Italkian

Italkian is a modern English name for Judeo-Italian linguistic varieties, in use mainly between the 10th and the 19th centuries in Rome and in central and northern Italy. The neologism was coined in 1942 by Solomon Birnbaum (Jewish Languages. Essays in Honour of the Very Rev. Dr. J. H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, September 25, 1942 (5703). Ed. I. Epstein, E. Levine, C. Roth. London, E. Goldston, 1944. 51-67 (63, 67).), who modelled the word on the modern Hebrew adjective ית-/אטלקי italki(t), “Italian”, from the middle Hebrew adjective איטלקי (< ITALICUM), “Italic”, “Roman”. Even the term "giudeo-italiano" is of academic and relatively late coinage: historically, native Italian Jews referred to their vernaculars as "la`az" (Hebrew "foreign", or as "latino" or "volgare"; in 1587 (Tsemaḥ David, Dittionario novo hebraico, molto copioso, dechiarato in tre lingue. Venetijs: Apud Ioannem de Gara, 1587.), David de Pomis uses the word "italiano" in reference to the Italian glosses in his trilingual dictionary. Some of the notable Italkian viz. Judeo-Italian dialects are giudeo-ferrarese, giudeo-fiorentino, giudeo-mantovano, giudeo-modenese, giudeo-piemontese, giudeo-reggiano, giudeo-romanesco, giudeo-veneziano. At least two Judeo-Italian varieties were used in Corfu. Characteristic of all the spoken varieties is the combination of Hebrew verb stems with Italian conjugations(e.g.."axlare", to eat; "gannaviare", to steal; "dabberare", to speak; "lekhtire", to go). Also common are lexical incorporations from Hebrew, particularly those applicable from daily life. Terms from other Jewish languages such as Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish were also incorporated. In Livorno, the variety (called "bagitto") is particularly rich in Spanish and Portuguese. Fewer than 4000 people today have basic knowledge of Italkian varieties, and only a small number of them are able to speak them fluently.

Library of Congress/ISO information

Italkian is not used by LC as a subject heading, neither does it figure as a reference to Judeo-Italian. The authorized subject heading is: Judeo-Italian language Subheadings are: Judeo-Italian language Glossaries, vocabularies, etc. Judeo-Italian language Grammar. Judeo-Italian language Italy Livorno Glossaries, vocabularies, etc. Judeo-Italian language Texts. The subject reference is: Judeo-Italian dialect. LC-MARC uses the following language codes : Judeo-Italian Assigned collective code ita (Italian). This is in compliance with the Internation Organization of standards language code ISO 639-2 code (roa)

Bibliography

Ferretti Cuomo, Luisa. "Italchiano versus giudeo-italiano versus 0 (zero), una questione metodologica." Italia: studi e ricerche sulla storia, la cultura e la letteratura degli Ebrei d'Italia 3.1-2 (1982): 7-32. Gold, David L. The Glottonym Italkian. Italia: studi e ricerche sulla storia, la cultura e la letteratura degli Ebrei d'Italia 2.1-2 (1980): 98-102.

 

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