geoffreycaveney's Judaeo-Greek theory

[-JKP-]

In response to number 5, it was very common for Jews to adapt the language of the community in which they were living, while still retaining some of their words, pronunciation (familiar sounds applied to unfamiliar words), and sometimes Hebrew letters.

It happened in Spain, France, Germany, northern Italy, and apparently also in Greece (I wasn't aware of Yevanic until Geoffrey started posting).

This might be partly because the Jewish communities were so fractured, always marginalized, always being ousted and having to re-establish themselves, and partly due to traditions that kept certain practices alive while others changed to adapt to a new environment.


Plus, in the medieval period, some languages were regularly written in many different scripts. Even now, some languages are written in three or four different scripts, usually Arabic, Cyrillic, Latin, and Greek (this especially happens in regions sandwiched between the east, the Middle East, and Russia). Often there was an additional script for liturgical writings.

Some African languages are written in both Arabic and Amharic/Ge'ez script, some in three scripts: Arabic, Ge'ez, and a local script.