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From "Sabar, Yona" <sabar@humnet.ucla.edu>
Subject Re: Philologos vs. Dovid Katz: the origins of Yiddish
Date Wed, 22 Dec 2004 15:27:01 -0800

Dear Colleagues,

I am thrilled to read about Professor Katz's theory of the origins of Yiddish, that "The first Yiddish speakers ... came to German-speaking lands not from elsewhere in Europe, but directly from the Middle East; and the language they brought with them was not some form of Judeo-European, but an Aramaic similar to the language of the Talmud." Well, since I belong to the only still-Aramaic-speaking Jewish community, I welcome all my ex-Aramaic Ashkenazi brothers and sisters with the greeting: Shlama rabba 'alaykhon, Havrayya myaqrayya!

Yawna Sabbara


-----Original Message-----
From: jewish-languages-owner@lists.jewish-languages.org
To: jewish-languages@lists.jewish-languages.org
Cc: philologos@forward.com; David Meadows
Sent: 12/22/2004 8:43 AM
Subject: Philologos vs. Dovid Katz: the origins of Yiddish

Philologos, the English Language Forward's language columnist, has devoted three recent columns to describing and debating linguist Dovid Katz's theory of the origins of Yiddish. In Philologos's words, the Theory is that "The first Yiddish speakers ... came to German-speaking lands not from elsewhere in Europe, but directly from the Middle East; and the language they brought with them was not some form of Judeo-European, but an Aramaic similar to the language of the Talmud. Yiddish was thus the 'first generation' heir of this language, not a more distant descendant."

After discussing several of Katz's lexical and phonetic arguments, Philologos writes: "Katz's arguments are good ones, and not to be Lightly dismissed. The problem with them is not so much linguistic as historical. Assuming even, that is, that the linguistic evidence could be best accounted for by a hypothesized group of Middle Eastern, Aramaic-speaking Jewish immigrants to a Germanophonic area of Europe somewhere around the year 1000, which is the earliest date for the origins of Yiddish supposed by anyone, is there any reason to believe that such an immigration actually did or could
have taken place?"

Philologos poses the following questions: "Is there any historical evidence for a migration around the year 1000 C.E. or later of a community of Aramaic-speaking Jews from the Middle East to a German-speaking area of Europe - a migration that, according to Katz, produced Yiddish's "big bang" by fusing, in a single generation, Germanic and Semitic elements into an instantaneously created new language? And if no such evidence exists, is it plausible to assume that this might have happened anyway?"

Philologos answers his question: "Unfortunately for Katz's theory, the answer to both these questions is a resounding no. Not only does Jewish history know nothing of such a migration, but it also is almost inconceivable that one could have taken place."

The columns may be accessed at the following URLs:
December 3, 2004 - The Case for Yiddish in Israel
December 10, 2004 - Philologos vs. Dovid Katz, Round II
December 17, 2004 - Philologos vs. Dovid Katz, Round III

Happy reading!
Joseph I. Lauer
Brooklyn, New York

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