Rotwellian grammar

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Rotwell's grammar , published in Frankfurt am Main in 1755, is an important linguistic and cultural-historical document. It served to decode the Rotwelsch and thus belongs to the tradition of the so-called revelation writings . The "Rotwellsche Grammar oder Sprachkunst" marks the end of a whole cycle of prints under this title. In further references, it concludes the tradition line of the High German Liber Vagatorum (around 1510) as the first printed red word source .

content

  • P. [1] title page
  • S. [2] two-column text sample Rotwelsch-Deutsch: The Camesirer to the peers / The learned beggar to the journeymen
  • P. [3–6] Preface to the reader: Dearest reader!
  • S. [7] Vacat
  • P. [8] Labyrinth puzzle drawing with a rhyme saying: Whether a dumb head already pays attention to the train, it is brought to an end by wit and diligence .
  • P. 1–28 Dictionary Rotwelsch-German
  • P. 29–50 German-Rotwelsch dictionary
  • P. 51–66 Der Rotwelschen Sprach = Art Third Treatise. Negotiated The historical imitations through which a beginner can more easily reach perfection. Philander, a young merchant = servant ...
  • P. 67–72 Der Rotwelschen Sprach = Art Fourth Essay . Breger ... Pflüger, (types of beggars).

purpose

Both in the title and in his preface, the anonymous editor makes his goal associated with the publication of the Rotwelschen grammar clear: This is: / instruction / how to learn, speak and understand this language in just a few hours / / strange to those who Use and / advantage that are on trips, in inns and other societies, / to recognize the rascals creeping in there / who use this language in order to / avoid their thieving attacks; / Besides some / historical imitations / through which a beginner can reach / perfection the sooner ( title page).

The editor clearly distinguishes himself from the misuse of the knowledge presented: On the other hand, my sense and opinion is not at all directed to give an occasion and opportunity to learn this language and to practice such trouble (preface: [4]) .

Vocabulary and origin

The vocabulary of the Rotwelschen grammar, which the editor has drawn from various sources, is offered in two parts (each in alphabetical order). Part 1 deals with the Rotwelsch word and its standard language (s) meaning (s), Part 2 is based on the standard language lexeme and assigns its Rotwelsche equivalent. The scope of the vocabulary is almost 900 entries each.

These are simple glossaries: no information on the part of speech is given. Etymological information referring to the donor languages ​​is provided by marking the lexemes from Jewish German with an asteriscus ( star gene ). There is no further differentiation according to different donor languages ​​in the lexicon section. It is clear to the editor of the Rotwelsche Grammar, however, that there were different donor languages ​​and that these had their condition in the multilingualism of the Rotwelsch speaking community, as his explanation in the preface ([3]) shows: Because now everyone from so many people gathered together When its spots were carried out, it must necessarily have been colored fur. So the Hebrew has his Adone, Lechem, Keris, Bsaffot and the like. the French his barlen, Cavall ... contributed. In addition to the reference to Hebraisms and Romanisms in Rotwelsch, he also notes the linguistic influences of the English, Dutch, Latins, Swedes, Friezes and Danes.

A special feature of the Rotwelsch grammar are the sometimes quite extensive paraphrases and comments in the information class meaning: • Baldober - a man of the business, a show-off, director or instigator of the thefts, and always gets a double portion. The Aprosches do not always have the honor of hearing his name just by cor-responding to the chief. The reason why his name remains concealed is this: that no one else should address himself to him or snatch another gnaife from him, but primarily so that Baldober is not stupid or betrayed. • Glance - the children undress naked, where village workers ask for clothes and sell them. • Chochum - cunning, clever, clever man, what name the Ertz = thieves appropriate, as they (...) are not scolded thieves, but [Cho] chumen, clever, clever People are called.

One of the demands of modern special language research, to include examples of use of the words as far as possible, is already fulfilled here and there by the editor of the Rotwelschen grammar from 1755: • Get over the Gläntz - walk away, look for the distance. • This line becomes a right one Blackness - this is going to be a very dark night. 

Traditional contexts

A total of eight editions of "Rotwell's Grammar", which are the direct successor to Liber Vagatorum, are known today, with the first edition printed by Rudolph Dekk already being published around 1535. Already in the first edition of Rotwelschen Grammar, the reversal of the individual parts of the Liber vagatorum noticeable a reorientation of the content, which finally becomes clear in the last edition in 1755. The first two parts of the Liber Vagatorum, which are summarized in the "Fourth (n) Treatise", are placed at the end and also greatly shortened in terms of content and number of chapters. From what was once the first part of the High German Liber Vagatorum, 13 chapters are missing in the "Vierdte (n) Treatise" of the Rotwelschen grammar, which now contains 20 chapters, and with Gänßscheerer , Sefelgräber and Pflüger (p. 72) there are only three of those named Beggar types from the “other part” of the Liber Vagatorum again. In the Rotwelsche grammar, the main focus is no longer on the detailed description of beggars and crooks, but clearly on the documentation of the Rotwelsch vocabulary. From now on, priority is given to Rotwelsch as a language. Accordingly, the dictionaries Rotwelsch-Deutsch and Deutsch-Rotwelsch, which are placed right at the beginning of the work, together with the “historical imitations” of the Third Treatise, occupy by far the largest part of the work.

In contrast to the Liber Vagatorum, in the Rotwelsch grammar the connection between the Rotwelsch and its speaking community is explicated in the title. At least indirect reference is made to the fact that Rotwelsch, as a secret language, favored the “thieving attacks” carried out by its speakers, thus establishing a direct connection between language and criminal acts. According to this, the Rotwelsche grammar is still far from a modern linguistic approach that dispenses with undifferentiated evaluations. The subtitle of the Rotwelschen grammar from 1755 shows that especially the "rascals = rabble" use the Rotwelsch language. In the preface, too, an apparently widespread, destructive evaluation of Rotwelsch is taken up; here it is expressly referred to as "a worthless rascal = language" (preface: [1]). At the same time, however, the author tries in his preface to relativize such a one-sided negative assessment of Rotwelsch by pointing out that any other language can also be misused by an “unworthy mouth” (preface: [2]). The attempt to carefully upgrade the red word can also be seen in the fact that it refers to the old, venerable origins of the obscuration words, which “came from all ancient languages” (preface: [1]).

literature

  • Klaus Siewert (Ed.): Rotwellsche Grammatik oder Sprachkunst, Frankfurt am Mayn 1755. Secret Language Publishing, Hamburg and Münster 2019, ISBN 978-3-947218-08-0