Yevanic language: Encyclopedia - Yevanic language

Yevanic language

Yevanic, otherwise known as Romaniote and Judeo-Greek, was the dialect of the Romaniotes, the group of Greek Jews whose existence in Greece is documented since the Hellenistic period. Its linguistic lineage stems from the Hellenistic Koine (Ελληνική Κοινή) and includes Hebrew elements as well. It was mutually intelligible with Greek of the Christian population. The Romaniotes used their version of the Hebrew alphabet to write Greek and Yevanic texts.

There are no longer any native speakers of Yevanic, for the following reasons:

• the assimilation of the tiny Romaniote communities by the larger Ladino-speaking Sephardi Jews
• the adoption of Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian through assimilation;
• the emigration of many of the Romaniotes to Israel and the United States;
• the ideology of Zionism, which favored Hebrew as the one language for all Jews;
• and finally, the extermination of most of the Romaniotes of Thessaloniki and Sofia during the Holocaust.

See also

• Romaniotes
• Jewish languages

Yevanic language - External link

• Jewish Language Research Website: Judeo-Greek
• Kehila Kedosha Janina, Romaniote Synagogue in New York

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Yevanic language", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki