User:Universal Life/Judaeo-Spanish language

Judaeo-Spanish (also spelled Judeo-Spanish and Judæo-Spanish; Latin script: Judeo-Espanyol, Hebrew script: גֿודֿיאו-איספאנייול, Cyrillic: Ђудео-Еспањол, ), commonly referred to as Ladino, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish. Originally spoken in the former territories of the Ottoman Empire (the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa) as well as in France, Italy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Morocco and the UK, today it is spoken mainly by Sephardic minorities in more than 30 countries, most of the speakers residing in Israel. Although it has no official status in any country, it has been acknowledged as a minority language in Israel and Turkey.

The core vocabulary of Judaeo-Spanish is Old Spanish and it has numerous elements from all the old languages of the Iberian Peninsula, such as Aragonese, Astur-Leonese, Catalan, Galician-Portuguese and Mozarabic. The language has been further enriched by Semitic vocabulary, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, especially in the domains of religion, law and spirituality and most of the vocabulary for new and modern concepts has been adopted through French and Italian. Furthermore the language is also influenced by other local languages of the Balkans, such as Greek, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian, however to a lesser degree.

Historically, the Rashi script and its cursive form Solitreo have been the main orthographies for writing Judaeo-Spanish. However today, it is mainly written with the Latin alphabet, though some other alphabets, such as Hebrew and Cyrillic are still in use. Judaeo-Spanish is also locally known by many different names, major ones being: Espanyol, Judio (or Jidio), Judesmo, Ladino, Sefaradi and Haketia. In Israel, the language is called Spanyolit, Espanyolit and Ladino. In Turkey and formerly in the Ottoman Empire, the language have been traditionally called Yahudice, meaning the Jewish language.

Judaeo-Spanish, once the trade language of the Adriatic Sea, the Balkans and the Middle-East and renowned for its high literature especially in Salonika, today is under serious threat of extinction. Most native speakers are elderly and the language is not transmitted to their children or grandchildren for various reasons. In some expatriate communities in Latin America and elsewhere, there is a threat of dialect levelling resulting in extinction by assimilation into modern Spanish. However, it is experiencing a minor revival among Sephardic communities, especially in music.

Names
Judaeo-Spanish is known by a variety of names both natively (endonyms) and in other languages (exonyms). Ladino (לאדינו) is particularly common for denoting the language in the USA, Israel and Turkey, however mostly by the non-native communities. In English, except the most common names, Judaeo-Spanish and Ladino, the language is called Sephardic Spanish and informally Jewish Spanish as well. Natively the language is called Espanyol, Judio (or Jidio), Judesmo, Ladino, Sefaradi, Haketia and others.

Espanyol, Judio and Judeo-Espanyol
The most common endonym for Judaeo-Spanish is Espanyol, its variants and derivatives.

Espagnol, Djudio and Djudeo-Espagnol
As the language is born out of the languages of the 15th century Spain, the most wide-spread and universal endonym used during its entire history, is "Espagnol" (Spanish) and it's derivatives and variants.
 * Espagnol / Espanyol / ' / Эспанюл /' Español''
 * Espagnolo / Espanyolo / ' / Эспанюло /' Españolo''
 * Espagnolico / Espanyoliko / ' / Эспанюлико /' Españolico''
 * Echpagnol / Eşpanyol / ' / Эшпанюл / Expañol /' Eshpanyol''
 * Echpagnolo / Eşpanyolo / ' / Эшпанюло / Expañolo /' Eshpanyolo''
 * Echpagnolico / Eşpanyoliko / ' / Эшпанюлико / Expañolico /' Eshpanyoliko''
 * Spagnol / Spanyol / ' / Спанюл /' Spañol''
 * Spagnolo / Spanyolo / ' / Спанюло /' Spañolo''
 * Spagnolico / Spanyoliko / ' / Спанюлико /' Spañolico''

In Israel, apart from the most common exonym Ladino, the Hebrew word  (Spanyolit - ) is quite common. It is derived through the Hebrew language suffix (-it).

The majority of Judaeo-Spanish speakers, throughout their own history, have been under Ottoman sovereignty and the Ottomans have called the language by the name Yahudice, meaning "Jew language" (-ce is the Turkish language suffix). Similarly, we can observe that most Sephardic communities in the diaspora (and even non-Sephardic Jews) has been calling their language "Jewish" as to mean "Jew language" (See Yiddish language). The term in Judaeo-Spanish is "Djudio" or "Djidio" according to the dialect. The following endonyms are also quite common in Judaeo-Spanish:
 * Djidio / Cidyo / ' / Джидю / Jidió /' Djidyo'' (most common in Bulgaria and some other Balkan states)
 * Djudio / Cudyo / ' / Джудю / Judió /' Djudyo'' (most common in Turkey and Greece)
 * Jidio / Jidyo / ' / Жидю /' Jidió'' (most common in some other parts of the Balkans)
 * Judio / Judyo / ' / Жудю /' Judió'' (most common in Morocco and Canada)

The contrast in the use of the terms "Espagnol" and "Djudio" in Judaeo-Spanish is somewhat similar to the contrats in the use of the terms "Español" and "Castellano" by the Spanish. "Espagnol" is more commonly used when comparing the language with other foreign languages, such as French, English or Hebrew. However "Djudio" is more commonly used when comparing it to the local languages, such as Turkish or Greek and also when trying to emphasise the Jewish character of the language.

