2016/08/05 by Ranajit Das, Das, Ranajit, Paul Wexler +5
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #FOS: Biological sciences #Forensic and Genetic Research #Genetic diversity and population structure #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1608.02038
openalex publication_date 2016/08/05 · openalex created_date 2022/09/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Recently, we investigated the geographical origins of Ashkenazic Jews (AJs)\nand their native language Yiddish by applying a biogeographical tool, the\nGeographic Population Structure (GPS), to a cohort of 367 exclusively\nYiddish-speaking and multilingual AJs genotyped on the Genochip microarray. GPS\nlocalized most AJs along major ancient trade routes in northeastern Turkey\nadjacent to primeval villages with names that may be derived from the word\n"Ashkenaz." These findings were compatible with the hypothesis of an\nIrano-Turko-Slavic origin for AJs and a Slavic origin for Yiddish and at odds\nwith the Rhineland hypothesis advocating a German origin of both. Our approach\nhas been recently adopted by Flegontov et al. (2016a) to trace the origin of\nthe Siberian Ket people and their language. Recently, Flegontov et al. (2016b)\nhave raised several questions concerning the accuracy of the Genochip\nmicroarray and GPS, specifically in relation to AJs and Yiddish. Although many\nof these issues have been addressed in our previous papers, we take this\nopportunity to clarify the principles of the GPS approach, review the recent\nbiogeographical and ancient DNA findings regarding AJs, and comment on the\norigin of Yiddish.\n