thumb | right | “Fountain of the Jews” in Coimbra, Portugal

Judaeo-Portuguese, Jewish-Portuguese or Judaeo-Lusitanic, is an extinct Jewish language or a dialect of Galician-Portuguese written in the Hebrew alphabet that was used by the Jews of Portugal.

Description

It was the vernacular of Sephardi Jews in Portugal before the 16th century and also in many places of the Portuguese Jewish diaspora. Its texts were written in the Hebrew script (aljamiado português) or the Latin alphabet.

As Portuguese Jews intermarried with other expelled Sephardim, the language influenced the nearby Judeo-Spanish. Close similarity to Standard Portuguese made Judeo-Portuguese go extinct in Portugal, After the Jewish exodus from Portugal in 1497 many Portuguese Jews would flee to the Dutch Republic and Judeo-Portuguese would intake much Dutch influence. This same exodus would cause the language to spread to the Turkish Jewish community.

Sample text

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Judeo Portuguese

!Judeo Portuguese (transliterated)

!English

|-

|או ליברו די מג׳יקה

|O Livro De Magica

|The Book of Magic

|-

|N/A

|A todos nossos Irmãos, prezos pela Inquisição

|To all our brethren confined by the Inquisition

|}

See also

  • History of the Jews in Portugal
  • Spanish and Portuguese Jews
  • Lusophone
  • Lusitanic
  • Pallache family
  • Judeo-Spanish
  • Judaeo-Papiamento

References

  • Judaeo-Portuguese at the Jewish Language Research Center
  • Thesouro dos Dinim, a halakhic work (annotated transcription)
  • Thesouro dos Dinim, a halakhic work (partial facsimile)
  • Menasseh Ben Israel de la fragilidad humana y inclinacion del hombre al peccado. Parte primera
  • Strolovitch, Devon L. (2005) Old Portuguese in Hebrew Script: Convention, Contact, and Convivência. Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.