What is Yiddish? A Brief History of the Mother Tongue

[@JohnSmith-pl4sf]

Im considering learning Yiddish because its going to be on Duolingo, when I saw that it's going to be on Duolingo I thought to myself that this must be a very interesting language to learn

[@kojii6659]

That's awesome! On our website kojiilanguages.com we have some great resources to help you get started with learning Yiddish

[@xolang]

I am learning it on Duoling atm 😁

[@milliern]

I only know a little Yiddish from my growing up, and Duo has been great to fill in a lot of gaps.

[@Rasbiff]

"Scandinavia was simply too cold" - I also think that Jews were specifically forbidden from living in at least Sweden until the late 18th century. Someone who lived in Sweden had to be someone who went to church.

[@gazinta]

Now look at Sweden. They're hiding their daughters and wives now.

[@filipinordabest]

@@gazinta Do you live there?

[@gazinta]

@@filipinordabest hell no! I'm having too much fun in Kenosha, Wisconsin! 😂

[@Lagolop]

Actually, my brothers in laws have lived in Sweden since earlier than that. However, Sweden is finished for Jews. The family has recently made aliya to Israel. PS This guy making the vid is pretty funny. I really enjoyed it. But I don't think Scandinavia would have been considered too cold given Jews lived in Siberia ;) Blaybn gezunt un shtark.

[@joshuak4599]

@@gazinta Don't let yourself get fooled by the media, mate 😉

[@milliern]

Beautiful celebration of our language and history of it. Thank you!

[@yuanxie4259]

Great video! Thank you!

[@VinzRex]

Good video. Also worth mentioning, that jews were specifically invited by the polish kings to settle, so that was why many of them migrated out of the oppressive situation in the Holy Roman Empire. I would also guess, that "tak" is derived from German "Tag", short for "Guten Tag", meaning "Good Day!", rather than from Polish.

[@kojii6659]

Great insight thank you!

[@blackmamba015]

Yo word, from another language nerd you gained another sub! Mad ‘spect dude

[@kojii6659]

Thank you for your support brotha!

[@blackmamba015]

@@kojii6659 Yo ofc broski!

[@gunnasintern]

had no clue schmuck was originally a Yiddish word, i still hear it be used in English so it’s cool to learn that since i’ve always liked using that word

[@oskars.5477]

Great video!

[@kojii6659]

Thank you for your kind feedback Oskar!

[@rantianhan]

i speak hebrew and german and yiddish is crazy easy to understand

[@Troppau]

Every time I hear it Ican understand the German and Polish within it.

[@DinahAO]

found out i’m ashkenazi this year, i wanna try to learn for my forgotten family. thanks man

[@milliern]

An interesting point that wasn’t made in the video is that some Yiddish words that are German sounding are not intelligible by German speakers. I had a German tell me that “luftmensch” is not a German word. It means “wool gatherer,” which is something my great grandfather used to call me as a kid. Apparently, this is not a word used by Germans, Austrians, or any other native German speakers I have come across, despite “luft” and “mensch” are common German words. Kind of a cool finding. I wonder what other words might be like this.

[@fufu1405]

Many German words used in Yiddish were used back in the day, but not anymore, like “tracht”. Baaarely anybody uses tracht anymore to say thinking. So while German developed into todays German, Yiddish still uses some of those old German words. Swiss German also has a lot of words from German that proper German speakers don’t even use anymore and are considered super old ways of talking and even wrong in modern German. Mir instead of Wir vor example, meaning “We”. Mir is also used in German speaking communities in the States. But nobody calls those abbreviations of German their own language, so it’s absurd to call Yiddish it’s own language.

