Introduction
Communication greatly depends on a medium that is easily understandable by the two parties that are involved in the communication. Language is one form of medium that helps two people to understand each other and hence a common language is an essential part of communication. The development of human beings has however led to the evolution of languages and at times they have been completely distorted to create new meanings from those they originally had. One of the major factors that have contributed to these distortions is the mixing of cultures triggered by the migration of people from one place to another for various reasons. The meeting cultures create a whole new entity that borrows from the two original cultures and hence rises to become a separate entity since it cannot place itself entirely on either of the two original cultures.
Discussion
In this paper, the original Till Eulenspiegel tales are compared to those of the Yiddish and Jewish versions. We explore the path that the tales took to finally be told in the versions that they are told in among the Yiddish and the Jewish. The point of contact of the original Eulenspiegel’s language speakers and the Yiddish and Jewish speakers must be identified in order to clearly understand the evolutionary path that the tales have taken since they were first told during Eulenspiegel’s time to the time they were first recorded on paper and how they finally reached the Yiddish and Jews (Wiener & Elias 89).
Till Eulenspiegel was a renowned trickster who used his pranks to bring out wayward behavior in people around the society. He would trick people of different calibers and social status. His aim of doing so was to bring out the misconducts that people would engage in. He wanted to act as a mirror to help people reflect on their deeds and eventually change to more acceptable behaviors. His victims included the ordinary people around town such as traders, cobblers and hawkers to the high and mighty such as kings and judges.
Eulenspiegel was born in a Middle Low German family and this was the language that most of his narratives were written in. However, the later translations that were made to his works were done by users of the High German language. The swindler traditional and fictional tales varied from the1500 in Low German language as well as from 1515 in High German that it consisted of various dialects drawn from the wider German language. As such, different meanings of words or phrases would emerge during the translation of his earlier works to the High German context. This created narratives that would convey a different message from the one initially intended by Eulenspiegel (Manseau 390).
The Yiddish Language
Yiddish was the language spoken by Ashkenazic Jews who lived in eastern and central Europe. It was a combination of several ancient German dialects fused with other languages including Aramaic and Hebrew, Old French, Old Italian and several Slavic languages. Hebrew and Aramaic words and expressions are the same used in the Bible, Talmud and Rabbinical writings. The influence of these languages further spread after Jews and other non-Christian people were expelled from the current day Germany where they had lived for the better part of their life. Having to find new lands to go to was not easy and this caused them to disperse and scatter all over and thus spreading the Yiddish language further into new countries. The challenge was however that due to the small number of people who would migrate to a certain country, the language would remain unpopular (Berger 75).
Some of the most common literature and tales that had been adopted during their times in Germany would be passed on to the new communities they interacted with for instance the Dutch and the English 1520’s, with the French and the Latin in the 1530’s and 1550’s respectively and that is something that resulted and led to the spread of the tales such as those of Eulenspiegel. As a common weakness of history holds, these tales and other forms of literature were prone to distortions and other forms of mutilation during their passage from one teller to another (Bribitzer & Gauldin 46-48). These distortions would be in the form of inclusion of happenings that were not originally recorded or the use of words that were not originally used to tell the tales. These words would most commonly be used by the narrator to substitute words that were not easily understood. As such, the substitute words would have completely different meanings from the original words used in the original context and thus the tales would acquire a new dimension through the use of words with different meanings (Ben-Amos et al 139). More noticeable change was the fusion of the sound system in the language and words with the kalb for calf, Berg for berge, and noz for nose as an examples that could be found in the German element or language (Berger 78-80).
