Judaeo-Georgian
Judeo-Georgian, known endonymically as and also known as Gruzinic, is the traditional Georgian dialect spoken by the Georgian Jews, the ancient Jewish community of the South Caucasus nation of Georgia.
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.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 Suret 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 in South Ossetia. 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, and about 59,800 speakers in Israel. The language has approximately 4,000 speakers in New York and undetermined numbers in other communities in the United States, Russia, Belgium, and Canada.