[@tylersmith3139]

@@fufu1405 That's a bad argument though, but what counts as "German" is extremely vague and convoluted. Dutch was seen as a German dialect until the Dutch became a continental powerhouse. Yiddish often has grammar differences from German as well as a large amount of its vocabulary not coming from Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic languages, not to mention the phonological differences. Many so called German "dialects" are vastly different from Standard German and incomprehensible to them. Dutch and West Frisian speakers from the netherlands understand Low Saxon more than standard German speakers do, yet Low Saxon is a dialect of Hochdeutsche(while in the Netherlands, they portrayed Low German as a dialect of Dutch even when that clearly wasn't true and it's phonology closer matched West Frisian and English/ North Sea Germanic languages).

[@fufu1405]

@@tylersmith3139 I understand what you're saying, but Germans don't understand Dutch, they don't understand Swedish either. I speak German and I can legitimately understand Yiddish. Swiss German is also not considered it's own language, but somehow Yiddish is?

[@drvickyfischer]

So funny!! And informative!

[@greenbelly2008]

They also emigrated to Entre Ríos (Argentina) my province. There´s a movie called "Los gauchos judíos" (The Jewish gauchos) The gauchos are like South American cowboys. So Yiddish is spoken in Argentina too. Argentine artist Divina Gloria ( Martha Gloria Goldsztern is her real name) belongs to that community kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKHYoZR_atB0i5o

[@HSPaisley]

Interesting that you use AD instead of CE.

[@kojii6659]

I think it's out of habit. I grew up wondering why we cared so much to change something that's been fine the way it was for centuries lol. Just me though.

[@PeacefulPariah]

@@kojii6659 Yeah, I started using CE bc I felt like it made me look smarter than I really am (and it's a convo starter). I have no problems with AD though, and I'm Jewish. After all, CE represents the exact same thing, so there is no real difference. It'd be silly to act like the death of Jesus has not come to represent a significant point in human history. That said, who knows if that is anywhere near the actual year, but what are ya gonna do. I admire JC's overall message. It's all about love, baby. Turn the other cheek. Help your neighbor. Generosity should be unconditional. Protect the meek. Et cetera. The guy was the original Communist Hippie. 'Spect!!!!!!

[@noahriding5780]

Your stick people comics are like super talented. Funny.

[@kojii6659]

I appreciate the love Noah :D

[@garydiamond6078]

Good job, my first language but I'm so rusty at it now

[@davidlukawski2620]

When my grandmother died so did the Yiddish language. Now I'm 70 and only now I watch wish to learn it again.

[@Lagolop]

@@davidlukawski2620 Not an uncommon theme :( I feel ya ...

[@benhakadoshakagerhardyitzh8612]

@@Lagolop oye gevalt der kinigl melekh moln mel oyf eybik der orme farblondzhete vethike shluk .....

[@notyourcultist]

Nice! Thank you!

[@kojii6659]

No, no, thank you for the support :)

[@mtblp7459]

btw. the poster in 3.36 is not yiddish but hebrew. It's a poster of the labor movement "hapoel"

[@marcindepczynski4215]

Really cool video bro

[@kojii6659]

Thank you!

[@negyed9656]

In Hungary and Galiciabthebkumetz o we pronouns U Vus is dus? What is that?

[@markandremy]

Loved this, made me 😂

[@Ahmed-pf3lg]

Shalom Aleikhem sounds like Arabic Salam Aleikum Shabath sounds similar to Arabic Sabt.

[@SchmulKrieger]

The Hebrew and Classic Arabic are so much similar, that they could be understood with some efforts. But even today Modern Hebrew has a vocabulary adopted from Arabic which goes up to 60% of all Modern Hebrew words, because the Jews actual mother tongue was Yiddish or German, and the founder of Zionism considered German to be the language of Israel, but it didn't happen, so they tried to revive Hebrew, but hadn't enough words to do so, that's why they picked up a lot of classic Arabic words and transferred them into a Hebrew version.

[@Lagolop]

@@SchmulKrieger Unfortunate for sure. Yiddish should haven made an official language in Israel. Grieves me greatly.

[@fufu1405]

@@Lagolop But why, Yiddish is basically German. Shoudn’t the point be that Jews derrived from Judea and have a language of that area?

