> > Mit Verlaub, sir, das ist aber, as they say on the Usenet,
> > "Lötzinn"! :-) Yiddish is a medieval German creation, not a
> > Germanic one from an epoch 1,000-1,300 years earlier. Or, put it
> > in another way: it is linked to Germanic idioms at the end of the
> > 1st c. BCE and the 1st half of the 1st millennium CE only via
> > the German language (the German language, i.e. via Deutsch, and
> > not via other Germanic languages).
>
> That is the prevailing theory, yes.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khordadbeh
> said of the
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhanites
> that
> 'These merchants speak Arabic, Persian, Roman, the Frank, Spanish,
> and Slav languages.'
> 'Frank' may be Germanic (Frankish)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhanite#Etymology
'Several etymologies have been suggested for the word "Radhanite". Many scholars, including Barbier de Meynard and Moshe Gil, believe it refers to a district in Mesopotamia called "the land of Radhan" in Arabic and Hebrew texts of the period. Others maintain that their center was the city of Ray (Rhages) in northern Persia. Cecil Roth and Claude Cahen, among others, make the same claim about the Rhône River valley in France, which is Rhodanus in Latin. The latter claim that the center of Radhanite activity was probably in France as all of their trade routes began there. Still others maintain that the name derives from the Persian terms rah "way, path" and dÄn "one who knows", meaning "one who knows the way". English-language (or Western) sources added the suffix -ite to the term, as is done with ethnonyms or names derived from place names.'
New proposal:
'Radhanites' are those whose travel the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regnitz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rednitz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schw%C3%A4bische_Rezat
route between the Rhine/Main river systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Main
(tributary ot the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine
) and the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube
river system (that route now having been replaced by the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine%E2%80%93Main%E2%80%93Danube_Canal
); map
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Franconia_details.png
On the three names of that river route cf.
Kuhn
Die Horizont unserer Flussnamengebung
'Die deutsche Radantia (zum Main bei Bamberg) wurde auf diese Art sogar in drei Teile zerlegt. Die beiden Quellflüsse heiÃen jetzt (Fränkische und Schwäbische) Rezat, der Mittellauf Rednitz und der untere, vom Einfluà der Pegnitz an, Regnitz. Die neuen Einheiten entsprechen natürlichen FluÃabschnitten und geben daher wenig Grund zum AnstoÃ. Die Form Regnitz mag man, als Mischform aus Rednitz und Pegnitz, die da vereinigt sind und sich in der GröÃe ungefähr die Waage halten, als symbolisch nehmen. Rezat scheint aus Reht-ratanze, dem alten Namen der Frank. Rezat, entstanden zu sein (so 810, aber 786 Reth-ratenza). Es ist wohl die ârechte Radantia" (vom Unterlauf her gesehen), aber doch ein Teil der einheitlichen Radantia, die nun in Stücke zerfallen ist.'
"The German Radantia (to river Main at Bamberg) was in this way [various dialect forms adopted for separate stretches] even divided into three parts. The two source rivers are now named (Franconian and Swabian) Rezat, the middle course Rednitz and the lower, from the entrance of the river Pegnitz, Regnitz. The new units correponded to natural river sections and therefore gave little cause for objection. The form Regnitz may be taken symbolically as a mix of Rednitz and Pegnitz, which join there and are approximately of the same size. Rezat seems to have originated from Reht-ratanze, the old name of the Franconian Rezat (thus 810, but 786 Reth-ratenza). It is probably the "right Radantia" (seen from down river), but nonetheless a part of the unitary Radantia which has now fallen into pieces".
Or from *radj- -> rad-/rag- (by phoneme adaptation)?
A connection with Ratisbon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regensburg
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/26768
at the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regen_River
as seen here
http://tinyurl.com/3437ce2
it starts in Bohemia, thus forming a route from Regensburg there.
Possibly they used both river systems?
cf. the city's names in Orbis Latinus:
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/orblatr.html
'Ratisbona, Ratispona, Radaspona, Radespona, Radisbona u. -pona, Reginopolis, Regina (castra), Regnia, Reginoburgum, Regino urbs, Raegina, Imbripolis (Imbripolitanus), Tiberina, Tiberia, Tiburina, Tiburnia, Hyatospolis, Hierapolis, Hiaspolis, Quadrata, Reginopolis, Ratispolis, Regisburgium,
Regensburg, Stadt,
Bayern (Oberpfalz).'
note the -d-/-g- alternation also here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_history_of_Regensburg
'... Regensburg was the capital of the Upper Palatinate and formerly a free city of the German empire. The great age of the Jewish community in this city is indicated by the tradition that a Jewish colony existed there before the common era; it is undoubtedly the oldest Jewish settlement in Bavaria of which any records exist.'
and cf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindobona
Vindo-bona "base of the Wends/Veneti"
Rad(j)ins-bona "base of the Radhans"?
Torsten