Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/857

* YIDDISH. 725 YIDDISH. that, in their Ghettos, they should intcrniiii{,'le with their colloquial speech a larfje nuinhcr of Hehrew terms. Thus there developed at dif- ferent times various Jewish dialects, .]i(la!o -Per- sian, Ladino or Juda'O-Spanish, and Yiddish or Judico-German. Up to the fourtcentli century the Jews of (iermany spoke the Hi;,'li Gernuin of their neighbors, and wrote it with accuracy, although they employed the Hebrew scri])t. After the Black Death, many .Jews, whom persecution drove out of Germany, settled in the Slavic lands, bringing with them their High German. In Poland this dialect received a large infusion of Hebrew words. At the same time the High German underwent an evolution into the lan- guage of Luther, so that when the Jews returned to Germany in the seventecntli and eigliteenth centuries, they brought with them a vernacular, based on the High German of the Middle Ages, yet differing radically from the language of the time, because of the admixture of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Slavic elements. This dialect, the Yiddish, has been carried all over the world, wherever the Jews of the Slavic lands have found refuge, and in its peregrinations the language has undergone many changes, admitting words and idioms of all the languages with which it has come in contact. Literature. Hebrew throughout the Middle Ages was the literarj' language of the .Jews, and was employed not only in religious services, but also in business correspondence, in bookkeeping, and in the preparation of legal documents. As early as the sixteenth century translations of the Bible into Yiddish began to make their appear- ance to supply the wants of women, who did not receive a Hebrew education, and of the ignorant. The most popular Y'iddish edition of the Penta- teuch and of the Five Scrolls is the one known as Zeenah Ureenah. This is not a translation, but a paraphrase of the biblical text, embellished with the homiletic interpretations of the Talmud and Midrash. The compiler of the book was Jacob ben Isaac, of Janowo, Poland, who lived at the end of the sixteenth century. It has gone through many editions and to-day can be found in almost every Jewish household of Eastern Europe. Besides translations of the Bible there appeared books of a purely religious or moral character, the most popular of which were the Scfcr Bamareh, "The Book of the Mirror" (Frankfort, 170("i) -. 8iinliat Ilrnicfesh. "The Joy of the Soul"' (ib., 170G) ; and Kah Hai/asliar, '"The Correct Measure" (Sulz- bach, 1724). Of historical works the most fa- mous were Josippon, after Josephus (Amster- dam, 1661), and Sheerit Israel, "The Remnant of Israel," by Menahem Man ( ib., 174.3 ) . It was not, however, until the beginning of the nineteenth century that Y'iddish began to be Used as a literary language. The movement for reform and for modern culture {nnskalnh), aroused by the Mendelssohnian translation of the Bible, soon gained a firm foothold in Russia and in Galicia, and while the desires of the learned were satisfied by books written in Hebrew, the people at large had to be appealed to tlirough the medium of the Yiddish. At first Y'iddish was looked upon with scorn by those who had tasted of European civilization, and it was from them that the language received its unfortunate appellation of 'Jargon,' a name by which it has since been generally known among .lews. With the rise of able writers and poets who use Yid- dish, the language is now receiving more con- siderate treatment at tlie hands of philologists and literary men. During tlw last fifty years an extensive Yiddish literature has develo[)ed, which includes science, belles-lettres, poetry, and liistory. Its home is almost exclusively in Rus- sia and the United States. Solomon .Jacob AI)ramovitseh, belter known by his pseudonym '.Mendi'Ie .Mueller Sepliorim,' easily ranks first among ^'iddish authors of modern times. Best known of his works are: Die Klatsche (The Mare), a beautiful and touching allegory of the history of Jewisli persecution and its effects on the national character (Vilna, 187.3); Diis Idcine Menscliele (The Mannikin), a cruel analy- sis of the soul of a 'self-made' man (ib., 1879) ; Fischke der Krumer (Fischl<e thi! Lame), a study of beggar life (Zhitomir, 186!)) ; and Die Takse (The Tax), a criticism of the Jewish communal system. Abramowitsch's work is marked by a quaintness of humor and a depth of feeling which are enhanced by the practically anmrphous medium in which he writes. His masterly ar- raignment of sham and wrong entitle him to a place with the great satirists of the recognized literatures. I. .J. Linetzki's Diis ■polnisehe Jiinyel (The Polish Boy) is valuable for the picture it gives of the Chassidic life among the Jews. A. M, Dick Was a prolific writer of the romantic school. .Jacob Dienensohn produced a number of popular sentimental novels. M. R. Schaike- witsch, otherwise known as 'Schomer,' wrote more than a hundred lengthy books marked by a talent for narration and little else. Mordechai Spektor, Solomon Rabinowitsch, better known as 'Scholem Alechem,' and J. L. Perez are, after Abramowitsch, the most prominent of contempo- rary prose writers in Y'iddish. They resemble Abramowitsch in the general undercurrent of sad- ness which runs through all their work, but like him, too, they display prominently a rich taste for humor, which in Rabinowitsch is often mingled with acute satire and in Perez with pathos and mysticism. The influence most conducive to the rise of the Y'iddish literature was the introduction of the Y'iddish newspaper. The first successful newspaper in the language was established in 1863, when A. Zederbaum began to publish the Kol MeiixiS'Ser. as a supplement to his Hebrew weekly BanicUz. Since then many Y^iddish peri- odicals have appeared in various lands. The Jiidisches Tar/ehlntt, -the first Y'iddish daily, ap- peared in New Y'ork in 188.5, under the manage- ment of the editor of the weekly Jildische Qazet- ten. Nvuuerous newspapers advocating various ideals of religion and sociology have appeared from time to time in America, and now there are more than twenty Y'iddish newspapers issued in this country. 'The first Y'iddish daily in Russia, Der Freind, made its appearance in January. 1903, at Saint Petersburg. In January, 1904, another daily, Der Turi. began publication at the office of the Hebrew daily Hameliz, Saint Petersljurg. It is almost exclusively in con- nection with the newspaper that Y'iddish litera- ture has developed in the United States. The Socialist press has counted among its contribu- tors many men of high gifts and wide attain- ments who have done excellent work in popu-