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Yiddish originated in the Middle Age. The majority of the
jewish population in Germany spoke German, later the so
called “Juden-Teutsch” a German dialect filled up with
Hebrew and Aramaic elements. When emigrating Eastern
Europe, the Jews carried on to speak their “Juden-Teutsch”.
As time goes by adopted elements of Polish, Russian and
other East European languages enricued there language: Thus
a new language - Yiddish - orginated.
Yiddish is, in historical context, a self standing language. It
aright be called a kin language of German, similar to Dutch,
being kin to German too.
At the end of the 19th century many “Yidden” left Eastern
Europe. At their new domiciles they built up new Jewish
communities and continued to conserve their Yiddisch. Up to
the invasion of Poland by the Hitler army, Yiddish was
spoken by about 12 million people. Those Yiddish speaking
people who emigrated before the war and the few who
survived the holocaust/ shoah are now spread out over the
whole world.
Some larger Yiddish speaking communities still exist in the
USA, the CIS-States, Israel, France, Argentina and the
Netherlands. However a territorial matrix as the important
binding is lacking. Now Yiddish is spoken almost only by
senior people. Nevertheless lately an interest to learn this
language is also growing noticeably among young people.
Yiddish seminars in the USA and in Israel are filled to
over-flowing.
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