The Judeo-Iranian languages (or dialects) are a number of related Jewish variants of

Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

spoken throughout the formerly extensive realm of the

Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

. Judeo-Iranian dialects are generally conservative in comparison with those of their Muslim neighbours.

Judeo-Shirazi Judeo-Shirazi is a dialect of Fars. It is spoken mostly by Persian Jews living in Shiraz and surrounding areas of the Fars Province in Iran. Vocabulary The following list of words indicates a few isoglosses distinguishing Judeo-Shirazi from th ...

, for example, remains close to the language of

Hafez Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...

. Like most Jewish languages, all the Judeo-Iranian languages contain great numbers of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

s, and are written using variations of the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, wikt:אלפבית, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew languag ...

. Another name used for some Judeo-Iranian dialects is Latorayi, sometimes interpreted by folk etymology as ''"not

he language He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

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 Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

Judaeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew script: , Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: ), also known as Ladino, is a Romance languages, Romance language derived from Old Spanish language, Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain ...

. The languages include: *

Dzhidi Judeo-Persian refers to both a group of Jewish dialects spoken by the Jews living in Iran and Judeo-Persian texts (written in Hebrew alphabet). As a collective term, Judeo-Persian refers to a number of Judeo-Iranian languages spoken by Jewish com ...

(literary Judeo-Persian) * Luterā'i (a secret language combining an Aramaic and Hebrew vocabulary with

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

conjunctions and grammatical morphemes) *

Bukhori Bukharian (autonym: Bukhori, Hebrew script: בוכארי, Cyrillic: бухорӣ, Latin: ''Buxorī'') is a Judeo-Persian dialect historically spoken by Bukharan Jews of Central Asia. It is a Jewish dialect derived from —and largely mutually in ...

(Judeo-Bukharic, Judeo-Tajik, the Jewish language of the distinctive Jewish community centered in

Bukhara Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...

) *

Judeo-Golpaygani Judæo-Golpaygani was a language spoken by the Jewish community living in Golpaygan, in western Isfahan, western Iran. The first records of Jewish communities in this region date to approximately 750 BC. Like most Jewish languages, Judæo-Golpa ...

(the Judeo-Persian language traditionally spoken in the environs of

Gulpaigan Golpayegan ( fa, گلپایگان, Golpāyegān; also known as Shahr-e Golpāyegān meaning "City of Golpayegan") is a city and capital of Golpayegan County, Isfahan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 217,849, in 44,263 fami ...

and western Isfahan Province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) * Judeo-Yazdi =

Judeo-Kermani Zoroastrian Dari ( fa, دری زرتشتی or گویش بهدینان literally Behdīnān dialect) is a Persian dialect and a Northwestern Iranian. ethnolect. Zoroastrian Dari used to be spoken by almost a million people in central Iran, up u ...

(spoken in the environs of

Yazd Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Worl ...

and elsewhere in Yazd Province, in central Iran; in

Kerman Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...

and elsewhere in Kerman Province, in south-central Iran) *

(spoken in

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

and elsewhere in Fars Province, in southwestern Iran) * Judeo-Esfahani (spoken in

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

and environs, as well as elsewhere in central and southern Isfahan Province, Iran) * Judeo-Hamedani (spoken in

Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ha ...

and elsewhere in Hamadan Province, in western Iran) * Judeo-Kashani (spoken in

Kashan Kashan ( fa, ; Qashan; Cassan; also romanized as Kāshān) is a city in the northern part of Isfahan province, Iran. At the 2017 census, its population was 396,987 in 90,828 families. Some etymologists argue that the city name comes from ...

,Norman “Nourollah” Gabay
I Think, Therefore I Am
Retrieved 17 December 2022 Abyaneh, and elsewhere in northern Isfahan Province, in western Iran) * Luflā'i (a

i variant of Luterā'i) * Judeo-Borujerdi (spoken in

Borujerd Borujerd ( fa, بروجرد ''Borūjerd'') is a city and the capital of Borujerd County, Lorestan Province in western Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 234,997 persons. Among the existing modern cities in Iran, Borujerd is one of the ...

and elsewhere in Lorestan Province, in western Iran) * Judeo-Nehevandi (spoken in

Nahavand Nahavand ( fa, نهاوند, translit=Nahāvand / Nehāvend) is a city in Hamadan Province, Iran. It is the capital of Nahavand County. At the time of the 2006 census, its population was 72,218, in 19,419 families. It is located south of the ci ...

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 Judeo-Tat or Juhuri (''cuhuri'', , ) is the traditional language of the Mountain Jews of the eastern Caucasus Mountains, especially Azerbaijan and Dagestan, now mainly spoken in Israel. The language is a dialect of Persian which belongs to the s ...

(Judæo- Tat) (A Jewish- Tat dialect spoken in the

Republic of Azerbaijan A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

(

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

). *

Judeo-Aramaic Judaeo-Aramaic languages represent a group of Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages. Early use Aramaic, like Hebrew, is a Northwest Semitic language, and the two share many features. From the 7th century BCE, Aramaic became the ...

(not to be confused with several Jewish Neo-Aramaic languages.

References

External links

''Jewish dialect of Isfahan'', Encyclopedia Iranica
Endangered Iranian languages Jews and Judaism in Persia and Iran {{ie-lang-stub

See also

References

External links