JMM Insights: Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino…and Klingon?

This week’s edition of JMM Insights is inspired by our members-only program one week from today. Speaking of which – have you registered for “Creating Klingon: A Conversation with its Jewish Inventor” yet?

To make sure you receive your exclusive party package in the mail before the event, register today. (If you miss the deadline, don’t worry, we’ll still send you this awesome gift, it just might arrive after the 29th.)

Marc Okrand, the above referenced inventor of the Klingon language, used by a fictional, war-like race in the science fiction television show Star Trek, is going to share with us how he came to create this original language. You’ll be surprised at some of the linguistic and cinematic demands Okrand faced in creating dialogue in alien languages for the Star Trek franchise (in addition to creating Klingon, he’s written Vulcan dialogue for Leonard Nimoy, Kirstie Alley and others!).

Not yet a JMM member?
Today’s the perfect day to join the family and enjoy not just special events like next Thursday’s “Creating Klingon,” but also help support all the other streaming events,  education programsexhibits, and stories that make up the work of JMM.

When we talk about “Jewish languages,” what do we mean? Jewish communities have a long history of multilingualism – that is, speaking multiple languages. Historically, Hebrew served as the religious language of Jewish people, much like Latin was the religious language for Catholics. As most Jewish communities needed to communicate with those outside their own group, village, etc. they would learn the “local language” as well, which would mold and adapt to the unique needs of the Jewish community, creating new dialects and even entirely new languages.

For a brief layman’s introduction to the origins of “Jewish languages,” check out this article from Eldridge Street Synagogue.

The most common examples of Jewish languages you might know are Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. As mentioned, Hebrew was the original religious language of Judaism, even though it was rarely anyone’s only (or even primary) language, and dates back to roughly the 14th century BCE and was part of the same language family as Aramaic, Phoenician and Akkadian.

Yiddish, traditionally associated with Ashkenzic Jewish communities, dates back to at least the 12th century CE – the oldest surviving written evidence of Yiddish, the Worms machzor, dates to 1272. Ladino, like Yiddish, has its roots in the adaptation of a local language by the Jewish community – in this case, High Spanish. However, the coalescence of the dialect into a unique language of its own didn’t occur until the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s.

We highly recommend exploring the University of Washington’s Sephardic Studies Digital Collectionfor excellent examples and resources related to Ladino.

But there are many Jewish languages and dialects beyond Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. From Jewish Malayalam (origin: Kerala, India) to Bukharian (origin: Central Asia) to Juhuri (origin: the Eastern Caucasus), and more, Jewish communities embraced and evolved unique ways of speaking that helped create a cultural identity.

Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute have developed the site JewishLanguages.org to bring together resources about these languages and dialects and make them available to anyone who wishes to learn.

You can even listen to many of these languages in song, prayer, and speech!

Languages, how they develop, and how communities use them to create a sense of self and identity is a fascinating field of study. We hope you’ll join us by dipping a toe in at our conversation with Dr. Okrand.

But until then, we leave you with this: we hear you haven’t truly enjoyed the works of Shakespeare until you experience them…in Klingon.

Explore the world of Jews in Space!

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