This was an interesting read about a sort of secret language in Europe called Rotwelsch. The author was born and raised in Germany but is a professor at Harvard. He remembered some things about this language and the symbols used from growing up and during his research found that his grandfather & uncle also had researched this language. The grandfather's research was done while he was a member of the Nazi party in Germany. The author believes grandfather could have been a true believer but towards end comes to maybe not--cannot tell for sure. Author's research into Rotwelsch takes him back to Martin Luther indicating this language has been around a longer time than he first believed. This is a language of people on the road, people that went from town to town without settling down. It is similar to Romani and Gypsies but while those languages were tied to an ethnic people this one was not. This is a combination of languages that was used as a sort of secret code that the wanderers could use so other people they encountered didn't know exactly what they were saying. Interesting read and interesting research on this language.
There are 4 WL for this book so I will post & mail off at some point on PBS.
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