The Meaning of Yiddish

by Benjamin Harshav

With a combination of erudition and insight, the author investigates the major aspects of Yiddish language and culture, showing where Yiddish came from and what it has to offer, even as it ceases to be a 'living' language.

Genres: Language, Jewish

Hardcover

First published May 1, 1990

Reviews

[Anastasiya Krachkovska · Rating 5 out of 5]

a beautiful book. a very strong book. both for scholars and those who are not versed in Yiddish language and literature

[Ushan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vocabulary of the English language consists of several layers, which are not genre-neutral. Stories about Merrie Olde England, such as the Mother Goose nursery rhymes, are heavily Germanic; more formal English writing, such as the United States Declaration of Independence, is heavily Old French; as for modern French borrowings, I am reminded of the Internet forum tagline, "Pretentious? Moi?". It was similar with Yiddish: the Germanic, Hebrew-Aramaic and Slavic layers each had their own connotations and could be combined to give expressive richness to a text. Harshav illustrates this with both 19th century Yiddish literature and with the Yiddish poetry of American immigrants. I doubt Harshav's assertion that most Yiddish speakers have always been multilingual, though; Mendele the Book Peddler's Benjamin the Third certainly wasn't.