Rotwelsch

Rotwelsch or Gaunersprache is a secret language, a cant or thieves' argot, spoken by covert groups primarily in Germany, Switzerland and the Low Countries.

Origin and development

Rotwelsch was formerly common among travelling craftspeople and vagrants. The language is built on a strong substratum of German, but contains numerous words from other languages, notably from various German dialects, as well as from Yiddish, and Romany languages, notably Sintitikes. There are also significant influences from Judæo-Latin, the ancient Jewish language of the Roman Empire. Rotwelsch has also played a great role in the development of the Yeniche language. In form and development, it closely parallels the commercial speech ("shopkeeper language") of German-speaking regions.

Vocabulary

Because of its development as a means of conveying information about goods and transactions, Rotwelsch has no terms for abstractions. For example, it has no direct translations for the seasons such as spring and autumn. Instead, it uses "Bibberling" (literally, "shivering") and "Hitzling" (literally, "heat") in place of season names.

Other vocabulary examples, compared to their German counterparts, include:
* "Schokelmei" = "Kaffee" (coffee)
* "schenigeln" = "arbeiten" (to work)
* "Krauter" = "Chef eines Handwerkbetriebes" (master artisan)
* "Kreuzspinne" = "Weste" (waistcoat)
* "Wolkenschieber" = "Frisör", "Barbier" (barber)
* "Stenz" = "Wanderstock des Handwerksburschen" (walking stick)
* "fechten" = "betteln" (to beg)
* "Platte machen" = "Unterkunft suchen" (to seek lodging)
* "Puhler" = "Polizist" (policeman)

A Brief Glossary of Thieves Cant [ Peter Feraru, "Muskel Adolf & Co., Die Ringvereine and das organisierte Verbrechen in Berlin, pages 217-221]

acheln = To Eat. From the Hebrew root a-ch-l (food/eat).

abfaßen = (Lit. "To Write Out") To Arrest.

alle gehn = To Be Arrested, To Vanish into Thin Air.

den Affen kaufen = (Lit. "To Buy the Ape") One Has Gotten drunk.

aufmucken = To revolt against orders.

assern = To testify against someone, to "betray" them.

ackern = (Lit. "To Till or Cultivate") To Go Acquire, To Go Off the Line.

auftalgen = (Lit. "To Grease Up") To Hang, "der Getalgente" is the hanged man.

ballmischpet = Examining Magistrate. From the Hebrew Ba'al Mishpat (Master of Law)

balldowern = To Spy Out, To Make Inquiries About.

der Bau = (Lit. "The Lodge") The Prison or Pentitentiary.

Bauer = (Lit. "Peasant or Farmer) A Stupid Simple Minded Person.

begraben sein = (Lit. "To Be Buried") To Be Hunted for a Long Time.

der Bello = The Prison Toilet.

beramschen = To Swindle Someone.

berappen = (Lit. "To Plaster a Wall") To Pay Up or Fork Over money.

betuke = To Be Discreet or Imperceptable.

die Bim = A Small Bell, Derived From "Bimmel."

bei jom = By Day. From the Hebrew "Yom" (day)

bei leile = By Night. From the Hebrew "Laila" (night)

bleffen = To Threaten Someone, Also "Anbleffen."

Bombe = (Lit. "Bombshell") Coffee glass.

brennen = (Lit. "To Burn") Extortion, but also to collect "The Thieves Portion" with Companions. The Relationship between Distilling Spirits (or "Branntweinbrennen") and taking a good gulp of the portion (or "Anteil") is Obvious.

Current status

Variants of Rotwelsch, sometimes toned-down, can still be heard among travelling craftspeople and funfair showpeople as well as among vagrants and beggars. Also, in some southwestern and western locales in Germany, where travelling peoples were settled, many Rotwelsch terms have entered the vocabulary of the vernacular, for instance in the municipalities of Schillingsfürst and Schopfloch.A couple of Rotwelsch words have entered the colloquial language, f. e. "aufmucken", "Bau", "berappen". "Baldowern" or "ausbaldowern" is very common in Berlin dialect; "Bombe" is still used in german prison jargon. The Manisch dialect of the German city of Gießen is still used, although was only spoken fluently by approximately 700-750 people in 1976 [ Hans-Günter Lerch, "Tschü lowi...Das Manische in Giessen", 1976/2005, Reprint Edition, page 22, ISBN 3-89687-485-3] .

Rotwelsch in the arts

A variant of Rotwelsch was spoken by some American criminal groups in the 1930s and '40s, and harpist Zeena Parkins' 1996 album "Mouth=Maul=Betrayer" made use of spoken Rotwelsch texts. [ [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:qb6xlfhehcqe Proefrock, Stacia; Allmusic.com review of "Mouth=Maul=Betrayer"] ; URL accessed Jan 06, 2007]

An example of Rotwelsch is found in Gustav Meyrink's "Der Golem" and reads as follows:"An Bein-del von Ei-sen recht alt.""An Stran-zen net gar a so kalt""Messinung, a' Räucherl und Rohn""und immerrr nurr putz-en----""Und stok-en sich Aufzug und Pfiff""Und schmallern an eisernes G'süff""Juch,-""Und Handschuhkren, Harom net san----"

References

* Wolf, S.A.: Wörterbuch des Rotwelschen. Deutsche Gaunersprache, 1985/1993, 431 S., ISBN 3-87118-736-4
* Heinz Sobota : Der Minus-Mann, 1978, Verlag Kiepenheuer und Witsch

External links

* [http://www.petermangold.de/default.htm http://www.petermangold.de/default.htm] (in German)
* [http://linguistik.yauh.de/rotwelsch.html http://linguistik.yauh.de/rotwelsch.html] (in German)