Yiddish (ייִדיש, יידיש,איודיש or אידיש, Yiddish or Eyddish, pronounced [ˈ(j)ɪdɪʃ], lit. 'Jewish'; ייִדישע-דײַטש, Yiddishe-Daytsh, lit. ' Juddish-Deutsch') is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a High German-based vernacular fused with many elements taken from Hebrew (notably Mishnaic) and to some extent Aramaic; most varieties also have substantial influence from Slavic languages, and the vocabulary contains traces of influence from Romance languages. Yiddish writing uses the Hebrew alphabet. In the 1990s, there were around 1.5–2 million speakers of Yiddish, mostly Hasidic and Haredi Jews. In 2012, the Center for Applied Linguistics estimated the number of spe