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, including Yiddish, as well as from Romany languages, notably Sintitikes. There are also significant influences from Judæo-Latin, the ancient Jewish language spoken in 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 of German-speaking regions.
Vocabulary Examples
Schokelmei = Kaffee
schenigeln = arbeiten
Krauter = Chef eines Handwerkbetriebes
Kreuzspanne = Weste
Wolkenschieber = Frisör, Barbier
Stenz = Wanderstock des Handwerksburschen
fechten = betteln
Platte machen = Unterkunft suchen
Puhler = Polizist
From Feraru's "The 'United Ring' and Organized Crime in Berlin"
berappen = to pay up or fork over money ; also possibly from Malayan through Dutch: berapa means 'how much?', now integrated in Dutch as berappen: to pay.
betuke = discreet or imperceptible
die Bim = a small bell
bleffen = to threaten. Possibly from Dutch: blaffen: to bark.
der Bock, from Romani bokh = hunger, coll. Bock haben = to be up for something.
brennen = Extortion, but also to collect the "thieves' portion" with companions. The analogy between distilling spirits and taking a good gulp of the portion 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 few Rotwelsch words have entered the colloquial language, for example, aufmucken, Bau, and berappen. Baldowern or ausbaldowern is very common in the Berlin dialect; Bombe is still used in German prison jargon. Bock haben is also still used all around Germany. The Manischdialect of the German city ofGießen is still used, although it was only spoken fluently by approximately 700-750 people in 1976.
Code
Josef Ludwig Blum from Lützenhardt wrote from war prison: „s grüßt Dich nun recht herzlich Dein Mann, viele Grüße an Schofel und Bock. Also nochmals viel Glück auf ein baldiges Wiedersehen in der schönen Heimat. Viele Grüße an Mutter u. Geschwister sowie an die Deinen.“ Bock and Schofel are persons? The control let pass the words. This code wordsSchofel and Bock change the meaning.
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. An example of Rotwelsch is found in Gustav Meyrink's Der Golem and reads as follows: An Beindel von Eisen recht alt. An Stranzen net gar a so kalt. Messinung, a' Räucherl und Rohn, und immerrr nurr putzen. Und stoken sich Aufzug und Pfiff, und schmallern an eisernes G'süff. Juch, Und Handschuhkren, Harom net san.
