What is Yiddish?
Yiddish is one of the many Germanic languages originating fromthe Indo-European language family. The name quite literally means “Jewish” but it linguistically refers to the language spoken amongst Ashkenazi Jews (the Ashkenazim). These are Jews that have roots in Central and Eastern Europe. Its basic vocabulary is derived from medieval West German, but other languages such as German, Aramic, Hebrew and various other Slavic Romance languages are integrated within it. The language is written in the Hebrew alphabet yet has no other clear similarities with the language.
By the 19th century it was one of the world’s most widespread languages, as it was spoken in the majority of Jewish populated countries and is one of the three major literary languages of Jewish history (along with Aramic and Hebrew).
How popular is it today?
Until millions of Yiddish speakers were victims of the Holocaust, Yiddish was once the most spoken language amongst Jews. It was primarily spoken in Europe and the US and had an estimated 11-13 million speakers on the eve of the Holocaust.However, the number of speakers was further reduced by the official repression of the language in the Soviet Union, the antagonism of the early Israeli authorities attempting to guard modern Hebrew, as well as other Western countries beginning to favour other languages over Yiddish.
The survivors of the Holocaust went through what is linguists know as ‘language shift’ in the post-war years. For those Jews who migrated to Israel, their primary language now became Hebrew. Meanwhile in the US, Russia and the vast majority of the Western countries, there was a ‘language shift’ to either English, Russian or any local languages.
Nevertheless, the language continues to flourish today amongst the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic and amongst secular students of Yiddish at universities such as the University of Oxford, the University of Paris and McGill University (Montreal). Although, the descendants of native Yiddish speakers are still more likely to speak English, Hebrew, Russian or French than Yiddish itself.
It’s difficult to find concrete reports on the current number of Yiddish speakers in the world, as many figures vary significantly.However, Ethnologue estimates that there were around 1.5 million speakers of Eastern Yiddish in 1991. 40% of these lived in Ukraine, 15% in Israel and 10% in the US. Today, there are over 150,000 speakers of Yiddish in Canada and the US. This is hardly surprising considering that the US has the highest population of Jews with Ashkenazi descent, yet the majority of Jewish youths continue to speak English at home.
The evolution of Yiddish
The development of Yiddish is a rather lengthy one. For this reason linguists have split it into four broad periods: early history, Old Yiddish, Middle Yiddish and Modern Yiddish. Over around 1000 years, Yiddish evolved from being a Germanic dialect, to a stand-alone language mixing elements of Hebrew, Aramic, Romance and Slavic languages. The key dates in its development can be generalised as: 1250, 1500, and 1750.
Early History
At the start of the tenth century, Jews originating from Northern Italy and France forged communities in Germany. In the past small communities had existed where German was spoken, however this new influx of residents along the Rhine river spoke a Jewish-French dialect called Laaz. As has happened with many languages in history, these two began to intertwine. Spoken German now included expressions and words from Laaz which are also likely to have infiltrated into Scriptural and Rabbinic literature. Consequently, a modified version of Medieval German which incorporated elements of Laaz, biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew, and Aramic became the principal language of western European Jews.
Old Yiddish
In the thirteenth century, Jews migrated eastward to escape persecution meaning that the Yiddish language made its way to eastern Germany, Poland and other eastern European countries. This exposure to Slavic languages altered Yiddish from a Germanic dialect to its own unique language. This, however, now meant that there was a difference between the eastern Yiddish spoken amongst the Jews in Slavic areas, and the western Yiddish of the Jews in France and Germany.
Middle Yiddish
In the sixteenth century, Poland had become the Jewish capital of the world. Consequently, the Slavic elements of Yiddish became increasingly more prevalent. Originally, Yiddish was primarily an oral language, but it was at this time it transitioned into a written language using Hebrew characters.
Modern Yiddish
Due to the rise of eastern Yiddish, western Yiddish inevitably began to decline after 1700. This was mainly due to the Haskalah and emancipations sweeping through western Europe while Yiddish flourished in the east. However, the Holocaust and the repression of Soviet Jews under Stalin once again led to a decline in Yiddish speakers.
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