Judeo-Tat or Juhuri (''cuhuri'', , ) is the traditional language of the

Mountain Jews Mountain Jews or Caucasus Jews also known as Juhuro, Juvuro, Juhuri, Juwuri, Juhurim, Kavkazi Jews or Gorsky Jews ( he, יהודי קווקז ''Yehudey Kavkaz'' or ''Yehudey he-Harim''; russian: Горские евреи, translit=Gorskie Yevrei ...

of the eastern

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

, especially

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...

, now mainly spoken in Israel. The language is a dialect of Persian which belongs to the southwestern group of the

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

division of the

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, D ...

, albeit with heavy Jewish influence. The Iranic Tat language is spoken by the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Tats of

, a group to which the Mountain Jews were mistakenly considered to belong during the era of

Soviet historiography Soviet historiography is the methodology of history studies by historians in the Soviet Union (USSR). In the USSR, the study of history was marked by restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Soviet historiography i ...

though the languages probably originated in the same region of the Persian empire. The words ''Juvuri'' and ''Juvuro'' translate as "Jewish" and "Jews". Judeo-Tat has Semitic (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

) elements on all linguistic levels. Judeo-Tat has the Semitic sound “ ayin/ayn” (ع/ע), whereas no neighbouring languages have it. Judeo-Tat is an

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead lang ...

classified as "definitely endangered" by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' is an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after a ...

Distribution

The language is spoken by an estimated 101,000 people: * Israel: 70,000 in 1998 *

: 24,000 in 1989 * Russia: 2,000 in 2010 * United States: 5,000 * Canada

Phonology

Alphabet

In the early 20th century Judeo-Tat used the Hebrew script. In the 1920s the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern ...

was adapted for it; later it was written in

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...

. The use of the Hebrew alphabet has enjoyed renewed popularity.

Influences and etymology

Judeo-Tat is a Southwest Iranian language (as is modern Persian) and is much more closely related to modern Persian than most other Iranian languages of the Caucasus Talysh,_ Talysh,_Ossetian_language">Ossetian,_and_Kurdish_language.html" ;"title="Ossetian_language.html" ;"title="Talysh_language.html" ;"title=".g. Talysh language">Talysh, Ossetian language">Ossetian, and Kurdish language">Kurdish]. However, it also bears strong influence from other sources: Persian language, Medieval Persian: Postpositions are used predominantly in lieu of prepositions e.g. modern Persian: باز او > Judeo-Tat ''æ uræ-voz'' "with him/her".

: like in modern Persian, a significant portion of the vocabulary is Arabic in origin. Unlike modern Persian, Judeo-Tat has almost universally retained the original pharyngeal/uvular phonemes of Arabic e.g. "honey" (Arab. ), "morning" (Arab. ).

: As other Jewish dialects, the language also has many Hebrew loanwords e.g. "table" (Heb. ''shulḥan''), "luck" (Heb. ''mazal''), "rich" (Heb. ''ʻashir''). Hebrew words are typically pronounced in the tradition of other

Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained ...

. Examples: and are pronounced pharyngeally (like Arabic ‎, respectively); is pronounced as a

voiced uvular plosive The voiced uvular plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is G\. is a rare sound, ev ...

(like Persian ). Classical Hebrew () and (

kamatz Kamatz or qamatz ( he, label=Modern Hebrew, קָמָץ, ; alternatively ) is a Hebrew niqqud (vowel) sign represented by two perpendicular lines (looking like an uppercase T) underneath a letter. In modern Hebrew, it usually indicates the pho ...

), however, are typically pronounced as /v/ and /o/ respectively (similar to the Persian/Ashkenazi traditions, but unlike the Iraqi tradition, which retains and )

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

Vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...

and many loan words Russian: Loanwords adopted after the Russian Empire's annexation of Daghestan and Azerbaijan

Northeast Caucasian languages The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or ''Vainakh-Daghestani'', is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as in ...

: e.g. "small" (probably the same origin as the medieval Caucasian city name "Sera-chuk" mentioned by

Ibn Battuta Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berber Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, largely in the Muslim ...

, meaning "little Sera") Other common phonology/morphology changes from classical Persian/Arabic/Hebrew: * > /o/, /æ/, or /u/ e.g. "book" (Arab. ), "road/path" (Pers. ''rāh''), "sacrifice" (Arab. or Aramaic ) * /o/ > /u/ e.g. "Absalom" (Heb. ''Abshalom'') * /u/ > /y/, especially under the influence of

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...

* Stress on final syllable words * Dropping of the final /n/, e.g. /soχtæ/ "to make" (Pers. ''sākhtan'')

Dialects

Being a variety of the Tat language, Judeo-Tat itself can be divided into several dialects: *Quba dialect (traditionally spoken in

Quba Quba () is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a po ...

and

Qırmızı Qəsəbə Qırmızı Qəsəbə (, ), translated as "Red Town" (russian: Красная Слобода, ; he, , ), is a village and municipality in the Quba District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of approximately 3,598 people. Outside of Israel and th ...

). *Derbent dialect (traditionally spoken in the town of

Derbent Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It ...

and the surrounding villages). *Kaitag dialect (spoken in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

). The dialects of Oğuz (formerly Vartashen) and the now extinct Jewish community of Mücü have not been studied well and thus cannot be classified.Language of the Mountain Jews of Dagestan
by E.Nazarova

References

External links

Judeo-Tat literature Judeo-Tat literature is the literature of the Mountain Jews in the Juhuri language. History Judeo-Tat literature is rich in folklore. The most popular narrators of folklore at the beginning of the 20th century were Mardahai Ovsholum (1850-192 ...

Горско-еврейский язык
(словарь, грамматика, библиотека)
JUHURO.RU - Информационно развлекательный портал горских евреев
Горские Евреи Израиля population ~70,000
Горские Евреи Нальчика
Mountain Jews of Nalchik.
Горские Евреи Америки
Mountain Jews of the US.
Сайт Горских Евреев
Культура новости
Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World: "Juhūrī (Judeo-Tat or Judeo-Tātī)", p 16 sq
print: Brill, Leiden 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Juhuri Language Judeo-Persian languages Languages of the Caucasus Endangered Iranian languages Languages of Azerbaijan Languages of Russia : : : Persian language