Judaeo-Portuguese

Judeo-Portuguese (or Lusitanic) is the extinct Jewish language that was used by the Portuguese Jews of Portugal.

Description

The Judeo-Portuguese language was the vernacular of Sephardi Jews in Portugal before the 16th century and also in many places of the Portuguese Jewish diaspora. Texts were written in Hebrew script (aljamiado português) or in Latin script.

As Portuguese Jews intermarried with other expelled Sephardim, it influenced the neighboring Judeo-Spanish language. Due to close similarity to standard Portuguese, Judeo-Portuguese became extinct in Portugal, surviving in the everyday usage in the diaspora until the early 19th century. Judeo-Portuguese influenced the Papiamento and Saramaccan languages.

Characteristics

Influences from Ladino

Portuguese archaisms

Influences from Hebrew

See also

• History of the Jews in Portugal
• Spanish and Portuguese Jews
• Lusophone
• Lusitanic
• Pallache family

References

• Judaeo-Portuguese in Jewish Language Research Center
• Thesouro dos Dinim, a halakhic work
• Thesouro dos Dinim, a halakhic work
• 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.