Yiddish

Yiddish
ייִדיש, יידיש or אידיש yidish/idish/yidish
Pronunciation	[ˈjɪdɪʃ] or [ˈɪdɪʃ]
Native to	Central, Eastern, and Western Europe
Region	Israel, North America, other regions with Jewish populations[1]
Native speakers	(1.5 million cited 1986–1991 + half undated)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Elbe Germanic High German Yiddish
Writing system	Hebrew alphabet (Yiddish orthography)
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Bosnia and Herzegovina  Israel  Netherlands  Poland  Romania  Sweden  Ukraine
Regulated by	no formal bodies; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research de facto
Language codes
ISO 639-1	yi
ISO 639-2	yid
ISO 639-3	yid – inclusive code Individual codes: ydd – Eastern Yiddish yih – Western Yiddish
Glottolog	yidd1255
Linguasphere	52-ACB-g = 52-ACB-ga (West) + 52-ACB-gb (East); totalling 11 varieties

Yiddish is a language used by some Jews. At first, it was a dialect of German that Jews began to use in 11th century Europe. It is still used in the United States, especially in New York City, and other countries with surviving Jewish populations.^[2][3]

Most Yiddish words come from German, but many words are also from Hebrew and Slavic languages, especially Polish, and some from French, Hungarian and Latin. Yiddish is written usually by the Hebrew alphabet. Yiddish is spoken by about 3,000,000 people worldwide, mainly Hasidic Jews.^[2][3] In Sweden and the Netherlands, Yiddish is protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.^[source?]

Related pages

• Judaism
• Ladino language
• Hebrew language
• Judeo-Arabic dialects
• Isaac Bashevis Singer
• Judeo-Aramaic languages

Other websites

References

1. Yiddish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Eastern Yiddish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Western Yiddish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. • Gold, David L. (1987). "Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America (review)". Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America (9). Dictionary Society of North America: 225–250. doi:10.1353/dic.1987.0002. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
   • Weinstein, Miriam (2002). Yiddish: A Nation of Words. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 1586420275. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
   • Jacobs, Neil G. (2005). Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction. Ohio State University. ISBN 9780521772150. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
   • Weinreich, Max (2008). History of the Yiddish Language. Yale University Press. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
   • Shandler, Jeffrey (November 2, 2020). Yiddish: Biography of a Language. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190651961.001.0001. ISBN 9780190651961. Retrieved December 16, 2024. Online ISBN: 9780190651992
3. • "Basic Facts about Yiddish" (PDF). YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
   • "Yiddish language and culture and its post-Holocaust fate in Europe". European Parliament. January 19, 2022. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
   • Jolish, AJ (August 1, 2023). ""A Language I Come Home To": Yiddish in the Jewish Diaspora". Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
   • Shurpin, Yehuda. "Why Do Jews Still Insist on Speaking Yiddish?". Chabad. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
   • "Yiddish language | History, Culture & Alphabet". Britannica. October 25, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.