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Title: 'Four mothers' for Europe's Jews
Source:
BBC News
URL Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4611592.stm
Published: Jan 13, 2006
Author: BBC
Post Date: 2006-01-14 15:16:37 by robin
Keywords: mothers, Europes, Four
Views: 203
Comments: 5
Scientists studied the mitochondrial DNA - passed from mother to daughter - of 11,000 women of Ashkenazi Jewish origin living in 67 countries. The Ashkenazis moved from the Mid-East to Italy and then to Eastern Europe, where their population exploded in the 13th Century, the scientists say. One of the authors said the study shows the importance of Jewish mothers. "This I could tell you even without the paper," Dr Doron Behar of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology told Reuters news agency. Genetic signature The four women are thought to have lived in the Middle East about 1,000 years ago but they may not have lived anywhere near each other, according to the study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. However, they bequeathed genetic signatures to their descendents, which do not appear in non-Jews and are rare in Jews not of Ashkenazi origin. The Ashkenazis are thought to have travelled from the Middle East to Italy in the first or second Centuries. In Central and Eastern Europe, many spoke Yiddish - a form of German, mixed with Hebrew. Ashkenazi comes from an old Hebrew word for Germany. By the outbreak of World War II, there were some nine million, some two-thirds of whom were killed by the Nazis. There are now some eight million people of Ashkenazi origin living around the world, the researchers say. Some 3.5m, or 40%, of them are descended from the four women, they say. Poster Comment: I guess Bryan Sykes' DNA work ("The Seven Daughters of Eve") didn't include the descendants of these 4 women. Ashkenazi comes from an old Hebrew word for Germany. what?
Almost half of Europe's Jews are descended from just four women who lived 1,000 years ago, a study says. 
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#1. To: All (#0)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. What's Florida's population ?? :P
Nice!
That equals 6 million, and implies only Ashkanazi Jews were killed? I read another article about this and found it very interesting. There is a company that can apparently do mitochondrial DNA testing, and you can find your female ancestors from way back, I think it costs $100. I think DNA studies especially related to tracking ancestors is very interesting.
That's Bryan Sykes I referenced. His website's down but it's http://OxfordAncestors.com.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
~James Madison
#2. To: robin (#0)
There are now some eight million people of Ashkenazi origin living around the world, the researchers say.
#3. To: Zipporah (#2)
What's Florida's population ??
#4. To: robin (#0)
By the outbreak of World War II, there were some nine million, some two-thirds of whom were killed by the Nazis.
#5. To: Diana (#4)
~James Madison
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