The Judeo-Spanish Language and a Brief History of the Sephardi Jewish Community
Natasha Dangoor
Judeo-Spanish - more recently known as Ladino, or Spanyolit in Hebrew - is a Romance language written with Hebrew characters, and is spoken today in over 30 countries by Sephardic minorities. It is no coincidence that the word ‘Sefarad’ itself means ‘West’ or ‘the Iberian Peninsula’, since Jewish communities have dwelt there since Roman times, after the Roman conquest of Judea and the fall of Jerusalem to Titus in 70 CE.
Illustration by Nir Stern
Whilst Sephardi Jews spoke Ladino, Ashkenazi Jews spoke Yiddish. Their common language was Hebrew, which was already spoken in Jerusalem by the mid-19th century (although not as a native tongue, but rather a lingua franca). The linguistic situation for many Jews was one of diglossia, when more than one language is spoken within a community. They used Ladino or Yiddish for secular speech and writing, and Hebrew for liturgy.
Due to a lack of official statistics, it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of Ladino speakers. Linguists estimate the figure to be between 60,000 and 360,000.
Samuel Levy, in a letter to the Spanish MP Ángel Pulido, describes the patchwork of dialects that is Judeo-Spanish. He writes:
‘El idioma que emplean los israelitas de rito sefaradi no es ni el espanol de Madrid, ni el castellano, ni el andaluz, ni el galiciano, ni ningun otro dialecto. Ma el es todos estos dialectos riunidos, tales que se hablaban al siglo 15, en la epoca de desterramiento de los judios.’
(The language that the Israelites of the Sephardic rite speak is neither the Spanish of Madrid, nor Castilian, nor Andalusian, nor Galician, nor any other dialect. Rather, it is an amalgam of all the above dialects, those which were spoken in the 15th century, at the time of the exile of the Jews).
Ladino was mostly written using two types of Hebrew script: Rashi for printing, and Solitreo for handwriting. Solitreo was the variety used in ancient times for Bible translations. The image below provides a general idea of what these scripts looked like: beautiful symbols that declare in themselves richness of Sephardi culture.
The Jewish population in Iberia peaked between 1000-1300 CE. During this time, many settled in Andalusia where Muslims, Christians and Jews seemed to live in a peaceful coexistence. Most Jews were urban-dwellers in ‘Aljamas’: self-governing communities living under Christian rule. They typically practised liberal professions, crafts, commerce or moneylending.
Yet for Jews, the 14th and 15th centuries brought about religious persecutions and massacres, confiscation of possessions, forced conversions and segregation. They were also made to display distinctive signs on their clothes, such as yellow badges or turbans. All of this soon drove them out of Iberia.
In 1492, following the Edict of Exile by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, around 120,000-160,000 Jews left Iberia. They settled first in Portugal until their expulsion in 1496, and then in Navarra until they were also expelled from there after the conquest by Castile in 1515. In the 17th century, they migrated to European countries including the Netherlands, France, England and Italy, then to North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ottoman Empire and later America. Judeo-Spanish has undergone many reforms due to its contact with other languages, such as Turkish, Greek and Italian.
However, the language still retains characteristics of the Castilian language and literary tradition. For instance, the Ladino term ‘agora’ derives from the Castilian Spanish ‘ahora’ (now). ‘Ansí’ stems from ‘así’ (so), and ‘enchir’ (to fill) comes from ‘henchir’ (to swell, fill up). Yet to some extent, Judeo-Spanish differs phonologically from Castilian. The initial vowel, which is compulsory in Castilian, may be omitted in Judeo-Spanish, hence ‘(e)skrito’ in Judeo-Spanish versus ‘escrito’ (written) in Castilian.
New literary traditions sprung after the rupture with Hispanic conventions. These consisted of Biblical commentaries, Rabbinical literature, folk tales and parables, all of which were in Hebrew. Novels and dramas flourished in the 19th century, as did journals and magazines in the 20th.
An issue of the Salom newspaper, written in Ladino. Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/turkish-newspaper-extends-a-lifeline-to-ladino/
So, what is the future of Judeo-Spanish? The number of Ladino speakers sadly continues to decline, since it is not being effectively transmitted to younger generations, and many do not consider it a ‘proper’ language. This negative attitude is shared by linguist Mary Altabev, who believes it is ‘a language for the uneducated and backward speaker who cannot integrate with the majority’. Pedagogue Moisés Fresco even describes it as ‘un pariente pobre de esta noble y rica dama que es la lengua española’ (a poor relative of the noble and wealthy lady that is the Spanish language).
Judeo-Spanish also lacks a standard variety, due to regional variation and multiple spelling systems. With no standardised writing conventions, normative dictionaries or grammars, teaching the language is made difficult.
In Variation and Change in Spanish, Professor Ralph Penny explains that Judeo-Spanish has not undergone the same selection process that Castilian has. From the 16th century onwards, Castilian has seen ‘literary, academic and social developments’ that have ‘led to a selection of variants associated with powerful urban groups’. Additionally, due to the popularity of Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish has lost much of its appeal in the Jewish community.
Yet some countries do seek to maintain the Judeo-Spanish language through associations, publications and even dictionaries, like Joseph Nehama’s Dictionnaire du Judéo-Espagnol. The Israel-based Autoridad Nasionala del Ladino i su Kultura published a Judeo-Spanish magazine, Aki Yerushalayim, between 1979-2016. Moreover, the Judeo-Spanish associations in France, Vidas Largas and Spain, Instituto Arias Montano, contribute to the publicity and preservation of Sephardi culture. There still remains an acclaim for Ladino music, including lyric songs, ballads, romansas and kantigas. Indeed, the music of Savina Yannatou and Yasmin Levy is particularly popular today.
Coloma Lleal, Professor of Spanish at the University of Barcelona, alludes to the ‘lenta muerte’ (slow death) of Judeo-Spanish but reiterates that ‘los sefardíes tendrán siempre la última palabra’ (Sephardis will always have the final say).
Lyrics to a song by Yasmin Levy.
Credit: Natasha Dangoor.
Click on the YouTube link to see a performance of the above song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfewpdnm_bo