Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 4.220
December 7, 1994

1) Crypto-Yiddishisms and Hebraisms (Jules Levin)
2) Western Yiddish and cryptic language (Marion Aptroot)
3) Nit do gedakht and progressive voicing (Dovid Braun)
4) Inquiry on the etymology of Eng. "zit" (Victor Bers)
5) Rog (Dan Slobin)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 94 16:08:59 PDT
From:jflevin@ucrac1.ucr.edu
Subject: Crypto-Yiddishisms and Hebraisms

I'd like to comment re several threads of discussion, including the use
of Hebrew in Western Yiddish, and the British Slang term mentioned by
Howie Aronson on behalf of Barry Schechter (a great khokhem of Yiddish
dialects who ought to be on this list, even if we have to buy him a
computer and modem!!!), and maybe even the sheket > sheygets problem!

What unites all this, or at least what should be brought into the
discussion, is the role of Yiddish/Hebrew in traditional European
criminal cant.  A few years ago at a semiotics conference in Berkeley,
someone gave a paper on a dictionary of Berlin criminal jargon published
by the Police Chief of Berlin in the 19th century.  There is a longish
introduction to the dictionary written by the police chief himself.  At
one point he states that the criminals do not want outsiders to
understand their language, and he quotes a saying of theirs to the effect
that one shouldn't teach their jargon to the "marks".  But what the
saying actually says is (replacing the German with English) "Don't teach
the loshen kodesh to the goyim! Incidently, the police chief apparently
did not discuss the Hebrew or Jewish character of this language.  I
remember one other word from the paper: mezuzah for 'prostitute' (Think
of doorways, and kissing...)

Yiddish and Hebrew have long been considered sources of criminal cant in
English as well; both America and Britain.  Cf the word 'mezumah',
regarded as a yiddishism.  Not to mention  Shakespeare's "goniff".

It is likely that the Jewish role in  the traditional European and
American underworld is a factor in the use of hebraisms "from below" in
Yiddish. Note that within criminal cant itself these terms spread to
non-Jews as well.  Vocabulary from this layer often spreads upward into
neutral registers.  This is well-known in English, so why not in Yiddish?

Given the prevalency of this element, some words may be falsely
attributed to Yiddish, but who knows?

This brings us to sheygets ~ shiktsa.  Since use of the Hebrew root this
way is not attested earlier in Hebrew, the original motive could have
been this 'from below' impulse to conceal reference to the 'goyim'.
Although sheygets seems to be a phonological problem, what about shiksa?
I have the impression that it works very well from the Hebrew root
sheket.  In that case, sheygets could be a back-formation on a Slavic
model.  The 'g' would then relate to the phonological question discussed
in earlier Mendeles on the status of devoicing/aspiration in pre-conso-
nantal position.

Jules Levin

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 1994 15:19:41 -0500 (EST)
From: aptroot@husc.harvard.edu
Subject: Western Yiddish and cryptic language

"...trust me, you see words like "shoufel", which Mendelyanern Marion
Aptroot pointed out to me could have gone into Dutch through thieves'
argot, which contained a lot of this crypto-language that existed up till
World War II."

Trust me, I would never have used an example like that. Firstly, Dutch
doesn't have any form like _shoufel_. It does have _sjofel_ [shO:fel].
Secondly, I have said and written on several occasions that there are
words in Dutch which are said to have come from Yiddish or Hebrew, but
which actually entered the language through thieves' cant. I would be the
last person to equate Yiddish with the language of thieves. There are
good arguments to be made on the basis of phonology to show that it is
highly unlikely that some of these words came from Ashkenazic Jews. That
is, however, not the only reason why the "cryptic theory" of the origins
of the Yiddish makes me feel rather uncomfortable.

Marion Aptroot

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 1994 19:48:02 EST
From: dovid@mit.edu
Subject: nit do gedakht and progressive voicing

To Reb Mikhl:

Very surprising that you recall the /t/ in [nitogedaxt] being heavily
"aspirated" (do you mean aspirated?  or released, exploded?) from the
vaysrusish side of the family.  We'd expect [nido'gedaxt] (as in my
kind-of vaysrusish family) -- progressive voicing.  Likewise,
[nizhdogedaxt] for those (psuedo-)litvakes among us who use _nisht_ in
free variation with _nit_.

And a propos, to Khayem Bochner:  it might not be abundantly apparent,
but I think [shabezdik] with a [z] is indeed the form in (litvish) casual
speech.  Once again, not a clear, unambiguous [z], but definitely
something on the +voiced side of the fence.

Dovid Braun

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 94 23:06:10 EST
From: vbers@yalevm.cis.yale.edu
Subject: Inquiry on the etymology of Eng. "zit"

A friend teaching in Kuala Lumpur, not himself a Yiddish speaker/reader/
hearer, has asked me to comment on a piece of etymological speculation. I
told him that though I myself was unaware of the usage he conjectures, I
would present it to the erudite cybercommunity of MENDELE and report any
reaction. Here's his note:

It occurred to me that the American slang "zit" for pimple may be derived
from German Zitze, i.e. "teat." My colleague and Germanist Looi Siew Tiep
says that the likeliest route is through Yiddish. Is it possible that
Zitze means this, viz., "pimple", in some register of Yiddish slang?
"Zit" acc. to the New OED is not attested before the late 60s. However,
one dict. of slang I consulted here gives it an alternate meaning, =
"hickey." Hm, up, written in Hebrew character, in a Yiddish dictionary we
actually have here...But the entry gave only the literal "teat."

Victor Bers

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:40:25 -0800
From: slobin@cogsci.berkeley.edu
Subject: rog

Jules Levin's association of rog with its Slavic meaning, `horn',
certainly seems appropriate for a crescent-shaped pastry. Indeed, we have
the croissant from French, with the same origin; also Turkish _ay
c,o"reg^i_ or _ay baklavasi^_, meaning `moon pastry'; and no doubt many
more horn-moon-crescent associations crosslinguistically.

Dan Slobin

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