In cases where the language is contrasted to or compared with modern Spanish, the name "Espagnol" is used for Judaeo-Spanish and "Castelliano" (Castilliano, Casteyano etc.) is used for modern Spanish. Sometimes terms suchs as
 * "El Espagnol muestro" (Our Spanish) vs. "El Espagnol d'Espagna" (Spanish of Spain) is used.

The endonym Djudeo-Espagnol is a synthesis of the two most common endonyms of the language; "Espagnol" and "Djudio" and is the most commonly accepted adjective for the language. It is composed by the academicians and until the last decade or two, was not used in common speech as an endonym, restricting its use only for academicians. However, with its accelerated usage by the media for the last few decades, speakers started to use it too, in their daily lives, especially when denoting some news, newspapers or academic studies in that language.

"Yo no entiendo ni el Ivrit ni el Ingles, avlame en muestra lingua, en Espagnol. (I don't understand neither Hebrew nor English, speak me in our language, in Spanish.) No t'esforses a avlar en Turktchas, quirida, estamos en casa, avlame en Djudio. (Don't force yourself to speak with me in Turkish, love, we're at home, speak me in Jewish.) Los Gregos avlan en Grego, los Ermenis avlan en Ermeni y mosos los Djudios, avlamos en Djudio. (The Greeks speak in Greek, the Armenians speak in Armenian and we the Jews, speak in Jewish.) Para mi, muestra lingua, la lingua Espagnola es una ermosa lingua por que kulay kulay yo puedo avlar, yorar, cantar y bailar en Espagnol, ma no lo puedo tanto en Franse u ni en otruna lingua. (To me, our language, the Spanish language is a beautiful language because I can easily speak, cry, sing and dance in Spanish but I can't do it so much in French nor in another language.) Que tengas en tino, quando dizimos "Espagnol", avlamos del Espagnol muestro y quando dizimos "Castiyano", suguro que estamos avlando del Espagnol d'Espagna. (Keep in mind that when we say "Spanish" we speak about our Spanish and when we say "Castilian", surely we are speaking about the Spanish of Spain.) Hanuma, avreme la radio Kol Yisrael, quero sintir haberes en Djudeo-Espagnol. (Darling, open the radio channel Kol Yisrael, I want to listen news in Judaeo-Spanish.)"

History
The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. Some found refuge in the Ottoman Empire, and settled on the Island of Rhodes.


 * 1490s: They move from Spain to Bayonne, Naples, Saloniki, Jerusalem, Cairo, Tunis, Algiers, Fez and Lisbon.
 * 1490s: They move from Lisbon to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to London.
 * 1493: They move from South-Western Spain to Sao Tome and Principe.
 * 1496 - 1498: They move from Portugal to Sao Tome and Principe
 * 1496 - 1516: They move from Portugal to Cape Verde.
 * 1500s: They move from Cape Verde to Salvador, Brazil.
 * 1608 - 1763: They move from the French Antilles to Québec.
 * 1642: They move from Amsterdam to Recife
 * 1654: They move from Brazil to New York, Martinique and Curaçao.
 * 1660s: They move from French Guiana to Brazil.
 * 1664: They move from Cayenne (French Guiana) to Paramaribo (Suriname).
 * 1664 - 1667: They move from England to Paramaribo.
 * 1667: They move from England to Jamaica.
 * 1759 - 1802: They move from Amsterdam to Paramaribo.
 * 1940s: They move from South-Eastern Europe to Buenos Aires.

From 1492 to 1930s

 * Balkans (Salonika, Istanbul, Sarajevo, Izmir)
 * Anatolia
 * Middle East
 * North Africa (Tangier, Tetuán, Fez, Algiers, Cairo)

From 1930s to Today

 * Israel
 * New York
 * Buenos Aires

Dialects and varieties

 * Is it a language or a dialect? Confusion.

Differences with Modern Spanish
j, sh = h

Vocabulary

 * Aínda = Yet (Portuguese)
 * Trocar = To Change (Portuguese)
 * Chapeo = Hat (Portuguese)
 * Chapines = Shoes (Catalan)
 * El Dio = God
 * Alhat = Sunday
 * Muncho = Much
 * Godro = Fat
 * Prove = Poor
 * Abasho = Below
 * Abashar = To go down
 * Los de abasho = The departed
 * Todo está de arriva abasho. = Everything is upside down.
 * Abastado = Almighty, Omni-potent
 * Ma = But
 * Maalé = Quarter, Neighbourhood (Turkish)
 * Maarav = West (Hebrew)
 * Maasé = Story, Event (Hebrew)
 * Mabul = Deluge, Downpour, Torrent (Hebrew) (No kyero tanto, me dates mabul.)
 * Makará = Spool of thread