Ladino
Source: sephardicbrotherhood.com/what-is-ladino
Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish, Judezmo, Dzhudezmo, or Spaniolit, is a Hispanic language spoken and written by Jews of Spanish origin for nearly a millennium. It originated from Old Castilian Spanish, spoken during the end of the Reconquista in the 15th century, and incorporated elements of Hebrew and Aramaic. However, it became a distinct Jewish language after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. While the Jews maintained the language in the communities they migrated to, they were cut off from further linguistic developments in Spain.
The geographical distance from Spain led Ladino to diverge from mainstream Castilian Spanish. In communities like Amsterdam, England, and Italy, where Jews had contact with Spain, Ladino preserved the Castilian Spanish of the time. On the other hand, in Sephardic communities within the Ottoman Empire, Ladino borrowed words from Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Turkish, and even French, causing further linguistic variations. This gave rise to two primary regional dialects: Oriental Ladino, spoken in areas like Türkiye and Rhodes, which closely resembled Castilian Spanish, and Western Ladino, spoken in Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Romania, which preserved characteristics of northern Spanish and Portuguese.
Ladino vocabulary includes archaic Spanish words that have disappeared from modern Spanish, as well as loanwords from various languages present in the communities where Ladino-speaking Jews settled. These loanwords, mainly from Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, French, and to a lesser extent, Portuguese and Italian, provide linguistic diversity within the Ladino lexicon. Some words were shared between communities through commercial and cultural exchanges, while others remained unique to specific regions.
Traditionally, Ladino was written using the Hebrew script, Rashi script, or Solitreo, a cursive script based on Hebrew that was unique to Judeo-Espanyol. Only in the 20th century did the Latin alphabet become widely used for writing Ladino. Interestingly, what is known as "Rashi script" originated as a Ladino script used centuries after Rashi's death in printed books to distinguish his commentary from the Torah text.
Resources for Ladino Learners
sephardicbrotherhood.com/ladino101 (with Karen Sarhon)
sephardicbrotherhood.com/copy-of-ladino-101-a-beginner-s-cou (with Rachel Amado Bortnick)
ladinolinguist.com - Dr Bryan Kirschen
pjlibrary.org/beyond-books/pjblog/january-2019/a-quick-introduction-to-ladino
UCLA Sephardic Studies - levecenter.ucla.edu/sephardic-studies
Online News and Articles
Reviving endangered Ladino language in Turkey (2022, February 20) - Anadolu Agency
Why I’m learning Ladino: Saving a dying Judeo-Spanish language (2022, July 28) - Shaked Karalbelnicoff - Jewish Unpacked
Ladino in Turkey – The Situation Today as Reflected by the Ladino Database Project - Karen Gerson Sarhon - Sephardic Culture Research Center
eSefarad
esefarad.com is a free website dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Sephardic culture. It was created in 2008 by Liliana and Marcelo Benveniste, a couple from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The website features a variety of content, including news, articles, events, and resources related to Sephardic history, culture, and language.
