Manisch refers either to a dialect of rotwelsch

Rotwelsch

Rotwelsch or Gaunersprache is a secret language, a cant or thieves' argot, spoken by covert groups primarily in southern Germany and Switzerland.-Origin and development:...

 (especially in the vicinity of greater Gießen

Gießen

Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

) or a speaker thereof (plural: Manische or Manen). The term Manisch however, is also understood primarily throughout much of the German state of Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

 and parts of the Rhineland-Palatinate  to refer to the Manisch/Jenisch (alternatively "gypsy") elements of their vernacular

Vernacular

A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...

. Several words are recognisably derived from Yiddish

Yiddish language

Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...

 (e.g. malocho, work) or Romany

Romani language

Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....

(e.g. pani, water).

External links

Lerch is the official text on Manisch in Giessen, to learn more about unofficial sources:

• http://gummi-insel.de/10.html (in German)
• http://www.levanzo.de/faq.php?title=Diskussion:Manische_Sprache (in German)