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Home , Egyptian Arabic, Sefunot (journal)

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Gabriel M. Rosenbaum

THE OF JEWS IN MODERN

Gabriel M. Rosenbaum was born in and has lived most of his life in Tel Aviv. received his Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University in 1995 and is a senior lecturer in at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research and academic publications focus on the literature, drama, and folklore of modern Egypt, based both on written sources and on close contact with Egyptian culture and its makers. He writes fiction prose and poetry in Hebrew and has also published translations of foreign literary works into Hebrew, including two plays by Egyptian playwrights. He has visited Egypt many times and has lectured on several occasions at the Israeli Academic Center in Cairo.

INTRODUCTION1 spoken dialect of the Jews of Egypt tures of this Jewish Arabic has received scant attention, and are constant, irrespective of the cir- Jews living in various parts of the extremely little has been written on cumstances of communication. sometimes spoke dis- the basis of data collected from The distinctive lexical features, on tinctive Arabic ,2 differing Jewish speakers of Egyptian Ara- the other hand, usually appear in a number of respects from the bic. 5 The purpose of my study is to only in communications among Arabic spoken by their Muslim continue Blanc’s work and fill a Jews. and Christian neighbors. As Haim gap in this area. In the twentieth century, about Blanc has pointed out, however, In Egypt, Muslims and Coptic 98% of the Jews of Egypt lived in until recently the Arabic spoken by Christians speak what is essential- the two large cities of Cairo and the Jews of Egypt in the twentieth ly the same dialect; local variants .6 Today almost no Jews century has been thought to differ are geographically rather than eth- remain in Egypt, and the number very little from that spoken by nically conditioned. However, the of those outside Egypt who still non-Jews. In a preliminary study language of the Jews of Cairo and use Egyptian Judeo-Arabic is con- of the Arabic of the Jews of Cairo, Alexandria, while influenced by stantly diminishing, so that this Blanc was careful not to label the the respective local dialects, con- language will probably disappear linguistic he was describ- tains many common elements – in in the not far-distant future. The ing as “Jewish Cairene.”3 Notwith- the areas of , morpholo- following survey, based primarily standing this guarded formulation, gy, and particularly vocabulary – on data elicited from informants he laid the foundations for a des- which are not to be found in the and constrained by limitations of cription of modern spoken Egypt- dialects spoken by non-Jews. From space, gives but a sampling of the ian Judeo-Arabic. Beyond his the point of view of phonology relevant grammatical phenomena pioneering articles,4 however, the and morphology, the unique fea- and vocabulary items. 7

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DISTINCTIVE which does not exist in Arabic, as p Vowels in words of Hebrew ori- CHARACTERISTICS OF (p = p), but some pronounce it as b gin are usually preserved in Jewish ¬ Shewa mobile EGYPTIAN SPOKEN JEWISH (p> b); the former would say pur m Arabic. at the begin- (Purim, “the Feast of Lots”), the ning of a word or syllable is almost ARABIC: PHONOLOGY latter bur¬m. On the other hand, the always pronounced e, as in tefill® AND MORPHOLOGY consonant q (‚), realized as a uvu- (prayer). The doubling of conso- lar stop in Standard Arabic, is uni- nants in Hebrew words is also Consonants and Vowels versally pronounced as a glottal retained, as in kipp‚ ([Yom] Kip- stop (like ) in Cairo and the pur, the Day of Atonement). The The phonetic realization of the cities of , and this is stress in such words is usually Egyptian dialect (henceforth: true of the Jews as well (q > ’) – where it would be according to the Egyptian Arabic) by Jews is nearly even when uttering words of rules of accentuation in Hebrew, identical to that of non-Jews. How- Hebrew origin, such as ≠atta’ (“be even where these contradict the ever, some differences do exist, quiet, don’t talk about this now”), rules of Egyptian Arabic. mostly as a consequence of the derived from the Hebrew root introduction of non-Arabic ele- ±TQ. Occasionally, this consonant ments into the spoken language, may also be realized as a velar stop The Definite Article, the mainly from Hebrew but also (q > k), yielding, for example, kadd¬≠ Feminine, and the Plural some from a number of European (Kaddish, a liturgical prayer also . used in commemoration of a The Arabic definite article el is also Certain consonants have enter- death) instead of the more com- used before words of non-Arabic ed Jewish Arabic in borrowings mon form ’add¬≠. The phoneme origin. Only in collocations of from Hebrew and other languages. /b/, which in Hebrew is pro- Hebrew origin is the Hebrew defi- These are sometimes pronounced nounced either as a stop [b] or as nite article ha retained, as in the as in the source language and a fricative [v], is always pro- oath be’em∂t hator® (by the Torah!). sometimes adapted to the pronun- nounced b by Egyptian Jews in In rare cases, the prefixed ha is per- ciation of Egyptian Arabic. For words of Hebrew origin, as in ceived as part of the succeeding example, most speakers of Jewish kab∂d (see below), versus kav∂d in word, and the Arabic definite arti- Arabic pronounce the consonant p, Hebrew. cle may then be attached as well: el-haramb®m (, called in Hebrew by his acronym, Ram- bam, for Rabbenu Moshe ben Mai- mon). Feminine forms of words of Hebrew origin are usually consis- tent with Arabic nominal patterns but retain the stress they would have had in Hebrew. For example, kabed® is the feminine form of kab∂d (pest, nuisance, lit.: heavy), while kohen® (daughter/wife of a priest) is the feminine form of koh∂n (priest). 8 In the plural, the Hebrew form is usually retained, as in mamzer¬m (bastards) or mitsv¨t (religious commandments), but the Arabic plural suffix ¬n is occasionally Purim play staged by Jewish schoolgirls in Cairo. attested, as in mamzer¬n.

