Judeo-Greek
| Yevanic | |
|---|---|
| Romaniyot, Judæo-Greek, יעואני גלוסא | |
| Native to | Originally Greece, recently Israel, Turkey, United States |
|
Native speakers
|
"A few semi-speakers left in 1987 [in Israel], and may be none now [as of 1996 or earlier]. There may be a handful of elderly speakers still in Turkey. There are less than 50 speakers (2011)." |
| Hebrew alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | yeva1238 |
| Linguasphere | 56-AAA-am |
Yevanic, also known as Judæo-Greek, Romaniyot,Romaniote, and Yevanitika is a Greek dialect formerly used by the Romaniotes and by the Constantinopolitan Karaites (In this case the language is called Karaitika or Karæo-Greek). The Romaniotes are a group of Greek Jews whose presence in the Levant is documented since the Byzantine period. Its linguistic lineage stems from the Jewish Koine spoken primarily by Hellenistic Jews throughout the region, and includes Hebrew and Aramaic elements. It was mutually intelligible with the Greek dialects of the Christian population. The Romaniotes used the Hebrew alphabet to write Greek and Yevanic texts.
The term Yevanic is an artificial creation from the Biblical word Yāwān referring to the Greeks and the lands that the Greeks inhabited. The term is an overextension of the Greek word Ἰωνία (Ionia in English) from the (then) easternmost Greeks to all Greeks. The word for Greece in modern Israeli Hebrew is Yavan; likewise, the word yevanit is used to refer to the modern Greek language in Hebrew.
A small number of Romaniote Jews in the United States, Israel, Greece and Turkey have small knowledge of the Judaeo-Greek language. The language is highly endangered and could completely die out. There are no preservation programs to promote or to revive the language. There are about 35 speakers left in Israel, the majority are located in Jerusalem.
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Wikipedia