I recently noted in ASL that the word for “Hebrew” (the language) is synonymous with the word for Jewish (the religion).
I recently needed the word “Yiddish” though (a Jewish language which literally translated into “Jewish”). How do distinguish between the two in conversation? It generally is not clear from conversational context.
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Cah-fish-ish
Yiddish (ייִדיש yidish or אידיש idish, literally “Jewish”) is a non-territorial High German language of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. Unlike other Germanic languages, Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet as opposed to a Latin alphabet.
I usually just fingerspell it. Or, sign “JEWISH” and fingerspell Yiddish, then use the sign from that point on in the conversation.