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nouns, as against the use of anoth- ≠ubb®k (“window”) to ≠ebb®k, er vowel in the standard dialect. which is the more common form in In Egyptian Arabic, some first- the standard dialect. form verbs have two possible pat- A unique feature of Jewish Ara- terns, fe’el and fu’ul, both of which bic is the use of the vowel u even in are in use. Today there is a tenden- cases where the standard dialect cy to prefer the fe’el pattern, but has no such form, but uses e (or i) Jewish speakers more commonly exclusively. Examples include use the fu’ul pattern. For example, mu≠fl (comb), versus standard me≠fl; Jewish speakers will prefer the flu≠t (tub or washtub), versus stan- form ¿ulu◊ (come to an end, be fin- dard fle≠t; and mu¿adda (pillow), ished) to ¿ele◊. The same is true of versus standard me¿adda. Even nouns with two alternative pro- some words of Hebrew origin nunciation patterns. Jewish speak- have Jewish Arabic versions sub- ers prefer forms with the vowel u, stituting u for the original vowel: while the preferred forms in the kutubb® (marriage contract), as standard dialect are usually those opposed to ketubb®; or kupp‚r with the vowel e (or i). Thus, for ([Yom] Kippur), as opposed to kip- Judeo-Arabic letter of recommendation example, the Jews prefer the form p‚r. by Maimonides, bearing his signature.

Non-Standard Verbal Patterns

Whereas Cairene Arabic uses the prefixes a and n, respectively, for the imperfect first person singular and plural, Alexandrians use the prefix n for the first person singu- lar and the prefix n together with the suffix u for the plural.9 This is the usage of the Jews in both Alexandria and Cairo. For exam- ple, a Cairo-born Jewish woman said: ’ana ba’a benΩebb-e ’awi b®ba wum®ma, ma ’ederte≠ nef®re’hum (I love Dad and Mom very much; I couldn't leave them). Non-standard verbal patterns in the past tense of a verb derived from the root GY’ will be dis- cussed below, in the section on “Participles and Typical Words.”

Preference for the Vowel u in Verbs and Nouns

A typical feature of Egyptian Jew- ish Arabic is the preferential use of A marriage contract from Mit-Ghamr (1903), decorated with motifs from Egyptian the vowel u in some verbs and folklore.

