| Title |
The Origins of Ashkenaz, Ashkenazic Jews, and Yiddish
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Frontiers in Genetics, June 2017
|
| DOI | 10.3389/fgene.2017.00087 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Ranajit Das, Paul Wexler, Mehdi Pirooznia, Eran Elhaik |
| 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. |
Twitter Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 482 tweeters who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 73 | 15% |
| United Kingdom | 32 | 7% |
| Israel | 8 | 2% |
| Turkey | 6 | 1% |
| Netherlands | 5 | 1% |
| Canada | 5 | 1% |
| Sweden | 4 | <1% |
| Australia | 3 | <1% |
| Comoros | 3 | <1% |
| Other | 46 | 10% |
| Unknown | 297 | 62% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 451 | 94% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 10 | 2% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 9 | 2% |
| Scientists | 9 | 2% |
| Unknown | 3 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 62 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 62 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 12 | 19% |
| Student > Bachelor | 8 | 13% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 6 | 10% |
| Other | 5 | 8% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 4 | 6% |
| Other | 11 | 18% |
| Unknown | 16 | 26% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 14 | 23% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 12 | 19% |
| Engineering | 5 | 8% |
| Psychology | 3 | 5% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 3 | 5% |
| Other | 8 | 13% |
| Unknown | 17 | 27% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 454. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 September 2023.
All research outputs
#57,160
of 24,520,935 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Genetics
#3
of 13,225 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,281
of 321,181 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Genetics
#2
of 49 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,520,935 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 13,225 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 49 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.