Robert Schunk
Registered Senior Member
I recently looked at the Wikipedia article on the hippie movement of the 1960's and 1970's (which I've earlier pointed out actually began in Germany in 1896! (
) ), which had this to say about the origin of the term "hippie" itself (@ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie ):
"The word hippie came from hipster and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. The term hippie was first popularized in San Francisco by Herb Caen who was a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. The origins of the terms hip and hep are uncertain, although by the 1940s both had become part of African American jive slang and meant "sophisticated; currently fashionable; fully up-to-date".[1][2][3] The Beats adopted the term hip, and early hippies inherited the language and countercultural values of the Beat Generation."
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The origin of the terms hip and hep are uncertain? Not to those of us who are initiated into the wide and wild world of Yiddish! As I've pointed out before, Yiddish is based upon a Palatine German dialect, and obeys many of the rules of that dialect, and has adopted rules of her own since separation. One of the rules of Palatine German inherited by Yiddish is the lack of non-redundant vowel rounding. One new rule of Standard High German is the elision of a vowel in the suffix appended to a certain word.
What all of this means is that the Standard High German word "hübsch", meaning "stylish", is pronounced in Yiddish as "hippisch" (I believe in the NYC dialect) or "heppesch" (I believe in the European dialects). (Recall my having earlier told you that NYC Yiddish is more similar to Standard High German and to American English than to the European dialects of Yiddish.)
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How about that! You may now address me as: "Your Highfalutin' Nerdiness"!
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And, now, let us conclude with a nice song:
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"The word hippie came from hipster and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. The term hippie was first popularized in San Francisco by Herb Caen who was a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. The origins of the terms hip and hep are uncertain, although by the 1940s both had become part of African American jive slang and meant "sophisticated; currently fashionable; fully up-to-date".[1][2][3] The Beats adopted the term hip, and early hippies inherited the language and countercultural values of the Beat Generation."
***
The origin of the terms hip and hep are uncertain? Not to those of us who are initiated into the wide and wild world of Yiddish! As I've pointed out before, Yiddish is based upon a Palatine German dialect, and obeys many of the rules of that dialect, and has adopted rules of her own since separation. One of the rules of Palatine German inherited by Yiddish is the lack of non-redundant vowel rounding. One new rule of Standard High German is the elision of a vowel in the suffix appended to a certain word.
What all of this means is that the Standard High German word "hübsch", meaning "stylish", is pronounced in Yiddish as "hippisch" (I believe in the NYC dialect) or "heppesch" (I believe in the European dialects). (Recall my having earlier told you that NYC Yiddish is more similar to Standard High German and to American English than to the European dialects of Yiddish.)
***
How about that! You may now address me as: "Your Highfalutin' Nerdiness"!

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And, now, let us conclude with a nice song:
***
