Keys to the History of English

This chapter focuses on the lexical influence of Yiddish on English throughout its history. The findings rely on an analysis of the linguistic evidence in electronic dictionaries and corpora. Specific value will be accorded to the use of Yiddish borrowings in informal language. Yiddish has provided English with a number of terms relating to various semantic domains, ranging from gastronomy, faith and religion, to people and everyday life. An important objective is to provide an overview of the d