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PARTICLES AND such as gu (they came), versus as Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). The 13 TYPICAL WORDS standard gum, and de (this), used syntactic patterns into which all in addition to the standard form the Hebrew and other non-Arabic Jewish Arabic uses the demonstra- da.14 Another non-standard form components of the vocabulary are tive pronouns de and d¨n in addi- used by many Jewish informants is implanted are those of Egyptian tion to the standard forms da and the third person feminine singular Arabic. d¨l.10 I also found the form d¨ni, as form g®tet (she came), versus gat in As in the vocabularies of other a variant of d¨n. Egyptian Arabic. It should be Jewish languages, many uniquely Jewish speakers often use the pointed out that several forms that Jewish words and expressions are personal pronoun humman (they) are no longer used in Cairo are still connected with religious and com- instead of the standard humma, used in non-Cairene Egyptian munal aspects of Jewish life. Oth- and, less often, kam®na (also, too), dialects.15 ers are used as a secret language instead of standard kam®n. Fur- for communicating information in thermore, Jewish Arabic has the presence of those who are not 16 retained the interrogative particles THE VOCABULARY OF members of the community. The ’∂≠ (what?), l∂≠ (why), and k∂f or k¬f vocabulary items described below SPOKEN EGYPTIAN (how?), which have fallen out of are typical examples, constituting use in the Cairene dialect. The JEWISH ARABIC only a small part of the corpus I Cairene dialect would also have collected. put these particles at the end of the Vocabulary items used exclusively sentence, while Jewish Arabic by Jews consist mainly of Hebrew places them at the beginning: ’∂≠ words and expressions, which Words Originating in European ‘®yez? (what do you want?), as often undergo changes in meaning Languages opposed to ‘®yez ’∂h? in the stan- and sometimes changes in form as dard dialect. well. Another major component is The word el-kumminut∂ or el-kom- Jews often pronounce the num- Arabic words that are used by minut® (the first derived from ber 400 as ’urbu‘meyya, instead of Jews in a different way than by French communauté, the second standard rub‘umeyya, and a few non-Jews. Other, quantitatively probably from Italian comunità, informants pronounced the num- more limited sources are with the addition of the definite ber 600 as settemeyya, versus stan- and various European languages, article) is commonly used to desig- dard suttumeyya.11 mainly French and Italian, as well nate the central organ of the Jewish On the basis of descriptions of Egyptian Arabic from the nine- teenth and early twentieth cen- turies, Blanc demonstrated that some of the morphological fea- tures unique to the Jews of Cairo were once used by non-Jewish speakers as well. They fell into dis- use over time, to be retained only by the Jews.12 For example, the non-standard form ’ega (he came), which can be conjugated in all per- sons in the past tense, appears in non-Cairene and non-Egyptian dialects, but in twentieth-century Cairo it was used only by Jews. I found further instances of forms now used only by Jews in other descriptions from the same period, The Chancellor of the Alexandria Jewish community in his office.

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community, which was responsi- Some of these expressions have ble for managing its religious and no meaning outside Jewish Arabic. secular affairs. B∂t es-siny¨r, syn- For example, it was the custom of onymous with el-kumminut∂, is also the Jews of Egypt to eat goose at very commonly used among all the festive meal on the holiday of Jews. Es-siny¨r (the lord, the mas- Shavuot (Pentecost), giving rise to ter) was a term used especially the expression ‘¬d el-wezza (“feast among speakers of Italian and of the goose”), a popular name for Ladino to designate the Chief Rab- the holiday. According to folk bi. B∂t es-siny¨r thus refers to the belief, a wife who does not serve Chief Rabbi’s house, or the seat of her husband goose on Pentecost the Rabbinate. risks divorce. Several more words stemming from Ladino are used by all Egypt- ian Jews. Two common examples Hebrew Components are robb¬sa (or rabb¬sa and ribb¬sa), denoting a rabbi’s wife17 and often The creation of new words and used more generally to denote a expressions based on Hebrew pious woman, and kurr®t≠a, denot- roots ing a pouch for carrying one’s phy- lacteries and prayer shawl. Some words and expressions in Jewish Arabic are neologisms cre- A Hebrew book designated for the Arabic-speaking Jewish pupils ated from Hebrew words or roots. Words and Expressions Whose of Alexandria. For example, the second-form verb Components Are All Arabic makket (hit, beat) is formed from Some of the words and expressions the root MKT, otherwise non-exis- used by Jews consist exclusively of tent in Arabic and derived from derived from the quadriliteral root components of purely Arabic ori- the Hebrew word makkot (blows, in DRDM (expanded from the triliter- gin. For example, the word ’er®ya, the plural), whose Hebrew root is al root RDM), exists only in the which in Egyptian Arabic means NKY. The verb is commonly used seventh form and also appears in “reading” as well as declaiming in the imperative: Makketo! (Hit the expression ’etdardem durd∂met verses of the Koran, is used by him! Beat him up!). ºan¨¿ (fell asleep like Enoch, i.e., Jews to denote a memorial service. The verb ’etdardem or ’eddardem fell into a deep sleep). The word Gabal means “mountain,” but (fell asleep) is also commonly used durd∂ma, which is used exclusively Cairene Jews use it, with the pre- in the imperative by impatient or in this expression and only in the fixed definite article (el-gabal), to angry parents to their children construct form, is reminiscent of denote a cemetery, so that flele‘ el- at bedtime: “Go to sleep! Fall the Hebrew word tardema and also gabal (went up the mountain) asleep!”18 Many speakers consider has the appearance of being means “went to visit the ceme- it a profanity. The verb dardem derived from the root DRDM. The tery.” exists in Egyptian Arabic, where, name of Enoch and the expres- The Jews of Egypt use two as a secondary form of radam, it sion’s metaphorical meaning words to denote the Sabbath, means “cover, fill [mainly with appear to be based on Gen. 5:24: Hebrew ≠abb®t and Arabic sabt. A earth].” Etdardem is its passive “Enoch walked with God, and he second-form verb, sabbet, derived form,19 but neither form is wide- was not; for God took him.” from the Arabic term, means spread. In Jewish Arabic, ’etdardem, The eighth-form verb ’etflabal or “spent the Sabbath with,” as in apparently influenced by the ’eflflabal, meaning “immersed one- ta‘®la sabbet ‘andena (come and Hebrew root RDM and the verb self in a ritual bath” (usually said spend the Sabbath with us). No nirdam (fell asleep), is used only of a woman), does not exist in Ara- verb with this meaning exists in with the meaning of “fall asleep.” bic and derives from the Hebrew Egyptian Arabic. The verb, which looks as if it were root fiBL, as does the word flabb®la,

