Rotwelsch, a created a stable social framework within which secret, in-group style of speech that is largely individual varieties of Jenisch emerged, while unintelligible to outsiders. These words often mobility and contacts throughout the region exploit figurative associations, as in Zündling continued to enrich these varieties with new for ‘fire’, based on the word zünd ‘to ignite’, or and fashionable vocabulary. Trittling for ‘foot’, based on the German word Jenisch continues to be employed in the same Tritt ‘kick’. Other words, like Blamm ‘beer’ are region by those who continue the tradition of of unknown origin, but adhere to German rules mobile services. Many members of the young of word formation and phonology. Alongside generation have broken away from the tradi- these words, which were inherited from medieval tions, however, and have settled in towns and German Rotwelsch or secret languages, there are cities, where they have no use for an in-group also significant components from other sources. vocabulary, and where this vocabulary is there- The two principal sources are Romani and fore no longer used and is not being passed on. Ashkenazi Hebrew. Words of Hebrew origin, Precise figures regarding the number of users lav) and Schuck ‘market’ do not exist, but estimates range from twenty לאו =) ’such as laf ‘no -šuq), entered Jenisch with the Ashkenazi thousand to forty thousand ( Germanic Lan שוק =) pronunciation employed when Hebrew words guages, Hebrew Loanwords).

ראש >] ’ßrif ], rosh edah ‘unit head צריף >] References >] ’roš ≠eda], madricha ‘female counselor עדה Matras, Yaron. 1998. “The Romani element in Jenisch and Rotwelsch”. The Romani element שלשול >] ’madriúa], shilshul ‘diarrhea מדריכה ,in non-standard speech, ed. by Yaron Matras 193–230. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. šilšul]), adverbs and interjections (e.g., agav ‘by >] ’agav], benenu ‘between us± אגב >] ’Mixed languages: A functional– the way“ .2000 .—— -be בקיצור >] ’benenu], bekitzur ‘in short ביננו communicative approach”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3:79–99. מה לעשות >] ’Mixed languages: Re-examining the qißur], ma la≠asot ‘what can I do“ .2003 .—— structural prototype”. The mixed language debate, ma la≠a«ot]), and greetings and politeness (e.g., שלום, חבר'ה >] ’ed. by Peter Bakker and Yaron Matras, 151–175. shalom, chevre ‘hello, friends בשלום >] ’Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. šalom, ≤evre], beshalom ‘in peace ——. 2009. Language contact. Cambridge: Cam- kol כל טוב >] ’bridge University Press. be-šalom], kol tuv ‘all the best תודה >] ’uv], todah merosh ‘thanks in advance† .([toda me-roš מראש :For sound recordings http://languagecontact.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/ Because of the mass immigration of Ashke- ELA/languages/Jenisch.html nazi Jews to English-speaking lands in the 19th Yaron Matras and 20th centuries, the Hebrew words in Jew- (University of Manchester) ish English are often heavily influenced by Yid- dish and Ashkenazi Hebrew. Many words have multiple pronunciations, drawing from Ashke- Jewish English, Hebrew nazi Hebrew, Israeli Hebrew, and English (e.g., סוכות >] ’Component in Súkes/Sukót ‘Holiday of Tabernacles ,[kippa כיפה >] ’sukkot], kípah/kipáh ‘skullcap The influence of Hebrew on the English spoken Chanike/Chanukah/Hanukah ‘Hanukkah holi- anukka]). While many Hebrew™ חנוכה >] ’by Jews is restricted mainly to the lexicon. Like day other Diaspora communities, Jews in English- loanwords are ultimately of biblical origin, speaking countries use some words of Hebrew their meanings and uses have often changed origin, especially (or solely) when communicat- significantly in various periods of Hebrew and ing with other Jews. The number of Hebrew Yiddish, or through independent developments loanwords in Jewish English is not known with in Jewish English (e.g., kiddush ‘wine blessing, קידוש >] ’any precision, but estimates range from 500 to small celebratory meal after services 2500. These words belong to various semantic qidduš], Navi ‘prophet, Prophets section of the na∫i], sforim ‘Jewish religious נביא >] ’domains, including religious observance (e.g., Bible .([sefarim ספרים >] ’ša™arit], books שחרית >] ’shacharit ‘morning service pesa™], tsitsis ‘ritual Hebrew loanwords are integrated into English פסח >] ’Pesach ‘Passover ,ßißit], riboyno shel oylam ‘God’ in various ways. Plurals can be from Hebrew ציצית >] ’fringes /ribbono šel ≠olam]) (these and Yiddish, or English (e.g., Shabbatot/Shabbosim ריבונו של עולם >] sefarim]). Yiddish ספרים >] the following words are spelled here accord- Shabbats/Shabboses ing to variable and non-standardized com- plays a major role in the morphosyntactic integra- munity norms), lifecycle events (e.g., pidyon tion of Hebrew adjectives and verbs, especially haben ‘ritual of redemption of the first-born among Orthodox Jews. For example, Orthodox pidyon hab-ben], bat mitzvah Jews use verbs with target-language morphology פדיון הבן >] ’son bat (e.g., ‘They kashered the kitchen’, i.e., ‘rendered בת מצוה >] ’girl’s coming-of-age ceremony‘ kašer]), periphrastic verbal כשר >] ’it kosher מזל טוב >] ’mißwa], mazel tov ‘congratulations ,.levaya]), val- forms (e.g., ‘It might be meorer the tayva’, i.e לויה >] ’mazal †ov], levaya ‘funeral me≠or≠er ±et מעורער את הטבע >] ’ues (kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh ‘all Jews are ‘arouse the lust ha†-†eva≠]), and a Yiddish adjective suffix before כל ישראל ערבים >] ’guarantors for each other ,.kol yi«ra±el ≠arevim ze baz-ze], tikkun nouns (e.g., ‘He’s a very choshuve man’, i.e זה בזה ašuv]). English-speaking≥ חשוב >] ’tiqqun ‘important תיקון עולם >] ’olam ‘repairing the world -Jews exhibit great variation in use and pronun בל >] ’olam], bal tashchit ‘do not waste/destroy≠ bal taš™it] shlom bayis ‘domestic (mari- ciation of Hebrew words, depending on their תשחית ,šelom bayit]), Jew- religiosity, Jewish education, Israel connection שלום בית >] ’tal) harmony ish camping and Israel travel (e.g., tsrif ‘cabin’ age, and other factors.