Judeo-Iranian languages

The Judeo-Iranian languages (or dialects) are a number of related Jewish variants of Iranian languages spoken throughout the formerly extensive realm of the Persian Empire. Judeo-Iranian dialects are generally conservative in comparison with those of their Muslim neighbours. Judeo-Shirazi, for example, remains close to the language of Hafez.

Like most Jewish languages, all the Judeo-Iranian languages contain great numbers of Hebrew loanwords, and are written using variations of the Hebrew alphabet. Another name used for some Judeo-Iranian dialects is Latorayi, sometimes interpreted by folk etymology as "not [the language] of the Torah". This refers to a form of the language in which the number of Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords is deliberately maximised to allow it to function as a secret code. In general, however, the number of such loanwords is small compared with that in other Jewish languages such as Yiddish or Judaeo-Spanish.^[2]

Languages

The languages include:

• Dzhidi (literary Judeo-Persian)
• Luterā'i (a secret language combining an Aramaic and Hebrew vocabulary with Persian conjunctions and grammatical morphemes)^[3][4][5]
• Bukhori (Judeo-Bukharic, Judeo-Tajik, the Jewish language of the distinctive Jewish community centered in Bukhara)
• Judeo-Golpaygani, the Judeo-Persian language traditionally spoken by the Jewish community in the environs of Gulpaigan and western Isfahan Province, Iran.^[6] The first records of Jewish communities in this region date to approximately 750 BC. Like most Jewish languages, Judæo-Golpaygani was written using Hebrew characters ^{[citation needed]}, and contained many Hebrew loanwords. ^{[citation needed]} Following the decline and consolidation of the Persian Jewish community in the mid-20th century, Judæo-Golpaygani fell into disuse, being replaced by Dzhidi, Judæo-Hamedani, and Persian, among those speakers remaining in Iran, and by English and Hebrew by those emigrating to the United States and Israel.
• Judeo-Yazdi = Judeo-Kermani (spoken in the environs of Yazd and elsewhere in Yazd Province, in central Iran; in Kerman and elsewhere in Kerman Province, in south-central Iran)
• Judeo-Shirazi (spoken in Shiraz and elsewhere in Fars Province, in southwestern Iran)
• Judeo-Isfahani (spoken in Isfahan and environs, as well as elsewhere in central and southern Isfahan Province, Iran)
• Judeo-Hamedani (spoken in Hamadan and elsewhere in Hamadan Province, in western Iran)
• Judeo-Kashani (spoken in Kashan,^[7][8][9] Abyaneh,^[9] and elsewhere in northern Isfahan Province, in western Iran)
• Luflā'i (a Kashani variant of Luterā'i)^[3][4][5]
• Judeo-Borujerdi (spoken in Borujerd and elsewhere in Lorestan Province, in western Iran)
• Judeo-Nehevandi (spoken in Nahavand and elsewhere in northern Hamadan Province, in western Iran)
• Judeo-Khunsari (spoken in Khansar and elsewhere in far-western Isfahan Province, in western Iran)
• Juhuri (Judæo-Tat) (A Jewish-Tat dialect spoken in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Dagestan (North Caucasus).
• Judeo-Aramaic (not to be confused with several Jewish Neo-Aramaic languages).

Language samples

• Oral history in Judeo-Shirazi
• Oral history in Judeo-Hamedani-Borujerdi
• Oral history in Judeo-Esfahani
• Oral history in Lishan Deni (Jewish Neo-Aramaic)
• Oral history in Lishan Didan (Jewish Neo-Aramaic)
• Oral history in Lishan Noshan (Jewish Neo-Aramic)

See also

• Jews in Iran
• Jewish languages

References

• Schmidt, Rüdiger, ed. (1989). Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Wiesbaden: Reichert. ISBN 3-88226-413-6.

External links

• Jewish dialect of Isfahan, Encyclopedia Iranica^{[permanent dead link]}
• Article from Jewish Languages site Archived 2016-07-29 at the Wayback Machine

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This page was last edited on 2 May 2024, at 20:09