Historical Elements

Judeo-Spanish or Djudezmo or Ladino is directly related to the Jewish tradition, with different usage, morphology and historical context. They are spoken by Sephardic Jews, the descendants of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. The speakers of the language themselves, among themselves, used other names for the language such as Spaniol.

During the dispersion of the Jews, their language retained its basis in the old Castilian dialect of the 15th century, but evolved by incorporating elements from other languages, such as:

• Jewish and Aramaic influences, because of its use in religious and Jewish cultural texts.
• Turkish words, particularly in the communities of the Ottoman Empire.
• Greek elements,particularly in cities such as Thessaloniki, which had a large Sephardic community.
• Italian and French borrowed words, due to commercial activity and contact with Europe.

Initially, printed texts were written in Rashi characters. The use of the Latin alphabet is more common in the 20th century. Solitreo characters are found in manuscript texts, as a development of the attempt to handwrite Rashi. However, the use of solitreo in manuscript texts does not exclude the use of the other characters.

It is rendered without Nikud (phonetic symbols) or signs and is used in prints, prayer books, religious texts and folklore and is found as an everyday language for the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire and the Mediterranean.

It is written from right to left and there are no capitals.

Hebrew-Spanish, historically, has carried a rich oral and written tradition - from literature to song. In Thessaloniki, the thriving Sephardic community made the language the main means of communication and trade, connecting Jews, Christians and Muslims and creating a unique intercultural character in the city.