| The Yiddish
language is a member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic
subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Although it is
not a national language, Yiddish is spoken by about 4 million Jews
all over the world, especially in Argentina, Canada, France,
Israel, Mexico, Romania, and the U.S. Before the annihilation of 6
million Jews by the Nazis, Yiddish was the tongue of more than 11
million people. It arose (ca.1100) out of a blend
of a number of German dialects in the ghettos of Central Europe, and
from there it spread to other parts of the world. Phonetically,
Yiddish is closer to Middle High German than is modern German. Its
vocabulary is basically German, but it has been enlarged by
borrowings from Hebrew, Slavic, Romance languages, and English.
The Yiddish language is the chief vernacular
of Ashkenazic Jews, who are native to, or who have antecedents in,
eastern and central Europe. One of the Germanic languages, Yiddish
is written in Hebrew characters (some of them used differently than
for writing Hebrew). Yiddish (meaning "Jewish") arose
between the 9th and 12th centuries in southwestern Germany as an
adaptation of Middle High German dialects to the special needs of
Jews. Hebrew words that
pertained to Jewish religious life were added to the original German. Later, when the bulk of European
Jewry moved eastward into areas occupied predominantly by
Slavic-speaking peoples, some Slavic influences were acquired. The
vocabulary of the Yiddish spoken in eastern Europe during recent
times comprised about 85 percent German, 10 percent Hebrew, and 5
percent Slavic, with traces of Romanian, French, and other elements.
Many English words and phrases
entered Yiddish, becoming an integral part of the language as it is
spoken in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries. Apart from
vocabulary changes, modern Yiddish differs from modern German mainly
in the simplification of inflections and syntax, the acquisition of
a few grammatical traits influenced by Slavic speech, and its looser
pronunciation of Germanic words. Yiddish pronunciation was also
significantly influenced by Slavic languages. In its word formation
and use of auxiliary verbs Yiddish is similar to English, which also
is a Germanic language with a simplified grammar and a variously
enriched vocabulary. Yiddish exists in two groups of dialects, one
of which is further subdivided. The western dialect, with few
speakers, is centered in German-speaking areas of western Europe.
The more widely distributed eastern group has a northeastern branch
and a southern branch. Visit
the Center for the Study of Jewish Life |