[@Lagolop]

@@fufu1405 Yes Yiddish is a Germanic language. Jews are aboriginal to Judea of course. In diaspora though, Jews always speak the local language. In the Case of Yiddish it began in the Rhineland of Germany and France which is a high German speaking area, but Jews added Aramaic and Hebrew (the native languages of Samaria and Judea) borrow words to this language. Jews were an isolated people and as they moved eastward into Slavic areas, the Jews added Slavic borrow words as well but retained the Germanic lanuage which eventually became Yiddish as we know it today. BTW there are various dialects of Yiddish depending on geographic region. And finally, to be specific Yiddish applies to the Ashkenazi Jews.

[@jimreid6370]

The first part of Koran is word for word verbatim of the old testament?

[@joergfro7149]

i am german and have no problem understanding this dialect. only a few words come from ronan and slavic languages. so people who have only learned yiddish would get along well in Germany in everyday life ....

[@renedupont1953]

This comment has nothing to do with reality.

[@Lagolop]

@@renedupont1953 YOU have nothing to do with reality.

[@benhakadoshakagerhardyitzh8612]

Kein Deutsch Sprecher kann di mameloshn verstehen. Edem, rakhmones, tzedakah, herem, mitzvah, chasene, chazerei, machutonim, mispokhe, kidush etc.

[@Lagolop]

Pretty funny vid. I had to come back for more. Yo, Yiddish iz dope ....lol.

[@kojii6659]

Thank you so much for the feedback, glad you got some entertainment out of it lol

[@benhakadoshakagerhardyitzh8612]

Oyegevalt the meshugene TRUMPSTER lagolop vider krepatzn bupkes ! Nem zikh a vaneh bubeleh

[@parsifal6094]

02:12 "they immigrated to Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Ukraine"... they never did such a thing, as those modern countries didn't exist! They immigration to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began roughly after Kazimierz III invited Jews to settle under his protection.

[@sortingoutmyclothes8131]

Modern Hebrew to me is extremely influenced by Yiddish phonetically. I feel like the overall sound of Modern Hebrew owes more to Yiddish than to its Semitic roots. Both West Germanic languages and Semitic languages are very "guttural," but Modern Hebrew's guttural-ness is much more in line with those of northern West Germanic languages than with other Semitic languages, and Biblical Hebrew's ancestral Semitic guttural sounds were smoothed over and merged into sounds more like those of German and Dutch.

[@MichaelHoare-bh5pg]

Modern Hebrew has got a good handful of Yiddish words of Germanic origin words like Shul which means Synagogue, Shtetl meaning a ghetto where Jews congregated and Tzimmer which a Hebraicised form of German Zimmer meaning room,in Modern Hebrew it means Bed and Breakfast accommodation. In all there are about 30 to 40 such words.It also works in reverse with Modern German having about 120 words of Hebrew origin via Yiddish.

[@firelord1202]

It sounds nothing like hebrews or aramaic.. the original aramaic speaker still exist in syria..

[@adrianabotello9911]

Read the interesting research of Dr. Eran Elhaik. He has this theory about where Yiddish started.

[@מ.מ-ה9ד]

3:31 That's a poster in Hebrew, supporting Zionism and socialism (yes, Zionism started as almost exclusively leftist movement).

[@agust8474]

Oy vey shut it down!

[@מ.מ-ה9ד]

@@agust8474 Oh no, an ignorant racist!

[@gazinta]

It's true. I'm out here doing research on Stalin and Marx. Both spoke Yiddish.

[@gazinta]

@@מ.מ-ה9ד That's exactly what marx taught you to say. Ive read his books.

