Judeo-Iranian languages
The Judeo-Iranian languages are a number of related Jewish variants of Iranian languages spoken throughout the formerly extensive realm of the Persian Empire. Judeo-Iranian dialects are generally conservative in comparison with those of their Muslim neighbours. Judeo-Shirazi, for example, remains close to the language of Hafez.
Like most Jewish languages, all the Judeo-Iranian languages contain great numbers of Hebrew loanwords, and are written using variations of the Hebrew alphabet. Another name used for some Judeo-Iranian dialects is Latorayi, sometimes interpreted by folk etymology as "not of the Torah". This refers to a form of the language in which the number of Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords is deliberately maximised to allow it to function as a secret code. In general, however, the number of such loanwords is small compared with that in other Jewish languages such as Yiddish or Judaeo-Spanish.
Languages
The languages include:- Dzhidi
- Luterā'i
- Bukhori Judeo-Golpaygani, the Judeo-Persian language traditionally spoken by the Jewish community in the environs of Gulpaigan and western Isfahan province, Iran. The first records of Jewish communities in this region date to approximately 750 BC. Like most Jewish languages, Judæo-Golpaygani was written using Hebrew characters, and contained many Hebrew loanwords. Following the decline and consolidation of the Persian Jewish community in the mid-20th century, Judæo-Golpaygani fell into disuse, being replaced by Dzhidi, Judæo-Hamedani, and Persian, among those speakers remaining in Iran, and by English and Hebrew by those emigrating to the United States and Israel.
- Judeo-Yazdi = Judeo-Kermani
- Judeo-Shirazi
- Judeo-Isfahani
- Judeo-Hamedani
- Judeo-Kashani
- Luflā'i
- Judeo-Borujerdi
- Judeo-Nehevandi
- Judeo-Khunsari
- Juhuri .
- Jewish Neo-Aramaic languages, while not Iranian languages, were spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan.