Judeo-Iranian languages explained

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.^[1]

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)^{[2] [3] [4]}
• 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.^[5] 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, and contained many Hebrew loanwords. 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,^{[6] [7] [8]} Abyaneh,^[8] and elsewhere in northern Isfahan Province, in western Iran)
• Luflā'i (a Kashani variant of Luterā'i)
• 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).

See also

• Jews in Iran
• Jewish languages

References

• Book: Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum. Schmidt. Rüdiger . Reichert. Wiesbaden. 1989. 3-88226-413-6.

External links

• Jewish dialect of Isfahan, Encyclopedia Iranica
• Article from Jewish Languages site

Notes and References

1. Habib Borjian, “Judeo-Iranian Languages,” in Lily Kahn and Aaron D. Rubin, eds., A Handbook of Jewish Languages, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015, pp. 234-295. https://www.academia.edu/12266165/Judeo-Iranian_Languages.
2. Web site: Judeo-Iranian . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160729210218/http://www.jewish-languages.org/judeo-iranian.html . 2016-07-29 .
3. Web site: Encyclopædia Iranica: Loterāʾi . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160729222605/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/loterai . 2016-07-29 .
4. Web site: Encyclopædia Iranica: Judeo-Persian Communities of Iran x. Judeo-Persian Jargon (Loterāʾi) . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160729222827/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/judeo-persian-x-judeo-persian-jargon-loterai . 2016-07-29 .
5. Book: Levy, Habib. Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran. 1999. George W. Maschke.
6. Web site: I Think, Therefore I Am - Original Persian . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160725215222/http://www.babanouri.com/Letters/Nayadishim.pdf . 2016-07-25 .
7. Web site: I Think Therefore I am . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215731/http://www.babanouri.com/En/I-Think-Therefore-I-Am.pdf . 2016-03-03 .
8. Norman “Nourollah” Gabay. I Think, Therefore I Am Retrieved 17 December 2022