Yiddish
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)e18 |
| Language family | |
| Writing system | 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 code Individual codes: ydd – Eastern Yiddish yih – Western Yiddish |
| 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
In the Netherlands and Sweden, Yiddish is protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Yiddish Media
The calligraphic segment in the Worms Machzor. The Yiddish text is in red.
The South-West Yiddish account of the life of Seligmann Brunschwig von Dürmenach describes, among other things, the anti-Semitic events of the revolutionary year 1848. In the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland.
A page from the Shemot Devarim (lit. 'Names of Things'), a Yiddish–Hebrew–Latin–German dictionary and thesaurus, published by Elia Levita in 1542
American World War I-era poster in Yiddish. Translated caption: "Food will win the war – You came here seeking freedom, now you must help to preserve it – We must supply the Allies with wheat – Let nothing go to waste". Colour lithograph, 1917. Digitally restored.
1917. 100 karbovanets of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Revers. Three languages: Ukrainian, Polish and Yiddish.
Map of the Yiddish dialects between the 15th and the 19th centuries (Western dialects in orange / Eastern dialects in green)
Example video of native Yiddish speaker talking in the Yiddish language (with English-translated subtitles).
Related pages
References
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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Other websites
- Di Velt fun Yidish: Audio Stories Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
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This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Yiddish edition. |
