Yiddish: An Overview of the “Other” Jewish Language

By Sarah-Claire Jordan

The first time I ever heard of the term “Yiddish” was when I was learning about World War II in middle school and the diaspora of European Jews that occurred during that time. I was taught that it was the language of the Jewish people of Germany, and that it was a kind of mix of Hebrew and German. Since then, however, I haven’t been presented with any other information about this historically and culturally significant language.

Yiddish is, in many ways, Hebrew’s companion. Though it was originally spoken in Europe and therefore doesn’t have the same religious weight as Hebrew, it remains extremely important to the culture of the Jews who fled Europe and made their way to North and South America. To get a better overall understanding of Yiddish, here are some things to consider:

The disputed origins of Yiddish

Most people who are not Jewish, like myself, probably know Yiddish as the language of the Jews in Germany and other European countries. There are many theories as to its origins, however. Hebrew and other liturgical languages of the Middle East came to Europe in the first waves of the Jewish diaspora right before the time of the Roman Empire. Some theories say that these groups spoke some kind of Judeo-Romance language which was then influenced by a variety of German spoken at the time. Some claim this was the German spoken in the Rhineland, while others believe it to have been the German of Bavaria. Yet another theory posits that it was both, and that the result was two main branches of Yiddish, Eastern Yiddish and Western Yiddish.

The naming of the language

Yiddish wasn’t actually referred to as “Yiddish” until some time in the 1700s. We have found that in the earliest references to the language, in the 12th century, it was known as the “language of Ashkenaz” or simply “taytsh”, which was another way to say “Middle High German”. At the time, Hebrew and Aramaic were known as the “holy tongue” in everyday conversations, and what we now call Yiddish was called the “mother tongue” in an attempt to distinguish it from Hebrew and Aramaic. The literature of the 1700s was where we first saw Yiddish being used commonly to refer to the language, but in the late 19th and 20th centuries, the preferred term switched to “Jewish”. Finally, in the 1900s, Yiddish was again the most popular term for the language.

Yiddish in the English language

Thanks to the Jewish diaspora that resulted in many European Jews settling in North America, many areas of the U.S. became homes for tight-knit Jewish communities that strived to maintain their culture and language. New York City was a popular place to settle for Jews displaced due to the Holocaust, and their culture still has a strong presence to this day. The Yiddish they spoke, and to some extent still speak, made its way into everyday English in the form of words like “schlep”, “bagel”, “chutzpah,” and much more. They have been so deeply incorporated into English, especially that spoken in New York City and other areas with large Jewish communities, that most of us don’t even realize that we know a good number of words in Yiddish.

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Category: Foreign Language