OT: Yiddish
in reply to a message by Laura
Yiddish is a language, not an ethnicity. It is primarily related to German, and also has words derived from Hebrew, Aramaic, various Slavic languages, Old French and Old Italian.
Yiddish has been spoken by Ashkenazic Jews of Central and Eastern Europe since the early middle ages. It's not commonly used these days, especially after most of the speakers were killed in the Holocaust. However, it is still spoken in some Jewish families in different parts of the world, and English has quite a few loan words from Yiddish. You may be familiar with the words kvetch (complain), mazl-tov (congratulations), mensch (gentleman), nosh (food), meshugina (crazy person), or shtick (routine).
~ Cait
Yiddish has been spoken by Ashkenazic Jews of Central and Eastern Europe since the early middle ages. It's not commonly used these days, especially after most of the speakers were killed in the Holocaust. However, it is still spoken in some Jewish families in different parts of the world, and English has quite a few loan words from Yiddish. You may be familiar with the words kvetch (complain), mazl-tov (congratulations), mensch (gentleman), nosh (food), meshugina (crazy person), or shtick (routine).
~ Cait
Replies
Ditto. There are even Turkish and Babylonian words. :)
Claire
Claire