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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-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 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.

Languages

The languages include:

• Judeo-Persian (literary language)
• Luterā'i (a secret language combining an Aramaic and Hebrew vocabulary with Persian conjunctions and grammatical morphemes)
• Bukharian (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 Golpayegan and western Isfahan province, Iran. The first records of Jewish communities in this region date to approximately 750 BC. Like most Jewish languages, Judeo-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, Judeo-Golpaygani fell into disuse, being replaced by Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Hamedani–Borujerdi, and Persian, among those speakers remaining in Iran, and by English and Hebrew by those emigrating to the United States and Israel.
• Judeo-Yazdi and 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-Esfahani (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, Abyaneh, 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)
• Judeo-Tat (spoken in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Dagestan (North Caucasus).

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

• Iranian Jews
• 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. .
3. ^ "Judeo-Iranian". Archived from the original on 2016-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
4. ^ "Encyclopædia Iranica: Loterāʾi". Archived from the original on 2016-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
5. ^ "Encyclopædia Iranica: Judeo-Persian Communities of Iran x. Judeo-Persian Jargon (Loterāʾi)". Archived from the original on 2016-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
6. Levy, Habib (1999). Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran. Translated by George W. Maschke.
7. "I Think, Therefore I Am - Original Persian" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2016-07-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
8. "I Think Therefore I am" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
9. ^ 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
• Article from Jewish Languages site Archived 2016-07-29 at the Wayback Machine

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