39 BULLETIN referring to the (female) supervisor of the ritual bath and formed according to a nominal pattern often used for indicating profes- sions. Egyptian Arabic has an identical word meaning “woman drummer,” derived from the Ara- bic root fiBL and its second-form verbal derivative, flabbel, which means “beat a drum” (see also maflbal and flebil® in the next sec- tion).

Words and expressions whose Hebrew components retain their original form and meaning Many Hebrew words retain their form and meaning in Jewish Ara- bic. Examples are ≠e’er (lie); gann®b (thief); r®‘, pl. ra‘¬m (bad, an evil person/persons); le‘ol®m va‘∂d Bar mitzvah ceremony in Cairo (1953). (forever); n∂s (miracle); and yer∂ ≠am®yim (God-fearing). Jewish holidays and the Jewish et-tefil¬m (lit.: he will put on phy- calendar lacteries, that is, he is about to lab- Words and Expressions ‘urubb®, ‘erubb®, ‘arubb®, and also celebrate his Bar-Mitzvah); bes‚h et-tefil¬m Originating in Aspects of y¨m el-‘urubb® (the eve of a holi- (they celebrated his Jewish Life day); ro≠≠an®, ro≠ ha≠an® (Rosh Bar Mitzva). Other examples in mezuz® Hashana, the Jewish New Year); this category include: (a A considerable portion of the sukk¨t (Sukkot, the Feast of Taber- parchment scroll affixed to the unique vocabulary of Egyptian nacles); pur¬m or bur¬m (Purim); doorpost); habdal® (the ritual con- Jewish Arabic refers to aspects of and ’∂¿a, the Hebrew title of the cluding the Sabbath or a holi- Jewish religious and communal Book of Lamentations, used to day); maflbal (ritual bath); flebil® life. Below are some typical exam- designate the Ninth of Ab, the fast (immersion in a ritual bath); and ples. day on which Lamentations is ’idd‚s or ’add‚s (kiddush, a prayer read in the synagogue (see also recited before a festive Sabbath or holiday meal). Kappar®t ’avon¨t, or The synagogue and prayer below). kappar® alone, refers to the ritual of Tefill® (prayer); gely®n20 (raising the atonement practiced before Yom in the synagogue); Religious duties and ceremonies Kippur or in times of illness or tagleyya (carrying the Torah scroll trouble, in which a rooster (for around the synagogue); ≠amm®≠ The word tefil¬m or tefil¬n, i.e., phy- men) or a hen (for women) is (caretaker, beadle of a synagogue; lacteries, is also used to refer to the slaughtered and its meat, usually, also, the ninth candle from which Bar Mitzva ceremony celebrating a given to the poor. The expression the Hanukkah lamp is lit); Ωazz®n boy’s coming of age at thirteen. is also used as an exclamation (cantor); gabb®y (admininstrator of Often prefixed by an Arabic defi- when something breaks or some a synagogue); tebb® (prayer ros- nite article, it is also used in mixed other bad thing happens: “let it trum); s∂fer, pl. sefar¬m (Torah expressions having to do with the atone for your sins!”, i.e., “Never scroll). Bar Mitzva ceremony: Ωayelbes mind!”

