Judaeo-Georgian
Georgian dialect spoken by Georgian Jews
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History
Georgian-speaking Jews maintain one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. The most popular theory on the origins of Georgian Jewry is that the first Jews in Georgia arrived 2600 years ago after escaping Babylonian captivity.
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Relationship to other languages
Judaeo-Georgian is the only Kartvelian Jewish dialect. Its status as a distinct language from the Georgian language is the subject of some debate.
With the exception of a significant number of Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords, the language is reportedly largely mutually intelligible with Georgian.
Distribution
In the beginning of the late 19th century, there were large Jewish communities across Georgia, including Tbilisi, Kutaisi, and Tskhinvali. Small Jewish communities existed across almost every part of Georgia with a synagogue in nearly all villages and cities. The religious leaders of these were referred to as rabini or xaxami, the Georgia term for 'rabbi' and 'wise', respectively.
Judaeo-Georgian has approximately 85,000 speakers. These include 20,000 speakers in Georgia (1995 est.), and about 59,800 speakers in Israel (2000 est.). The language has approximately 4,000 speakers in New York and undetermined numbers in other communities in the United States, Russia, Belgium, and Canada.
Status
Judaeo-Georgian is, like many Jewish languages spoken there, on the decline in Israel. Its status in Georgia itself is unchanged, except by the rapid decline in the size of the language community, due to emigration beginning in the 1970s, which has seen the departure of some 80% of the community. Authoritative studies of its continued use by other expatriate communities of Georgian Jews have not been conducted.
Vocabulary
Judaeo-Georgian vocabulary differs from standard Georgian in two main ways. The first involves differences among native Georgian vocabulary such as using different meanings for words such as jamaati which means 'gathering' in standard Georgian, but 'minyan' in Judaeo-Georgian, and using certain words more frequently such as damadlianda meaning 'was blessed'. The second involves the use of loanwords in Hebrew and Aramaic not used in standard Georgian such as xupa 'chuppah' (Heb. חופה ḥuppa), xaxami 'rabbi' (Heb. חכם ḥaxam 'wise'), and pesaxi 'Passover' (Heb. פסח pesaḥ).
Sample Text
The following text is a Judeo-Georgian translation of the song Echad Mi Yodea: