> That would entail that the first Yiddish-speakers arrived in Bavaria
> with the Bavarians, speaking Bavarian, with Ariovistus or his
...
> immediate successors (which in turn would entail that the
> protoforms of the Oberdeutsch, Mitteldeutsch and Niederdeutsch
> dialects started as sociolects in Prezeworsk, with Oberdeutsch
> socially on top, as it is today).
>
> The protoforms of German evolved and differentiated from one
> another very late, especially in the Mittelhochdeutsch epoch,
> that is way after 1000-1200. So Przeworsk couldn't have played
> any role whatsoever, even if it had been deadsure that the
> German language's cradle would've been in the environment of
> the Przeworsk culture. Already in the 4th-7th-8th centuries the
> Germanic dialects were so mixed and dispersed and remixed and
> changed places in a "tohuwabohu" way, that makes no difference.
>
The question of whether one can show the development of the second Lautverschiebung in situ (ie in the traditional Upper German areas) is fascinating. As far as I can tell the idea that it is possible rests on the occurrence of the supposedly Swabian word 'cupa' "barrel" (instead of expected 'cufa' vel sim., German Kufe)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_consonant_shift#Lombardic
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zweite_Lautverschiebung#Langobardisch
(bottom)
in the vita of St. Columbanus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbanus
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columban_von_Luxeuil
by the monk Jonas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_of_Bobbio
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_von_Bobbio
(BTW 'cup' should be replaced by 'coop')
But as is clear from the text,
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columban.html
Jonas' source was the companions of Jonas, who were Irish, and would have known at least the Latin word 'cupa' "barrel" (also as loan in Irish)
Ernout-Meillet
'cūpa, -ae f.:
tonne, barrique, cuve en bois, généralement en sapin,
cf. Plin.16,42,
et munie de cercles, comme nos tonneaux actuels,
cf. Pétr.Sat.60.
Sert surtout à contenir des liquides (uinum..., de cupa, Cic.Pis.67),
mais aussi des grains. Par ressemblance de forme:
niche dans un columbarium.
M.L. 2401. De là :
v.h.a. kuofa, all. Kufe;
irl. -cube, cupa, britt. cib, cibell.
De lÃ
cÅ«pÄrius: tonnelier;
cūpula: tonnelet; tombe; M.L.2410;
cūpella, M.L.2402.
V. cuppa.
Cf.
skr. kú:pah. "trou, puits",
gr. κÏÏη⢠ÏÏÏγλη Hés. et
κÏÏελλον "verre à boire",
v.isl. húfr "coque de vaisseau".
Les rapprochements sont vagues comme presque toujours quand il s'agit de noms d'objets usuels.'
and possibly also
OE kýpa
which means they might have 'translated' a Swabian *-f- to their own
-p-, since the Germanic languages in England and on the Continent were then still close enough that speakers of the former could proselytize among the latter. I don't think that that single occurrence of 'cupa' is sufficient evidence alone for concluding that the 2nd LV took place 'in situ'.
Torsten