Yiddish
High German-derived language used by Ashkenazi Jews
Yiddish is a language used by some Jews. At first, it was a dialect of German that Jews began to use in Europe about 1000 years ago. It was and still is used in the United States, especially in New York City, and other countries that now have Jews.
| 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] |
| Hebrew alphabet (Yiddish orthography) | |
| Official status | |
|
Recognised minority language in |
|
| Regulated by | no formal bodies; YIVO de facto |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | yi |
| ISO 639-2 | yid |
| ISO 639-3 | yid – inclusive codeIndividual codes: ydd – Eastern Yiddishyih – Western Yiddish |
| Glottolog | yidd1255 |
| Linguasphere | 52-ACB-g = 52-ACB-ga (West) + 52-ACB-gb (East); totalling 11 varieties |
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.
In the world, Yiddish is spoken by about 3 million people, mainly Hasidic Jews.
European Charter change
In the Netherlands and Sweden, Yiddish is protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Related pages change
References change
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yiddish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Eastern Yiddish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Western Yiddish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Other websites change
- Di Velt fun Yidish: Audio Stories Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
Yiddish edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
