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Linguists have divided the evolution of Yiddish into four amorphous periods. Over the course of the greater part of a millennium, Yiddish went from a Germanic dialect to a full-fledged language that incorporated elements of Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages, and Romance languages.
- What Is Yiddish?
- The Origin of Yiddish
- Early Yiddish
- Early Modern Yiddish
- Modern Yiddish
- Yiddish in The 20th Century
- Post-Holocaust Yiddish
Literally speaking, Yiddish means “Jewish.” Linguistically, it refers to the language spoken by AshkenaziJews — Jews from Central and Eastern Europe, and their descendants. Though its basic vocabulary and grammar are derived from medieval West German, Yiddish integrates many languages including German, Hebrew, Aramaic and various Slavic and Romance...
It is impossible to pin down exactly where or when Yiddish emerged, but the most widely-accepted theory is that the language came into formation in the 10th century, when Jews from France and Italy began to migrate to the German Rhine Valley. There, they combined the languages they brought with them, together with their new neighbors’ Germanic, pro...
In Ashkenazi societies, Hebrew was the language of the Bible and prayer, Aramaic was the language of learning and Yiddish was the language of everyday life. Scholars refer to this as the internal trilingualism of Ashkenaz. Though they vary in sound and use, all three languages are written in the same alphabet. The first record of a printed Yiddish ...
Yiddish publishing became widespread in the 1540s, nearly a century after the invention of the printing press. To ensure the broadest possible readership, books were published in a generic, accessible Yiddish, without the characteristics of any particular Yiddish dialect. In the 1590s, the Tsene-rene (also called Tzenah Urenah) was published for th...
The late 19th century saw the birth of modern Yiddish literature. The “grandfather” of this new literary movement was Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh, known by his pen name Mendele Mokher Seforim (Mendele the Bookseller). I. L. Peretz, a Polish writer, poet, essayist, and dramatist became known as the “father” and humorist Sholem Aleichem, born in Ukrain...
In 1908, the first international conference on Yiddish language (the Czernowitz conference) declared Yiddish to be “a national language of the Jewish people.” The purpose of the conference was to discuss all the issues facing the language at that time, including the need to establish Yiddish schools, to fund Yiddish cultural institutions and to est...
On the eve of World War II, there were roughly 13 million Yiddish speakers in the world. The Holocaust destroyed most of this population. In America after the war, immigrant parents were often hesitant to speak Yiddish with their children. Though there were a few networks of Yiddish schools in the post-war period, after-school programs and camps co...
- Mordecai Walfish
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Along with Hebrew and Aramaic, it is one of the three major literary languages of Jewish history. The earliest dated Yiddish documents are from the 12th century ce, but scholars have dated the origin of the language to the 9th century, when the Ashkenazim emerged as a unique cultural entity in central Europe.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jul 29, 2023 · July 29, 2023 LingoDigest. 5 min read. Yiddish, a fascinating and complex language, is woven deeply into the rich tapestry of Jewish history. It has played a crucial role in the diaspora and survival of the Jewish people, becoming more than just a means of communication, but a symbol of identity, resilience, and cultural preservation.
Today, Yiddish is spoken by fewer and fewer people, though it is still the primary spoken language of many ultra-Orthodox Jews, and there are still probably tens of thousands of Yiddish speakers in the former Soviet states.
Stages of Yiddish language history (after Weinreich, 1973/2008) Demarcation criterion. Early Yiddish (9th/10th century–1250) No direct evidence but a documented Jewish presence in the German-speaking area. Old Yiddish (1250–1500) So-called New High German diphthongization/monophthongization. Middle Yiddish (1500–1700/1750)
