Judeo-Malay | |
Nativename: | Yahudi-Melayu, יאהודי-מֱלאיו |
Region: | Penang |
Extinct: | ? |
Familycolor: | Austronesian |
Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
Fam3: | (disputed) |
Fam4: | Malayic |
Fam5: | Malay |
Isoexception: | dialect |
Script: | Hebrew |
Glotto: | none |
Judeo-Malay (Malay: Yahudi-Melayu, Jawi: يهودي-ملايو, Hebrew: מלאית-יהודית) is a variant of the Malay language once spoken or written by the Jews of Penang, a state located in northern Peninsular Malaysia.[1] [2] Judeo-Malay is the only known recorded Jewish language in the Austronesian family. The surviving manuscripts of Judeo-Malay are recorded on a notepad of an Iranian Jew by the name of Rahamim Jacob Cohen that is currently kept in Microfilms of Alalay Manuscripts from the British Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections.[3]
A sample sentence in Judeo-Malay and Standard Malay for comparison:
Below are the numbers 1–6 in Judeo-Malay, transcribed from Cohen's notes, and in Standard Malay:
1 | satuh | satu | |
2 | du'ah | dua | |
3 | tigah | tiga | |
4 | hampah | empat | |
5 | nimah or limah | lima | |
6 | henam | enam |