@article{1453ffe2fe5a45f3b381956227556064,
title = "The origins of Ashkenaz, Ashkenazic Jews, and Yiddish",
abstract = "Recently, the geographical origins of Ashkenazic Jews (AJs) and their native language Yiddish were investigated by applying the Geographic Population Structure (GPS) to a cohort of exclusively Yiddish-speaking and multilingual AJs. GPS localized most AJs along major ancient trade routes in northeastern Turkey adjacent to primeval villages with names that resemble the word {"}Ashkenaz.{"} These findings were compatible with the hypothesis of an Irano-Turko-Slavic origin for AJs and a Slavic origin for Yiddish and at odds with the Rhineland hypothesis advocating a Levantine origin for AJs and German origins for Yiddish. We discuss how these findings advance three ongoing debates concerning (1) the historical meaning of the term {"}Ashkenaz;{"} (2) the genetic structure of AJs and their geographical origins as inferred from multiple studies employing both modern and ancient DNA and original ancient DNA analyses; and (3) the development of Yiddish. We provide additional validation to the non-Levantine origin of AJs using ancient DNA from the Near East and the Levant. Due to the rising popularity of geo-localization tools to address questions of origin, we briefly discuss the advantages and limitations of popular tools with focus on the GPS approach. Our results reinforce the non-Levantine origins of AJs.",
keywords = "Ancient DNA, Archaeogenetics, Ashkenaz, Ashkenazic Jews, Geographic population structure (GPS), Rhineland hypothesis, Yiddish",
author = "Ranajit Das and Paul Wexler and Mehdi Pirooznia and Eran Elhaik",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Das, Wexler, Pirooznia and Elhaik.",
year = "2017",
doi = "10.3389/fgene.2017.00087",
language = "אנגלית",
volume = "8",
journal = "Frontiers in Genetics",
issn = "1664-8021",
publisher = "Frontiers Media S.A.",
number = "JUN",
}