With time, the Jews finally settled in Israel and other parts of their current day lands and from there continued the passage and use of the literature they had learnt while in Germany and along their routes during the migrations. It is from their current day lands that they adopted more Jewish literature in the form of songs, poems, writings and narratives. All these would combine with other forms of Jewish teachings and hence acquire a new dimension since the literature would revolve around similar teachings or lessons to those taught in the Jewish religion. The difference however was that the religious teachings did not involve characters with completely similar traits as those in the tales (Bribitzer & Gauldin 27). For example, the tales that had been told in earlier times especially during their times in Germany would involve characters who usually had undesirable behavior and thus the tales were told to in order to urge people to change their behaviors or to change their ways and conform to the norms of the society. Such characters are the kind depicted in the tales told about Eulenspiegel and his way of correcting their behavior. While his tales tell of how he would make a fool out of someone, religious teachings and other tales told in the Jewish versions were more inclined to urging behavior change by emphasizing on the consequences of wrongdoing (Manseau 392).
In the original tales, the content revolved more around the culture of the native German people and the Low German language that was predominant during Eulenspiegel’s time. With the Jewish versions however, the tales were inclusive of the cultures that the Jews had encountered in their journeys during the migration as well as the cultures that they found already in existence in their current day lands (Oppenheimer 124). This contributed to the numerous differences that emerged in the telling of the tales as well as the dimensions that were acquired by the tales including the creation of characters who did not actually exist in the original tales. The aim of this was to ensure that the tales suited the purpose for which they were being told in their new Jewish context. Unlike in the original versions where the tales were told by people who witnessed the happenings first hand, the later versions told by the Jews were based on stories that had been passed on for generations and as such had undergone some distortions. This was unlikely to give a true picture of the original tale as every teller would give the tale a picture of the ideal situation based on what they considered favorable for the audience and not exactly what happened in the initial tales (Bribitzer & Gauldin 23).
Equivalent difference is the purpose for which the tales were being told to the audience. While originally told in order to help people reflect on their deeds just as was the case when Eulenspiegel pulled his pranks on people, the latter versions were told as a form of entertainment and carried lesser significance to the audience as compared to the earlier times. In the Jewish set up, the tales were told as part of performances that included songs, dances and any other form of art that would bring people together during festivities and other forms of celebrations. Although the main message being communicated in the tales or other form of performance was important in the Jewish set up, it did not get as much attention as it did in the earlier German versions since the Jews did this mostly for entertainment purposes (Berger 103).
The two versions, the Yiddish and the Jewish versions were however similar in that they created a platform upon which the society would learn moral lessons and especially concerning the relation of an individual with other persons within the society. The teachings of the two insist on the need to have desirable values that can be emulated and that put into consideration the fair treatment of other people in order to ensure that there is justice and fairness in the society. This is especially important since the best morals must be taught to the young and the old alike for a society to be in a position to uphold dignity and value for the most basic things (Ben-Amos et al 176).
Conclusion
The original Till Eulenspiegel tales can be compared to the Yiddish or Jewish versions that were told hundreds of years later in that much of their moral teachings have remained unchanged over the years. It is however important to note that due to the numerous transformations that occurred in the original language that was spoken during Eulenspiegel’s time, the original content of the tales has also been changed and distorted. This can be attributed to the migrations and language mixtures and interactions that the Jews encountered during their movement across Europe and specifically from Germany to their current day homes in Israel and other parts of Europe and the Middle East. These mixtures of language caused the changes in the meanings of words or phrases originally used in the tales and hence the Jewish versions contain words, phrases or even additions to the original tales which might be untrue or distorted.
Works Cited
Ben-Amos, Dan, Dov Noy, and Ellen Frankel. Folktales of the Jews: Volume 2. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 2007. Print.
Berger, Shlomo. Speaking Jewish - Jewish Speak: Multilingualism in Western Ashkenazic Culture. Leuven [u.a.: Peeters, 2003. Print.
Bribitzer-Stull, Matthew; Gauldin, Robert. "Hearing Wagner in Till Eulenspiegel: Strauss's Merry Pranks Reconsidered." Integral. 21 (2007): 1-39. Web.
Manseau, Peter. "Revising night : Elie Wiesel and the hazards of Holocaust theology."Crosscurrents, 56.3 (2006): 387-399. Web.
Oppenheimer, Paul. Till Eulenspiegel: His Adventures. New York: Routledge, 2001. Print.
Wiener, Leo, and Elias Schulman. The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Hermon press, 1972. Print