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Words and Expressions Whose Expressions Consisting of Mixed or they are wonderful; feast or Hebrew Components Have Under- Components famine.” gone Change in Form or Meaning ºazz®n bistanna ’add¬≠, “(like) a The linguistic creativity of the cantor waiting for a Kaddish,” is As in other eastern Jewish dialects, speakers of Egyptian Jewish Ara- an expression used of someone the word Ωa¿®m, which means bic is especially noticeable in their looking for an opportunity to earn “wise,” “wise man,” or “scholar” creation of mixed expressions something for his livelihood, even in Hebrew, is the usual designa- combining Hebrew and non- at the expense of others. The two tion in Egyptian Jewish Arabic for Hebrew (usually Arabic) compo- nouns are of Hebrew origin, while a rabbi. Arabic suffixes of Turkish nents. The structure and of the verb is Arabic. origin yield Ωa¿®mb®≠a (Chief Rab- such expressions are those of stan- Rama el-‘avon¨t, “cast his sins bi) and Ωa¿®m¿®na (the Rabbinate, dard Egyptian Arabic. away” (in the Tashlikh ceremony the central institution of the Jewish Y® w®y w®y y® bar‚¿ ’adon®y: on the Jewish New Year). The verb community). This expression, used in response and definite article are Arabic; the ’µ¿a, designating the fast of the to extreme fluctuations, for good noun is Hebrew. Ninth of Ab (see above), is used in or ill, in a person’s or the world’s a number of expressions with neg- situation (such as a drought fol- ative connotations, as in y¨m ’∂¿a lowed by floods, or a very poor ELEMENTS OF JEWISH SECRET (figuratively, a bad, unlucky, or person suddenly coming into a lot disastrous day); we≠≠-e ’∂¿a (a of money), is based on the com- LANGUAGES AND THEIR grieved-looking person); ‘®mel mon Egyptian Arabic pattern y® ... REFLECTION OF RELATIONS zayy-e ‘am‚d ’∂¿a (lit.: acts like a pil- y® ... (either ... or ... ), into which WITH NON-JEWS lar of the Ninth of Ab, i.e., stands two contradictory possibilities are still). inserted. In this case, the initial In many Jewish communities, in ’µ≠et-Ω®yil, or ’∂≠et-Ω®yim (“wo- insertion consists of the ono- the East as well as in the West, ele- man of valor,” Prov. 31:10) is used matopoeic words w®y w®y, which ments of the unique Jewish vocab- by Egyptian Jews quite frequently denote sorrow, while the second is ulary served as a secret language, to refer to a righteous, pious a Hebrew expression meaning making it possible to communicate woman, loyal to her husband and “blessed is God,” yielding the in the presence of non-Jews with- family; this expression refers more meaning “either things are terrible out the latter understanding what to a woman's moral qualities than to the skills enumerated in Proverbs. The expression ‘adon®y ’em∂t wumo≠e ’em∂t (lit.: God is true and Moses is true), as well as the short- ened version ’adon®y ’em∂t, does not exist in . In Jewish Arabic it is an exclamation, made in response to hearing some- thing incredible: “Really?! That's amazing! You don't say!” ’´ d e ≠ (lit.: something sacred or consecrated) refers to a Jewish charity fund providing free lodg- ing and economic assistance to indigent Jews.

Entrance to the Jewish Quarter of Cairo. The old Jewish Quarter is part of the Mousky quarter, a commercial neighborhood that was populated mostly by Jews.

41 BULLETIN was being said. Artisans and the goldsmiths’ language is ’aΩ®d, are of Hebrew origin, but some are merchants often developed secret derived from Hebrew ’eΩ®d (or the not: ‘ennetra (ten), me≠fl (twenty, in languages for their own particular construct form ’aΩ®d); “two,” on Cairo), ’ennetret∂n (twenty, in professions, enabling them to the other hand, is ≠an®yen (derived Alexandria), kwatr¬n (forty, derived speak about commercial as well as from Hebrew ≠en®yim) in the from the word denoting “four” in private matters in the presence of Cairene version, while in Alexan- the Romance languages, with the customers – including Jews who dria it is ’aΩ®d∂n, a dual form of Arabic plural suffix -¬n). The gold- were not of the profession. Hebrew ’eΩ®d (one), though this smiths’ language has dozens more The word g¨y (see below) is word has no such form in Hebrew. words for communicating infor- used by Jews in both the East and In all versions, y®fet refers to high mation about customers and goods the West to denote a non-Jew. In quality goods or a good customer; or giving instructions about how Egypt and other areas in the east, phonetically, this word is similar to treat customers. Most of them the Jews make a terminological to Hebrew yaf∂ (beautiful, nice). It are derived either from Hebrew or distinction between Christians, is also the colloquial Arabic form from the names of goldsmiths’ Muslims, and Jews in order to be of y®fi˚, Standard Arabic for the tools, some of which are archaic able to report on a person’s affilia- biblical name Japheth (yefet or yafet terms whose original meaning is tion during the process of commu- in Hebrew), which, according to no longer known to the speakers of nication.21 The Jews of Egypt refer rabbinic interpretations, means the language. For example, a piece to a Jew as ben ‘ammenu, pl. ben∂ “beautiful.”24 Most of the numbers, of jewelry that was returned by a ‘ammenu (lit.: a member of our peo- such as ≠el‚≠a (three), Ωeme≠≠a (five), customer and is now again on dis- ple); to a Muslim as g¨y , f. goy®, pl. ≠am‚nya (eight), and ≠lu≠¬n (thirty), play is called ’adm¨n or ’adm‚n, goy¬m; and to a Christian as from Hebrew qadmon, ‘ar∂r, f. ‘ar∂r®, pl. ‘arer¬m. (ancient). H®t el-gaft (lit.: The latter term, ‘ar∂r, is “hand me the tweezers”) derived from the Hebrew means “be quiet, don't talk word ‘ar∂l (uncircum- about this now,” similarly cised),22 which is used in to the word ≠atta’ (see various Jewish dialects in above).25 the east and even appears in written texts. Another com- mon word used as a secret OATHS language element is ≠atta’ (from the Hebrew root Many informants insisted ±TQ), “be quiet,” i.e., don’t that swearing was a repre- speak about this now, so hensible habit and that that the non-Jew won’t they themselves refrained hear.23 from pronouncing oaths. The most developed However, oaths are very secret language is that of the common in the language goldsmiths, which was used of the Jews. Most consist for centuries by the Jewish of Hebrew components (mostly Karaite) goldsmiths combined with Arabic in Egypt and was later oath formulas. The most adopted by their Muslim commonly used oath for- and Christian colleagues, mula is we (also wu, wa: who use it to this day. There by ..., by the life of ..., I are some local variations of swear by ... ). Other formu- weΩy®t this language in different Torah scrolls in the Ark of the Eliahu Hanabi Synagogue in las include ... (by the areas of Egypt. For exam- Alexandria. The silver-plated scroll at the back was used life of ..., I swear by the life ple, “one” in all versions of only in the Kol Nidre service on Yom Kippur. of ...), and be, similar to we.

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The most common and forceful and are said only in the context of question by saying things like me-l- oaths contain words denoting the these events. 27 madrasa (from school) or min ma◊r Torah. A very frequent one is At the Passover seder, which in el-ged¬da (from Heliopolis). be’emet hator® (by the truth of the Jewish Arabic is called l∂lt el-hag- When Jewish parents want to Torah). The word s∂fer, which gad® (lit.: “The night of the Hag- quiet their tots and children or put denotes a Torah scroll, appears in a gadah”), it is customary to give them down to sleep, they sing: number of oaths, in both the singu- each small child in turn a folded ¿ud el-bezza weskut / ¿ud el-bezza lar form, wes-s∂fer (I swear by the napkin with a piece of matza inside, wen®m / ummak er-robb¬sa / wa-b‚k Torah scroll) and the plural, wes- which he then carries on his shoul- el-Ωa¿®m, “Take the nipple and be sefar¬m (I swear by [all] the Torah der in commemoration of the quiet / take the nipple and sleep / scrolls). The strongest and most parcels which the Children of your mother is a Rabbi’s wife / binding oath is wes-s∂fer kannidr∂ (I Israel carried as they left Egypt. and your father is the Rabbi.” This swear by the Torah scroll of kan- The leader of the ceremony con- is a Jewish version of a song that nidr∂). Kannidr∂ refers to the Kol ducts the following dialogue with non-Jews sing to their small chil- Nidrei prayer, recited on the each child in turn: dren. It has a number of versions; evening of Yom Kippur. Most of for example: ¿ud el-bezza weskut / my informants, though not all, – gayy-e mn∂n? (Where are you ¿ud el-bezza wen®m / ummak es- knew that the reference was to the coming from?) sayyeda / wa-b‚k el-’im®m, “Take the Torah scrolls that are taken out of – min mi◊r®yim. (From Egypt.) nipple and be quiet / take the nip- the Holy Ark for that prayer. All of – wer®yeΩ f∂n? (And where are you ple and sleep / your mother is a them agreed that this was a very going?) lady / and your father is the Imam strong oath, which bound its user – ’ala yeru≠al®yim. (To Jerusalem.)28 (prayer leader).”29 to telling the truth. Another com- At the end of the Sabbath, Jews mon oath is weΩy®t el-haramb®m (by Several informants reported that greet each other by saying gum‘etak the life of Maimonides).26 in families with many children, ¿a¥ra (or gum‘etkum ¿a¥ra in the A number of oaths mention cult when the ceremony became repeti- plural), “Have a good (lit.: green) articles or objects in the vicinity of tive, the more mischievous chil- week,” a greeting used exclusively the person making the oath. Exam- dren would answer the first by Jews. The usual responses are ples include wet-tefil¬m (I swear by the phylacteries); wel-mu◊Ω®f (I swear by the [printed holy] book); and weΩy®t e≠-≠ehak¨l (I swear by the drink). This last oath has its ori- gin in the Hebrew blessing ≠ehak¨l nihya bidvaro, “(Blessed art Thou, Lord, king of the universe) by whose word everything was creat- ed,” recited before imbibing a drink.

