Judeo-Greek
Researchers
Samples
"Judeo-Greek" refers to both ancient and modern Greek as they were spoken and written by Jews. Other names are Yevanic and Romaniote.
Ancient Judeo-Greek
Like many other peoples of the Hellenistic world, the Jews were well acquainted with the Greek language and used it as a lingua franca, a language of culture and a means of everyday communication. Ancient Judeo-Greek may be studied from epigraphic sources and Bible translations, such as the Septuagint, Aquila, etc.
When circumstances were favorable – and in Greece they were – the Jews continued to use Greek throughout late antiquity and the Byzantine period. The language relics that have reached us from this historical stage are scarce, limited mainly to Cairo Genizah fragments and solitary glosses in Hebrew/Aramaic texts.
Modern Judeo-Greek
The arrival of Italian- and Spanish-speaking newcomers in Greece at the end of the 15th century changed the socio-linguistic portrait of Greek Jewry. Many communities adopted Judeo-Spanish language and customs, but some preserved the old, so-called "Romaniote" liturgical tradition and the Greek idiom. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Jews of such communities as Ioannina, Arta, Preveza, and Chalkida still spoke a form of Greek that was somewhat different from the Greek of their Christian neighbors. Linguistically, the differences seem to be limited to phonetic, intonational, and lexical phenomena. In contrast to some other Jewish languages, no awareness of language separateness seems to have existed.
The Holocaust decimated the Romaniote communities to such an extent, that practically no competent speakers of this language variety remained alive. The survivors were not numerous enough to maintain a linguistic milieu, and the younger generation moved to Standard Modern Greek in Greece, Hebrew in Israel, and English in the USA.
No systematic research was attempted while Judeo-Greek still flourished. The only texts published in Modern Judeo-Greek were folklore and para-liturgical poetry. An edition of a manuscript and a dictionary of Hebrew/Aramaic loanwords in Modern Judeo-Greek by J. Krivoruchko are now in preparation.
Selected Bibliography
Articles
- Belléli, L. 1890. Une version grecque du Pentateuque du seizième siècle. Revue des Études Grecques 3: 289-308.
- Belléli, L. 1891. Deux versions peu connues du Pentateuque faites à Constantinople au seizième siècle. Revue des Études Juives 22: 250-263.
- Blondheim, D. S. 1924. Échos du Judéo-Hellénisme: Étude sur l'influence de la Septante et d'Aquila sur les versions néo-grecques des Juifs. Revue des Études Juives 78: 1-14.
- Danon, A. 1912. Notice sur la littérature gréco-caraïte. Revue des Études Grecques 127: 147-151.
- Danon, A. 1922. Un hymne hébréo-grec. Revue des Études Juives 75: 88-92.
- Krivoruchko, J. The Hebrew / Aramaic Component in Romaniote Dialects. World Congress of Jewish Studies 13. http://www.lekket.com/articles/003000104.pdf.
- Sznol, S. 1996/97. הפטרה "נחמו" (ישעיהו מ 1-26) בתרגום ליוונית-יהודית [Haftara "Nehamu" (Isaiah 40, 1-26) in the Judeo-Greek Translation]. בית מקרא 42: 332-342.
- Sznol, S. 2000. תרגום ביוונית-יהודית להפטרה "ואתנן" לשבת נחמו (ישעיהו מ 1-26). Textus 20: 9–32.
- Wexler, P. 1985. Recovering the Dialects and Sociology of Judeo-Greek in Non-Hellenic Europe. In J. A. Fishman (ed.), Readings in the sociology of Jewish languages. Leiden: Brill. 227-240.
Sociolinguistic History
- De Lange, N. R. M. 1991. The Classical Tradition in Byzantium. In D. Cohn-Sherbok (ed.), A Traditional Quest: Essays in Honour of Louis Jacobs. Sheffield: JSOT Press. 86-101.
- De Lange, N. R. M. 2000. Hebrews, Greeks or Roman? Jewish Culture and Identity in Byzantium. In D. C. Smythe (ed.), Strangers to Themselves: The Byzantine Outsider. Aldershot: Ashgate. 105-118.
Major Texts
- De Lange, N. R. M. 1996. Greek Jewish Texts from Cairo Genizah. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).
- Hesseling, D. C. 1897. Les cinq livres de la loi (Le Pentateuque). Leiden / Leipzig: Von Doesburgh / Harrasowitz.
- Matsas, J. 1953. Γιαννιώτικα Εβραϊκά Τραγούδια. Ioannina: Ipeirotiki Estia.
- Matsas, I. 1971-1981. השירה היהודית ביוונית [Jewish Poetry in Greek]. Sefunot: Annual for Research on the Jewish Communities in the East 15: 235-365.