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.

Iranian cities with local Jewish dialect^[1]

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]

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 in the environs of Gulpaigan and western Isfahan Province, Iran)
• 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)^[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.

See also

• Jews in Iran
• Jewish languages

References

1. Borjian, Habib (2014). "What is Judeo-Median and how does it differ from Judeo-Persian?". The Journal of Jewish Languages. 2 (2): 117–142. doi:10.1163/22134638-12340026.
2. 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. [1].
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7. (PDF). Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
8. Norman “Nourollah” Gabay. I Think, Therefore I Am Retrieved 17 December 2022

• 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 2016-07-29 at the Wayback Machine