Judeo-Arabic dialects

Judeo-Arabic dialects (Judeo-Arabic: ערביה יהודיה, romanized: ‘Arabiya Yahūdiya; Arabic: عربية يهودية, romanized: ʿArabiya Yahūdiya (listen); Hebrew: ערבית יהודית, romanized: ‘Aravít Yehudít (listen)) are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arab world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encompassing four languages: Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (aju), Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (jye), Judeo-Iraqi Arabic (yhd), and Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (yud).

Judeo-Arabic
ערביה יהודיה
A page from the Cairo Geniza, part of which is written in the Judeo-Arabic language
EthnicityMizrahi Jews from North Africa and the Fertile Crescent
Native speakers
240,000 (2022)
Afro-Asiatic
Early forms
Old Arabic
Writing system
Hebrew alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2jrb
ISO 639-3jrb – inclusive code
Individual codes:
yhd  Judeo-Iraqi Arabic
aju  Judeo-Moroccan Arabic
yud  Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic
jye  Judeo-Yemeni Arabic
GlottologNone

Judeo-Arabic can also refer to Classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in the Middle Ages.

Many significant Jewish works, including a number of religious writings by Saadia Gaon, Maimonides and Judah Halevi, were originally written in Judeo-Arabic, as this was the primary vernacular language of their authors.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.