| Title: | BAGELS and other things of Jewish interest |
| Notice: | 1.0 policy, 280.0 directory, 32.0 registration |
| Moderator: | SMURF::FENSTER |
| Created: | Mon Feb 03 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1524 |
| Total number of notes: | 18709 |
I was watching Jeopardy (a popular TV quiz game show) last night and was struck by one of the questions asked: In what characters is Ladino written? The answer given on the show was Hebrew, but that sounded wrong to me. My wife is Sefardic (from Greece) and she says that the letters used are the same as Spanish. Yiddish uses Hebrew characters, but that's a different language. Can anyone respond in an authorative way? Also, while we are on the subject, apart from Greece and Turkey (and Spain and Portugal) are there other Ladino-speaking communities in the world? Danny
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1371.1 | NOTIME::SACKS | Gerald Sacks ZKO2-3/N30 DTN:381-2085 | Wed Oct 27 1993 20:18 | 4 | |
What!? Alex Trebek isn't authoritative enough for you? He's right -- Ladino is written in Hebrew script. I believe it was widely used all over the Sefardi world at one time, just as Yiddish was used in (almost) all of the Ashkenazi world. | |||||
| 1371.2 | GOOEY::GOOEY::SCHOELLER | Fahr mit der Schnecken-Post | Thu Oct 28 1993 04:39 | 6 | |
From the more authoritative sources I have seen .1 is correct. However, I have heard a claim that in some of the Sefardic communities in Europe (ie: in Italy) it was sometimes written in Latin characters. This latter claim was not from a published source but was 3rd hand. Gav | |||||
| 1371.3 | SOFBAS::MAYER | Reality is a matter of perception | Thu Oct 28 1993 04:55 | 5 | |
Well I can tell you that in the Sephardic communities of Greece (at
least Salonika) it was written in Latin characters and this is from
a first hand source.
Danny
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| 1371.4 | With Hebrew letters | TAVIS::JUAN | Thu Oct 28 1993 18:04 | 29 | |
Re: .0
It seems we have a kind of a constant here: In all of the diaspora, as
soon as they assimilated the local language - and perhaps got a bit
assimilated with the local uses - most Jewish communities begun writing
(and of course speaking) the local dialect, condimented with Hebrew
words, as well as other words brought from the long wandering. They used
the letters that were closer to them to write what they had in mind,
without 2nd. thaughts.
Like such we have Judeo-Espanol, Judezmo or Ladino, related to Spanish
and written with Hebrew Letters, Yiddish ("Jewish") related to German
perfumed with slav roots and latin words and last, but not least, the
Judeo-Arabic, a language spoken by jews in many arab speaking countries,
written in Hebrew letters.
If my memory is still reliable, even Moshe ben Maimon, the Rambam, wrote
some of his Jewish thaught masterworks in arabic, with Hebrew letters.
In some places we find another phenomemon: some Jews, belonging to the
Portuguese community in Holland - some of them former anusim or marranos,
wrote Ladino - by then, in Holland, an undoubtable jewish language, with
the letters that were closer to them: i.e.: with Latin letters.
Will we find some documents in Jewish chinese?
Best regards,
Juan-Carlos
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| 1371.5 | "Aramaic" Alphabet? | ELMAGO::RSALAS | Fri Dec 03 1993 22:54 | 14 | |
At home, I have a book titled "Poez�as de Rosh Ha-shan� i Kippur"
written by the rabbi of a S'fardi community in Greece (I forget the
rabbi's name). The Ladino in said book is transliterated into Latin
characters but is also written in the traditional script, which appears,
at first sight, to be in Hebrew, but for some unrecognized characters.
I have only seen this latter alphabet before in facsimiles of the Talmud,
where it is used in Aramaic texts.
My question is, is it possible that near-Eastern Judeo-Espa�ol actually
uses the Aramaic alphabet? It is very close to Hebrew and might have
been mistaken for such by a native speaker.
Ram�n
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| 1371.6 | Rashi script? | RUTILE::DAVIS | Wed Dec 08 1993 11:27 | 7 | |
Re: .-1
Perhaps it was Rashi script that you saw?
- Scott
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| 1371.7 | Rashi--maybe. | ELMAGO::RSALAS | Thu Dec 09 1993 21:34 | 3 | |
Yes, I believe that IS what it was called.
Ram�n
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| 1371.8 | Hebrew/Aramaic | TAV02::FEINBERG | Don Feinberg | Mon Dec 13 1993 12:57 | 9 |
> My question is, is it possible that near-Eastern Judeo-Espa�ol actually
> uses the Aramaic alphabet? It is very close to Hebrew and might have
> been mistaken for such by a native speaker.
FYI: Hebrew alphabet = Aramaic alphabet
don feinberg
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