[@מ.מ-ה9ד]

@@gazinta A) They both absolutely didn't speak Yiddish (*Most of the German speakers can understand Yiddish, and Marx was a German speaker). B) Stalin was a racist that persecuted Jews. C) Zionism have nothing related to Yiddish, Zionism opposed the use of the Yiddish language. D) I don't speak Yiddish and I never did. E) The communism of Marx and Stalinism harshly opposed to any nation-state, in particular the Jewish one. (The USSR litteraly fought a direct war against Israel). F) I've never read "The Capital" or any other of Marx's books and I never followed anything related to him. G) I'm absolutely not a communist. H) *You. Are. A. Racist.* All of the above are facts and I dare you to try and prove otherwise. You obviously never read "his book" and I doubt you ever read any book in your life. Marx didn't even know that Zionism existed, genius... He died years before the term was even invented...

[@40KoopasWereHere]

Your video doesn't really add much and mostly distracts from your narrative, man - easier to just scroll the vid off the screen and listen! The dialogue is well thought-out though.

[@nogavi]

א שיין דאנק

[@Boruch_Lunger]

זייער א שיינע ווידיאו, א גרויסע שכח 😃

[@vesperblack7391]

דאס האט מיר זייער געהילפט לערנן וועגן מיינע מאמע לושו

[@kojii6659]

:) a danke

[@andrewlenihan6548]

Geholfen

[@sjefkerolleman2094]

Yiddish is a Germanic language that is still spoken by the Germanic people the Jenich The jews are not germanic The Jeniche are Celtic Germanic people

[@sjefkerolleman2094]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWm9ZIttrrmcerM

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

German is a language of the 16 century this era

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

And ashkenazi are not indoeuropeans

[@Lagolop]

And he said YIDDISH is an Indo-European language ... and it is. The Ashkenazi culture began in the N. France and West Germany, but the Jewish people originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region ie where Israel is. Check out a map. PS Come to think of it, many Europeans originated in the same region as the Jewish people; just moved into Europe a little earlier. Hadn't thought of that till now. I suppose you might be the type to say "Jews go back where you came from". Then when they did, your ilk say "you Jews are Europeans, go back to Germany".

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

@@Lagolop not really they are huns They were from central asia today jews There were the original jews that were from africa

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

@@Lagolop these dont have an alphabet The german language is an invention of luther based in the indoeuropean language that the tribes spoke The first people in europe were indoeuropeans greeks Ashkenazi dont have that dna

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

@@Lagolop they have the viking dna and turkish

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

@@Lagolop the north of france was taken by the huns vikings It was galia The gauls were living there

[@fufu1405]

Calling Yiddish its own language is absurd. Nobody calls Swiss German it’s own language either. Every person that speaks German fluently, can understand Yiddish, while they have a lot more trouble understanding Swiss German, unless it’s a more northern accent. It’s just how Jews who lived in Germany, who didn’t speak German fluently and still used some different words, spoke. Saying it’s it’s own language, because of that, is like saying a Turkish person in Germany, who speaks with a heavy accent and still uses some Turkish words, somehow created a new language.

[@jazura2]

Yiddish is not an accent or a dialect like Swiss Deutch. It has too much Slavic and Hebrew influence and even Romance languages. The Jews in Europe came over with the Roman's and settled in the Roman provinces in Europe.There a varying different Yiddish accents. In German they were called Judisch. (In high German Yiddisch)

[@tonyclifton265]

גוט אַרבעט, איר זענט אַ מענטש

[@benwillis5566]

As someone who learned German, I can understand some Yiddish as it is spoken. Written though, I am sticking with Latin alphabet based. Sorry Yiddish speakers. :(

[@Lagolop]

Ben, I'm Ashkenazi and I can relate ...LOL.

[@milliern]

Learning the alefbeyz as a child is quite an advantage. Good luck on your Yiddish adventure!

[@marchaefner8306]

Yiddish is a German dialect

[@benhakadoshakagerhardyitzh8612]

Wrong its mittelhochdeutsch spoken with the phonetic pronunciation of the spoken and written Hebrew alef-bet.

[@michelniles8259]

They are not the true Jews of Isreal.