Yiddish, which literally means “Jewish” is a Germanic language and the principal vernacular of the Ashkenazic Jews who originated in Eastern Europe. Yiddish is written in Hebrew script and contains numerous borrowings from English and well as a number of European languages. The origins of Yiddish date to the 9th century in southwestern Germany as an adaptation of the Middle High German dialects by the Jewish people of the era who borrowed heavily from the Hebrew language. In the early 1900s, Yiddish was spoken by some 11 million people living in the US and Europe, but that number was severely reduced after the World War II as the Holocaust claimed millions of Yiddish speakers. Despite Israel’s Hebrew only policy, Yiddish has made a comeback among Jewish populations the residing throughout the world ands today counts many million first and second language speakers.