Judeo-Roman (Italian: ''Giudaico-Romanesco/ Giudaico Romanesca'') or Italkit is the only still living dialect of the
Judeo-Italian
Judeo-Italian (or Judaeo-Italian, Judæo-Italian, and other names including Italkian) is a group of endangered and extinct Jewish dialects, with only about 200 speakers in Italy and 250 total speakers today. The dialects are one of the Italia ...
languages, historically used by the
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
living in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
.
It is spoken by 250 people, most of whom live in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. The language is on the decline and most of its remaining speakers are elderly.
There are efforts to preserve the language and keep it from extinction.
History
Judeo-Roman, like other
Jewish languages
Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities in the Jewish diaspora, diaspora. The original Jewish language is Hebrew, supplanted as the primary vernacular by Aramaic following the Babylonian capti ...
, emerged due to the
Jews of Rome being isolated in the
Rome Ghetto, on order of the
Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
.
The language declined as Jews were emancipated and Roman Jews switched to the
Roman dialect of Italian.
Younger Italian Jews are attempting to preserve the language.
Vocabulary
Judeo-Roman has at least 360 Hebrew words and phrases in it. Many of these were used to conceal what the users were saying from
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
.
examples include:
Phonology
Judeo-Italian has several phonetic shifts that differentiate it from standard
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
; these include:
becoming
/i/ (e.g. ''detto'' to ''ditto'')
/l/ becoming
/r/ (e.g. ''qualcuno'' to ''quarcuno'')
It also contains several vowel shifts and other changes:
Loss of initial vowels (e.g. ''oppure'' to ''pure'')
Loss of final consonants (e.g. ''con'' to ''co)
Contractions (e.g. ''dir ti'' to ''ditte'')
Archaisms
In language, an archaism is a word, a sense of a word, or a style of speech or writing that belongs to a historical epoch beyond living memory, but that has survived in a few practical settings or affairs. Lexical archaisms are single archaic wo ...
(e.g. ''di te'' to ''d'oo ti'')
In media
Plays
A theater group called ''Chaimme 'a sore 'o sediaro e 'a moje'' (Chaim, the sister, the chairmaker and the wife) makes plays in Judeo-Roman.
Writing
There is a collection of poems written by
Crescenzo del Monte from 1908 and republished in 2007
in Judeo Roman.
These works include ''The sonnets of Crescenzo del Monte''.
Internet
Several
Youtube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
videos have been posted in Judeo-Roman.
Sample text
{, class="wikitable"
!Judeo-Roman
!English
, -
, Due donne sono sedute vicino alla pasticceria del Portico d’Ottavia, Settimia e Fiorella.
Come pretenni che fieto parli bene ancora un ajo capeto, tu e mariteto tutto o jorno, ‘o sento io, che letigate in giudaico
Romanesco. te sbai Settì ce stamo attenti, da retta a me, me devi da crede ‘o stamo proprio a fa pe lui, un volemo che viè sù che i ngaciri dicheno che è uno de piazza.
, Two women are seated near the pastry shop at the Portico d’Ottavia,
heir names areSettimia and Fiorella
How you can pretend that your son speaks well, I still don't understand. You and your husband all day — I heard it myself, that you quarrel in Giudaico-Romanesco.
You are mistaken Settì, we are careful. Listen to me, you have to believe me, we are specifically doing it for him. I don't want him to grow up so that the rich
eoplesay that he is one from the Piazza
he Ghetto
References
Jews and Judaism in Rome
Jewish languages
Italian language
Culture in Rome
Languages of Lazio
Judaeo-Italian languages
Judeo-Romance languages
Endangered diaspora languages
Endangered Romance languages