Jewish languages:
The oldest and most treasured books of the Jewish people have been the Torah and Tanakh (i.e. the Hebrew Bible) written almost entirely in Biblical Hebrew and widely used by Jews during their history. Jews zealously studied these detailed Hebrew texts, observed the commandments formulated in them, based their prayers on them, and spoke its language. Jews maintained a belief that Hebrew was God's "language" as well (as it was the language God uses in the Torah itself), hence its name "lashon hakodesh" ("Holy language" or "tongue").
The earliest surviving Hebrew inscription, the Gezer Calendar , dates from the 10th century BC; it was written in the so-called Paleo-Hebrew alphabet , which continued to be used through the time of Solomon's Temple until changed to the new "Assyrian lettering" (ktav ashurit) by Ezra the Scribe following the Babylonian Exile. During this time there were also changes in the language, as it developed towards Mishnaic Hebrew. Until then, most Jews had spoken Hebrew in Israel and Judea, however, by the destruction of the Second Temple, most had already shifted to speaking Aramaic, with a significant number in the large diaspora speaking Greek. As Jews emigrated to far-flung countries, and as the languages of the countries they were in changed, they often adopted the local languages, and thus came to speak a great variety of languages. During the early Middle Ages, Aramaic was the principal Jewish language. The Targum and much of the Talmud is written in Aramaic; later in the Middle Ages, most Jewish literary activity was carried out in Judeo-Arabic: Arabic written in the Hebrew alphabet; this is the language Maimonides wrote in. Hebrew itself remained in vigorous use for relgious and official uses such as for all religious events, Responsa, and in writing Torah scrolls, marriage contracts and literary purposes.
As time passed, these Jewish dialects often became so different from the parent languages as to constitute new languages, typically with a heavy influx of Hebrew and other loanwords as well as innovations within the language. Thus were formed a variety of languages specific to the Jewish community; perhaps the most notable of these are Yiddish in Europe (mainly from German) and Ladino (from Spanish), originally in al-Andalus but spreading to other locations, mainly around the Mediterranean, due to the 1492 expulsion of practicing Jews from Spain and the persecution by the Inquisition of the conversos.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Yiddish was the main language of Jews in Eastern Europe, while Ladino was widespread in the Maghreb, Greece, and Turkey; smaller groups in Europe spoke such languages as Italkian, Yevanic, or Karaim. The Jews of the Arab world spoke Judeo-Arabic varieties, while those of Iran spoke Judeo-Persian; smaller groups spoke Judeo-Berber, Judeo-Tat or even, in Kurdistan, Judeo-Aramaic . The Beta Israel were abandoning their Kayla language for Amharic, while the Cochin Jews continued to speak Malayalam.
This broad picture was substantially modified by several events in recent centuries. Emigration to the United States caused a dramatic increase in the number of Jewish English-speakers; colonialism in the Maghreb led most of its Jews to shift to French or Spanish; Zionists revived Hebrew as a spoken language, giving it a substantially increased vocabulary and a simplified sound system; the Holocaust tragically massively decreased the number of European Jews; and the Arab-Israeli conflict led many Jews to leave the Arab world for other countries (mainly France and Israel) whose languages they often adopted.
Jews today speak a large variety of languages, typically adopting the languages of their countries of residence. The largest single language spoken by Jews is probably English (mainly in the United States), closely followed by Modern Hebrew (mainly in Israel). Yiddish, with perhaps about a million speakers (mostly amongst the Haredi sector), is probably in third place. However, virtually all of the languages mentioned above continue to be spoken, though some (notably Judeo-Aramaic) are considered to be highly endangered.
Jews in the diaspora have tended to form segregated communities, in part due to ostracisation and persecution by the surrounding communities, and in part due to a desire to maintain their own culture. In addition to the native Jewish language of Hebrew, Jewish communities have frequently adopted the language of the surrounding community, but due to their segregation it often developed and diverged to form a dialect or a separate language. These Jewish languages are frequently marked by large numbers of loan words from Hebrew and Aramaic.
Afro-Asiatic languages
- Semitic: Hebrew, Aramaic (referred to as Jewish Aramaic or Talmudic Aramaic), Neo-Aramaic (dialects include: Lishanid Noshan, Lishanid Janan , Lishana Noshan , Lishana Deni, Lishan Didan), Judaeo-Arabic {many dialects, including: Judeo-Iraqi (all are qeltu Arabic dialects), Judeo-Moroccan, Judeo-Yemeni, Judeo-Libyan, Judeo-Algerian, also several Judeo-Arabic dialects spoken in northern Syria and Iraq.
- Berber: Judeo-Berber
- Cushitic: Qwara (Kayla), Kaïliña
Indo-European languages
- Germanic: Yiddish
- Italic: Ladino, Shuadit (Judeo-Provençal), Zarphatic (Judeo-French), Judeo-Portuguese , Italkian (Judeo-Italian)
- Slavic: Knaanic (Judeo-Czech)
- Greek: Yevanic (Judeo-Greek)
- Indo-Iranian: Dzhidi, (Judeo-Persian), Judeo-Bukharic , Judeo-Golpaygani , Judeo-Yazdi , Judeo-Kermani , Judeo-Shirazi , Judeo-Esfahani , Judeo-Hamedani , Judeo-Kashani , Judeo-Borujerdi , Judeo-Nehevandi , Judeo-Khunsari , Judeo-Tat
Dravidian
Alphabetical list
External Links
-
Jewish Language Research Website http://www.jewish-languages.org/ from jewish-languages.org
- Links to individual languages http://www.jewish-languages.org/languages.html
- Jewish languages dying out http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/articles/379_jewish_languages_dyi.htm
Last updated: 02-07-2005 15:56:47
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55
