re: #4 ThomasLite

Actually, the Dutch language itself, and the, let’s say, less formal older forms still prevalent in some larger inner cities (Amsterdam would be a good example, the Hague to a lesser extent, Rotterdam and Utrecht too) in particular, have lifted a lot of words and expressions straight from Yiddish without changing them much (though I believe the meaning of for example chutzpah [sic? - spelled ‘gotspe’ here] has changed quite a bit - it’s now taken to mean the offensive act or occurrence itself, rather than the courage (in a negative way, I take it?) leading up to that as I believe I’ve seen you and others around here, for example, use it) so I think it goes both ways - the western dialect (which is what was spoken in the larger cities and has become the officially standardized language by now) has a very significant Yiddish influence still quite evident in at least it’s less formal forms (that Yiddish will of course have been influenced by the areas in which it’s speakers resided seems obvious to me - unless I’m missing something).

The first Jews to settle in the Netherlands were Sephardim, from Spain and Portugal who spoke Ladino, which is based on Spanish the same way as Yiddish is based on German. The Yiddish-speaking Jews came later.

Yiddish is actually based on a form of Mittelhochdeutsch that both modern German and Yiddish have evolved from. Plattdeutsch (low German) is also much more similar to Yiddish than modern German.