Is Yiddish Germanic or Slavic?

Yiddish (ייִדיש, יידיש or אידיש, yidish or idish, pronounced [ˈ(j)ɪdɪʃ], lit. ‘Jewish’; ייִדיש-טײַטש, Yidish-Taytsh, lit. ‘ Judeo-German’) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews.

Is Yiddish still spoken?

The primary language of Ashkenazic Jews, Yiddish is currently spoken mostly in Israel, Russia, the United States, and several European countries. There are over 150,000 speakers of Yiddish in the United States and Canada. Yiddish is now spoken by Hasidim and a few rapidly shrinking groups of culturally oriented Jews.

What is Yiddish language?

Yiddish has historically been the language of the Ashkenazim, the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe and their descendants around the world. At its peak, in the years immediately preceding the Holocaust, there were perhaps ten or eleven million Yiddish speakers worldwide, making Yiddish the most widely spoken Jewish language.

Where did Yiddish come from and when did it begin?

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.

What is the difference between Eastern and Western Yiddish?

Eastern Yiddish differs from Western both by its far greater size and by the extensive inclusion of words of Slavic origin. Western Yiddish is divided into Southwestern (Swiss–Alsatian–Southern German), Midwestern (Central German), and Northwestern (Netherlandic–Northern German) dialects.

Where is Yiddish spoken in New York City?

In some of the more closely knit such communities, Yiddish is spoken as a home and schooling language, especially in Hasidic, Litvish, or Yeshivish communities, such as Brooklyn ‘s Borough Park, Williamsburg, and Crown Heights, and in the communities of Monsey, Kiryas Joel, and New Square in New York…