Originally Posted by MikeMpls
It evolved from High German at a time when Jews were isolated in ghettos (cognate with Jüden, modern German for Jews) in central Europe.
Are you saying the word ghetto is a cognate for Jüden? The word comes from the Venetian Ghetto, but there is some
debate of how that neighborhood in Venice acquired that name.
Other reference links:
http://www.zamir.org/Features/Italy/RavidGhetto.shtml
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...l#The%20Ghetto
By the way, there is a standardized written form of Yiddish; it uses Hebrew characters, but has vowells. I once saw a copy of a James Bond novel in Yiddish in a Venetian hotel lobby.