CUSTOMS AND LANGUAGE

As with any distinct social group, the language of the Jews of Egypt contains expressions and idioms related to the group’s way of life. Some of these are connected with events in the life of the community A Haggadah in Arabic, with Hebrew headings.

43 BULLETIN wugum‘etak ¿a¥ra (or just wugum‘e- tak), “May you also have a green week,” or wugum‘etak zayy es-sal’, “May your week be as green as beet leaves.” Other such greetings draw upon similes used by Egyp- tians generally to greet each other in the morning, such as full (jas- mine) or ’e ≠fla (cream made from the foam accumulating at the top of the milk); for example, wugum‘e- tak zayy el-full, “May you have a week (white and clean) like jas- mine.” Jews who go to the synagogue at the end of the Sabbath receive myr- tle branches. They rub the leaves in their hands and recite the blessing bor∂ ’a◊∂y besam¬m (lit.: [Blessed art Thou Lord, king of the universe], who created sweet-smelling trees). Myrtle in Arabic is mars¬n, which some Jews pronounce mars¬m, but The Judeo-Arabic newspaper Misraïm.

many pronounce it bars¬m, which in Egyptian Arabic denotes a spe- cies of clover used as animal feed. Some of my informants told me that they wondered how the same word could refer both to animal feed and to a plant rubbed for its sweet smell at the end of the Sab- bath.

CONCLUDING NOTE

On the basis of the linguistic usages and vocabulary items described here, which represent only a small part of the repertoire of the Jewish Arabic spoken by the Jews of Egypt, it may be said that they had a dialect of their own. The Jews of Cairo and Alexandria, where nearly all the Jews lived, shared a common dialect which Conclusion of the Sabbath (Habdal®) ceremony in the Eliahu Hanabi Synagogue in was distinct in quite a number of Alexandria (1980). features from the dialects spoken

