The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1912-08-21
SOMETHING OF
TERM Y|DD|SH
And What the Word Really
Means.
CONGLOMERAT|0N OF TONGUES
The Word, Its Use and Mean
ing Seem TO Be of I'm.
certain Origin.
GERMAN-yIDDISH Is COMMON

GERMAN-yIDDISH Is COMMON
The question of what Yiddish
really is has often interested per-
| sons of Jewish and non-Jewish
| faith alike and been answered with
considerable uncertainty in most
instances. The general tendency
has been to class Yiddish not as a
classification that has, on the other
hand, been disputed by some, in
view of the fact that Yiddish boasts
a growing literature, and efforts
have at times been made to demon
strate that it has more or less reg
ular grammar as we'll. Those in
favor of the latter view, point to
the fact that English itself is the
product of an odd amalgam of
tongues and has grammar none
too rigid, but is nevertheless not
classed as a jargon on that account.
According to Prof. Julius II
Greensboro. of Philadelphia, in
recent interview, Yiddish is essen
TALLY a language of the Jews in
exile" a condition in which octho-
doX Judaism considers al Jews to
be. While speaking everywhere
the language Of the land in which
they dwelt after their dispersa,
among the nations, the Jews, ac
cording TO this view. Developed e.
the same time dialect o. their
own, which best met their peculiar
reeds. Thus there are TODAY
aTOng others, a Spanish-Yiddis', ?
Grcek-Yiddish, a Persian-Yiddish
and a German-Yiddish, the last OF
which is now spoken by the ma
jority of Jews in the world.
This German-Yiddish. according
TO Prof. Greensboro, had its origin |
in the Jewish quarters of Germany |
in the Middle Ages, and assumed !
its individuality and peculiar ma
ture among the Jews of Poland |
The segregation of the Jews in sep |
arate quarters, the enforced and |
voluntary separation from the peo-
pies among whom they lived, gave |
the Jews the freedom to develop a |
vernacular of their own, based upon |
the German spoken at the time; |
and this vernacular they preserved |
even after they were forced to flee |
from Germany and to settle in 9TH
er lands. When in contact with |
other languages, Yiddish naturally |
absorbed foreign words and express
sions, so that the Yiddish spoken
IN Germany differs from the Yid-
dish spoken in England and Ameri-
ca in a number of phrases.
In this city there are at least a
half dozen different kinds of Yid-
dish spoken by persons who have
come from different sections of Eu-
rope. In addition to many express
sions from the Hebrew, which best |
expressed the ideas for which they |
stood, there have been absorbed |
into the Yiddish language MANY
English expressions that are used
in daily conversation,
and the number OF which is con-
stantly increasing. One of the chief
characteristics OF Yiddish through
out the ages has been to absorb as
much as possible from whatever en-
it found itself in.
The precise proportions of the
different linguistic elements that
thus go to make up the complex
sum total of Yiddish must thus re-
main a matter OF estimate and spec
llation. A few years ago a doctor
II dissertation dealing with Yid-
fish grammar was prepared at Co
umbia University. Therein the in
1estigator came to the conclusion
hat the three main elements of
fiddish were found in these pro-
portions: German, SO per cent;
Hebrew, 10 per cent; Slavic express
ions, per cent.-tNew York
Times.