How is Yiddish different from Hebrew?
Hebrew and Yiddish are languages spoken by Jews all over the world. While Hebrew is a Semitic language (subgroup of Afro-Asiatic languages) like Arabic and Amharic, Yiddish is a German dialect which uses many Hebrew words but with a very distinctive Ashkenazic pronunciation.
How different is Yiddish from German?
‘ Although Yiddish developed from a dialect of German, the two languages are not mutually comprehensible for a variety of reasons: (1) Yiddish grammar is quite different from that of German as a result of contact with Slavic languages; (2) Yiddish is culturally distinct from German; (3) Yiddish and German have not …
Is Yiddish a Germanic language?
There are many languages that you would have trouble fitting to a tree model of affiliation. Yiddish is not such a language. The fact that it uses Hebrew script, is is spoken by Jews, and has a substantial layer of loans from Hebrew and Aramaic do not change the fact that its “guts” are still Germanic.
Are Indo-European languages related to the Semitic languages?
In a first phase, a few scholars in the 19th century argued that the Indo-European languages were related to the Semitic languages. The first to do so was Johann Christoph Adelung in his work Mithridates. However, the first to do so in a scientific way was Richard Lepsius in 1836.
What is the difference between Yiddish and Dutch?
Yiddish is Indo-European. Specifically, Yiddish is Germanic. While Yiddish and Dutch are not very close, it is possible (knowing Dutch) to understand Yiddish in part. Examples from Yiddish-language songs, going “Yiddish” to (Dutch) to English: “Un mir zaynim ale brider un mir zingen freylikhe lieder…”
Is the Indo-Semitic hypothesis changing?
The Indo-Semitic hypothesis has thus undergone a paradigm shift. From Lepsius in 1836 through the mid-20th century, the question asked was whether Indo-European and Semitic are related or unrelated, and in attempting to answer this question Indo-European and Semitic were compared directly.