A Germanic language traditionally spoken by Ashkenazi Jews, written in Hebrew characters. A rich linguistic blend of German, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Slavic elements.
From Middle High German 'jüdisch' meaning Jewish, which became 'yidish' in Yiddish itself. The language developed around the 10th century as German-speaking Jews migrated eastward, incorporating vocabulary from Hebrew religious texts and local Slavic languages.
Yiddish gave English dozens of expressive words like 'schmuck,' 'klutz,' and 'schlep,' demonstrating how a language can influence another through cultural contact rather than conquest. Before the Holocaust, Yiddish was spoken by over 10 million people worldwide, making its near-extinction and recent revival one of the most dramatic linguistic stories of the 20th century.
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