Page from Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary by Elijah Levita

''Vaybertaytsh'' (, i.e. ) or ''mashket'' (), is a semi-cursive

script typeface Script typefaces are based on the varied and often fluid stroke created by handwriting. They are generally used for display or trade printing, rather than for extended body text in the Latin alphabet. Some Greek alphabet typefaces, especially ...

for the

Yiddish alphabet Yiddish orthography is the writing system used for the Yiddish language. It includes Yiddish spelling rules and the Hebrew script, which is used as the basis of a full vocalic alphabet. Letters that are silent or represent glottal stops in the He ...

. From the 16th until the early 19th century, the ''mashket'' font distinguished Yiddish publications, whereas the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

square script was used for classical texts in Hebrew and

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

, and the "Rashi" script for rabbinic commentaries and works in Ladino. ''Mashket'' was used for printing Yiddish in the Old Yiddish literature period, and later as the primary script used in texts for and by Jewish women, ranging from folktales to women's supplications and prayers, to didactic works.

Description

Unlike Yiddish block or square print (the script used in

modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...

, with the addition of special characters and

diacritics A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

), ''vaybertaytsh'' is a semi-cursive script, akin to the "Rashi" script. ''Vaybertaytsh'' may be handwritten or typed.

History

''Mashket'' originated as a typeface imitating the Ashkenazic semi-cursive used for both Hebrew and Yiddish. The earliest extant printed book in which Yiddish constituted a major segment, ''The Second Chariot'' () (1534), attributed to Rabbi Anshel ben Eliakim ha-Levi Tsion, was written in ''mashket''. The type family came to be used almost exclusively for Yiddish with the dominance use of block and "Rashi" scripts (the latter based on

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

semi-cursive) by early Hebrew typographers such as the Soncino family. The typeface later became associated with devotional women's literature. As a result of their not being present in the yeshivot, women were usually fluent only in the Yiddish (the

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

among

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...

), and literate only in Yiddish, if at all. Thus early religious works in Yiddish were mostly created for women's edification. The '' Tseno Ureno'' was a Yiddish-language prose adaptation of the

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California See also

* Pentateuch (dis ...

, its corresponding

Haftarah The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', ) "parting," "taking leave" (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros''), is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Pr ...

portions, and the Megillot. It dates to at least 1622 and has been published in block print and ''vaybertaytsh''. Similarly, '' tkhines'' were supplicatory prayers written in Yiddish (usually for women) rather than in Hebrew and Aramaic, in contrast to the normative Jewish liturgy. They proliferated in the 16th and 17th centuries, and continued to be written and published, usually in ''vaybertaytsh'', into the early- to mid-20th century. Square print began to replace ''vaybertaytsh'' in Yiddish books in the 1830s. By the late 19th century, nearly all books in Yiddish were printed in square letters.

Notes

References

{{Reflist, refs={{cite journal, title=Variety in the Typography of Yiddish: 1535-1635, first=Herbert C., last=Zafren, journal=Hebrew Union College Annual, volume=53, year=1982, pages=137–163, publisher=

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

, jstor=23507628 {{cite web , last1=Katz , first1=Dovid , title=Language: Yiddish , url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Language/Yiddish , website= YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, accessdate=5 December 2018 Hebrew calligraphy Hebrew typefaces Judaism and women Script typefaces Yiddish