Judeo-Egyptian Arabic
Native toEgypt
EthnicityEgyptian Jews
Arabic alphabet
Hebrew alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone
ELP

Judeo-Egyptian Arabic (also Egyptian Judeo-Arabic) is an Arabic dialect spoken by Egyptian Jews. It is a variety of Egyptian Arabic.

Classification

Judeo-Egyptian Arabic is one of the Judeo-Arabic dialects.[1] It is close to the dialect of Alexandria, even for speakers in Cairo. For example, in Cairene Arabic, "I write" is baktib (بكتب) and "I eat" is bakol. In Egyptian Judeo-Arabic, as in western Alexandrian Arabic it is nektobou (نكتبوا) and neshrabou, resembling a first person but in plural form.[2]

History

Until the mid 20th century, there were around 75,000 speakers of Judeo-Egyptian Arabic. Today, most Egyptian Jews live in Israel and speak Hebrew.[3]

The first research on Judeo-Egyptian Arabic was done in 1968 by Nada Tomiche.[4]

Current status

Judeo-Egyptian Arabic is currently in decline due to the expulsion of the Jews from Egypt, with almost none remaining today. The language may soon become extinct.[5]

Vocabulary

Most of the unique words in Judeo-Egyptian Arabic come from Hebrew, though some come from French and Italian. It also contains several words made by mixing Hebrew and Egyptian Arabic, as well as several extra pronouns not found in Egyptian Arabic.[5]

Like other Judeo-Arabic dialects, Judeo-Egyptian Arabic preserves several archaic traits lost in Egyptian Arabic.[6]

Sample Text

Judeo-Egyptian Arabic[5] English[5]
ואל צביה חוסנת אל מנטר קווי ברכיה וראגל אלם ערפהא ונזלת אל עין ומלת גרתהא וטלעת and the girl (was) very good looking, a virgin, and no man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up

Notes

  1. ^ Hary, Benjamin (2022-09-20), "Egyptian Judeo-Arabic", Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Brill, retrieved 2024-01-28
  2. ^ Blau, Joshua, The Emergence and Linguistic Background of Judaeo-Arabic: OUP, last edition 1999
  3. ^ "Judeo-Egyptian Arabic". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
  4. ^ Hary, Benjamin (2017-01-01). "B. Hary. "Spoken Late Egyptian Judeo-Arabic as Reflected in Written Forms."". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam: 12 – via Academia.edu.
  5. ^ a b c d M. Rosenbaum, Gabriel. "THE ARABIC DIALECT OF JEWS IN MODERN EGYPT" (PDF): 35–39 – via hse.org. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Hary, Benjamin (2017-01-01). "B. Hary. "Spoken Late Egyptian Judeo-Arabic as Reflected in Written Forms."". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam: 24 – via Academia.edu.


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