Judeo-Arabic languages

The Judeo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Arabic-speaking countries; the term also refers to more or less classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in the Middle Ages. Just as with the rest of the Arab world, Arabic-speaking Jews had different dialects depending on where they lived. This phenomenon may be compared to cases such as Ladino (Greek/Turkish Judeo-Spanish), Haketia (Moroccan Judeo-Spanish) and Yiddish (Judeo-German).

Characteristics

The Arabic dialects of Jewish communities differed from the Arabic of their Muslim neighbours partly by the incorporation of some words from Hebrew and other languages and partly geographically, in a way that may reflect a history of migration. For example, the Judeo-Arabic of Egypt, including in the Cairo community, resembled the dialect of Alexandria, which belongs to the Maghrebi (North African) rather than the Egyptian family of Arabic vernaculars. Similarly the speech of Iraqi Jews was found reminiscent of the dialect of Mosul, which in some ways resembles Syrian rather than Baghdadi or Gulf Arabic. (For example, "I said" is qeltu in the speech of Baghdadi Jews and Christians, as well as in Mosul and Syria, as against Muslim Baghdadi gilit.) Many Jews in Arab countries were bilingual in Judeo-Arabic and the majority Muslim dialect (and sometimes spoke English or French as well).

History

Jews in Arab countries wrote—sometimes in their dialects, sometimes in a more classical style—in a mildly adapted Hebrew script (rather than using Arabic script), often including consonant dots from the Arabic alphabet to accommodate phonemes that did not exist in the Hebrew alphabet.

Some of the most important books of medieval Jewish thought were originally written in medieval Judæo-Arabic, as well as certain halakhic works and biblical commentaries. Only later were they translated into medieval Hebrew so that they could be read by the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe. These include:

• Saadia Gaon's Emunoth ve-Deoth, his Tafsir (biblical commentary and translation), and his siddur (the explanatory content; not the prayers themselves)
• Solomon ibn Gabirol's Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh
• Bahya ibn Pakuda's Chovot ha-Levavot
• Judah Halevi's Kuzari
• Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah, Sefer ha-Mitzvot, Guide to the Perplexed, and many of his letters and shorter essays.

Present day

In the years following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, most Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews in Arab countries became Jewish refugees, fleeing mainly to France and Israel. Their dialects of Arabic did not thrive in either country, and most of their descendants now speak French or Modern Hebrew; as a result, the Judæo-Arabic dialects are now considered endangered languages.

Daily phrases in Judæo-Moroccan

Hello: שלמה šlāma / שלמה עליכ šlāma ʿlik
Goodbye: בשלמה bšlāma / בשלמה עליכ bšlāma ʿlik
Thanks: מרסי mersi
Yes: ייוה ēywa
No: לא lā
How are you?: אשכברכ? āš iḫbark?
Fine, thank you: לבש, מרסי lābaš, mersi
Fine / No problems: lābaš

See also

• Judeo-Berber languages
• Baghdad Arabic (Jewish)
• Judeo-Moroccan
• Judeo-Yemenite

Bibliography

• Blau, Joshua, The Emergence and Linguistic Background of Judaeo-Arabic: OUP, last edition 1999

External links

• Alan Corré's Judeo-Arabic Literature site
• Judeo-Arabic Literature
• The Jews of Lebanon
• Reka Israeli radio network offering a daily fifteen-minute program in Judeo-Arabic (Arbiya l'Mugrabiya) with internet broadcast

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