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In an effort to discover the origin of the Yiddish language, researchers say that they have found evidence that proves that Ashkenazi Jews are descended predominately from four villages in northeastern Turkey.

The study, titled “Localizing Ashkenazic Jews to primeval villages in the ancient Iranian lands of Ashkenaz” was conducted by researchers from three universities in the U.K., U.S., and Israel. It was published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.

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Using a Geographic Population Structure device, Dr Eran Elhaik, a geneticist from the University of Sheffield who led the study, was able to convert the DNA of Ashkenazi Jews into geographic coordinates.

The data showed that 90 percent of Ashkenazi Jews have links to the ancient villages of Iskenaz, Eskenaz, Ashanaz, and Ashkuz that sit near ancient Silk Road trade routes.

“We traced nearly all AJs to major primeval trade routes in northeastern Turkey adjacent to primeval villages, whose names may be derived from ‘Ashkenaz.’ We conclude that AJs probably originated during the first millennium when Iranian Jews Judaized Greco-Roman, Turk, Iranian, southern Caucasus, and Slavic populations inhabiting the lands of Ashkenaz in Turkey,” the researchers wrote.