(Jewish Group) Jewish History Month: Karaim: A Jewish Language
I am sure most here know about or have at least heard of Yiddish, perhaps even Ladino, but there are scores of other languages our people spoke and still speak, to this day, including, Karaim. I fully admit, I had never heard of this language, but while listen to a new audiobook, Lingo, I learned, albeit brief, the history of this language.
I hope you enjoy:
The Karaim language (Crimean dialect: къарай тили, Trakai dialect: karaj tili, traditional Hebrew name lashon kedar לשון קדר "language of the nomads" )[6] is a Turkic language with Hebrew influences, in a similar manner to Yiddish or Judaeo-Spanish. It is spoken by only a few dozen Crimean Karaites (Qrimqaraylar) in Lithuania, Poland and Crimea and Galicia in Ukraine. The three main dialects are those of Crimea, Trakai-Vilnius and Lutsk-Halych all of which are critically endangered. The Lithuanian dialect of Karaim is spoken mainly in the town of Trakai (also known as Troki) by a small community living there since the 14th century. source
Crimean Karaim — who are they?
Feb 1, 2011 by Asya Pereltsvaig
When you find a group with a surprising combination of linguistic and religious affiliation, you know an interesting story is coming. One example is the Crimean Karaim. They are a Jewish group speaking a Turkic language.
But first, a note on the terminology. The term “Karaim” or “Karaites” refers to adherents of a branch of Judaism, which recognizes the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible or the Torah) as the sole source of legal authority. In this respect, Karaite Judaism is distinct from the more widely spread Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral law, the legal decisions codified in the Talmud and subsequent works to be authoritative interpretations of the Torah. There are other groups following the Karaite Judaism, besides Crimean Karaim. However, this term is problematic in another respect as well: a small group of Crimean Karaim have settled in Vilnius (Vilna) and Trakai (Troki), as well as other smaller towns in Lithuania. These Lithuanian Karaim are descendants of the original group of Crimean Karaim, speaking the same language. Today, there are more Crimean Karaim in Lithuania and elsewhere in Europe than in Crimea itself. But we will continue calling them “Crimean Karaim”.
So who are these mysterious adherents of a distinct form of Judaism but speaking a Turkic language? Whenever you have a group whose religion and language “don’t match”, two possible explanations come to mind: either the group in question kept the religion and switched the language, or vice versa — they kept the language but switched the religion. Both whole-sale massive language shift and religious conversion are not unheard of in the history of different peoples.
In the case of Crimean Karaim, one theory will have them as descendants of Middle Eastern Karaite Jews who settled in Crimea and adopted a form of the Kipchak tongue. (Kipchak is a branch of Turkic languages that includes Kazakh, Karakalpak and Kyrgyz in Central Asia, Tatar in the central Volga region and Balkar in the northern Caucasus region). Another theory is that Crimean Karaim are descendants of the ethnic Kipchak who converted to Karaite Judaism. And there is a third theory which holds them to be descendants of the mythical Khazars, a group that converted to Judaism but most likely spoke a Turkic language (whether it was a Kipchak language or a language from a different branch of the Turkic family, we cannot quite say). There are however some scholars who believe that the Khazar state was polyethnic, with a population of not only Turkic-speakers, but also of speakers of Iranian, Finno-Ugric, Slavic and Caucasian languages. Another reason to doubt the Khazar theory on the origins of Crimean Karaim is that Khazars are most widely believed to be adherents of Rabbinical (or Talmudic) Judaism rather than Karaite Judaism.
more...
Karaim (къарай тили, Karay dili, לשון קדר? )
Karaim is a Turkic language spoken by about 60 people in Lithuania, Poland,and in Crimea and Galicia in Ukraine. It has three main dialects: Crimea (къарайтили ), Trakai-Vilnius (karaj tili) and Lutsk-Halych(karay dili). The traditional name for the language is lashon kedar (לשון קדר? ) or "language of the nomads".In Lithuania the language is spoken mainly in Trakai, a city close to Vilniusin the southeast of the country. source
While it is technically Jewish American History Month, I could not resist as I really love languages and this was just too neat not to share.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Went to college in Israel and had a Karaite roommate (not sure of origin).
To oversummarize the theological differences between Orthodox and Karaite, the Karaites view most of the pronouncements of the sages (and the Talmud) as advisory, but adhere to the "black letter" of the Torah.
Interestingly, for about 99% of things, they come out in the same place in behavior, but would have rubs on some small things, the the roommate usually coming out about like an observant Sephardi.
Sometimes this was more strict, sometimes more lenient.
What I can remember: (1) she would put ice in their fridge and unplug it (because buying electricity on Shabbos was "going to the market"
and (2) things like dietary restrictions on milk/meat and kitniyot during Passover were largely ignored as silliness.
To use an analogy from the Nazarenes, I think they are a lot like Baptists or "Bible Church" groups vs. Roman Catholics.