44 the israeli academic center in cairo ¯È‰˜· Èχ¯˘È‰ ÈÓ„˜‡‰ ÊίӉ

by non-Jews – a difference that was 1. This paper is based on parts of a 7. For additional details, see my arti- greater when the Jews were com- forthcoming study of the Arabic cles cited in note 1 above. dialect of the Jews of Egypt. I have municating with each other than 8. In Egyptian Arabic, words with described some of its results in two when they communicated with long vowels have their stress on Hebrew articles: “Spoken Jewish non-Jews. Hundreds of words and the syllable with the last long vow- Arabic in Modern Egypt: Hebrew expressions were unique to the el; therefore, one would have and Non-standard Components,” Jews; many of these were of expected the feminine forms of Massorot, 12 (2002), pp. 117–148; Hebrew origin, while others com- kab∂d and koh∂n to be kab∂da and prised a mixture of Hebrew, Ara- and “Hebrew Words and Karaite koh∂na. bic, and occasionally other Goldsmiths’ Secret Language Used 9. On this issue see Blanc, “The Nek- languages as well. This vocabulary by Jews and Non-Jews in Modern teb-Nektebu Imperfect” (above, attests to ties with other Jewish Egypt,” ‘amim, 90 (2002), pp. 115–153. note 3), p. 206; and idem, “Egypt- dialects in the region, but it also ian Judeo-Arabic” (above, note 4), has some distinctive features of its 2. Such as the dialect of the Jews of p. 303. own, amounting, together with the , which differs from that of phonological and morphological both Muslim and Christian inhabi- 10. See Blanc, “The Nekteb-Nektebu features described at the beginning tants of that city; see Haim Rabin et Imperfect” (above, note 3), p. 216. of this article, to a dialect that we al., “Jewish Languages: Common, 11. Ibid., p. 217 may call “Spoken Egyptian Jewish Unique and Problematic Features” Arabic.” This dialect occasionally (A Scholars’ Forum), Pe‘amim, 1 12. Ibid., p. 207. came to written expression as well. (Spring 1979), pp. 40–57 (Hebrew). 13. Cf. An Egyptian Alphabet for the Certain words and expressions, 3. Haim Blanc, “The Nekteb-Nektebu Egyptian People, n.a., Florence, particularly some of those having 2 Imperfect in a Variety of Cairene 1904 , p. 84, where gu is the only to do with religious and communi- Arabic,” Israel Oriental Studies, 14 form. ty life, may be found in the Arabic- (1974), p. 207. language Jewish newspapers 14. Cf. Gabriel Sacroug. The Egyptian Travelling Interpretter, or Arabic published in Egypt during the first 4. Idem, “Egyptian Judeo-Arabic: Without a Teacher for English Trav- half of the twentieth century. A More on the Subject of R. ellers Visiting Egypt, Cairo 1874, few words even appear in earlier Mordekhai b. Yehuda Ha-Levi’s p. 239. written texts, such as those found Sefer darxe no‘am,” Sefunot, 18/NS 3 in the Cairo Geniza. (1985), pp. 299–314 (Hebrew); idem, 15. For such forms see Peter Behnstedt “Egyptian Arabic in the Seven- and Manfred Woidich, Die ägyp- teenth Century: Notes on the Judeo- tisch-arabischen Dialekte, (IV: Glossar Arabic Passages of Darxe No‘am Arabisch-Deutsch), Wiesbaden 1994; Acknowledgement: The illustrations in (Venice, 1697),” in Shelomo Morag on this matter see also Blanc, this article are taken from Juifs et al. (eds.), Studies in Judaism and “The Nekteb-Nektebu Imperfect” d’Egypte: Images et textes (second edi- Presented to Shelomo Dov (above, note 3), p. 216. tion, Paris: Editions du Scribe, 1984), Goitein, Jerusalem 1981, pp. 16. See, e.g,, Abraham Ben-Yaacob, and are used by permission of 185–202. Both articles describe col- ‘Ivrit ’aramit bilshon yehudey bavel Dr. Jacques Hasson. loquial Arabic texts written down (Hebrew and Aramaic in the Lan- by Jews in the seventeenth century. guage of the Jews of Iraq), 5. For details, see Rosenbaum, “Spo- Jerusalem 1985, pp. 10–12; Moshé ken Jewish Arabic” (above, note 1), Bar-Asher, “Eléments hébreux in the Introduction. dans le judéo-arabes Marocain,” in idem, Massorot uleshonot shel 6. See Gudron Krämer, “The Rise and yehudey tzefon afriqa (Traditions Decline of the Jewish Community linguistiques des Juifs d'Afrique du of Cairo,” Pe‘amim 7 (1981), p. 5 Nord) Jerusalem-Ashkelon 1999, (Hebrew). p. 158.

45 BULLETIN

17. The forms rabí, rebí, ribí and rubí 25. For a detailed description of the exist in Ladino as versions of the goldsmiths’ secret language see Hebrew rav or rabbi; see David M. Rosenbaum, ”Hebrew Words” Bunis. A of the Hebrew and (above, note 1). Aramaic Elements in Modern Judez- 26. On the definite article in this word mo. Jerusalem 1993, p. 406. The see above, in the section on “The feminine Egyptian Judeo-Arabic Definite Article, the Feminine, and forms are derived from these. the Plural.” 18. See also Geoffrey , “A Note 27. On the customs of Egyptian Jews on the Trade Argot of the Karaite according to written records see, Goldsmiths of Cairo,” Mediterranean e.g., Raphael Ben-Shimon, Sefer Language Review, 9 (1995–1997), Nehar Mitzrayim (The Book of the p. 75. River of Egypt), Jerusalem 1998 19. See El-Said Badawi and Martin (Hebrew); Yom-Tov Israel, Sefer Hinds, A Dictionary of Egyptian minhagey mitzrayim lefi seder Arabic, Beirut 1986, p. 284. hashulΩan ’arukh (The Book of the Customs of Egypt: Arranged in the 20. A homonym in the standard Order of the ShulΩan Arukh), ed. dialect, used by Jews as well, Avraham Yosef, Jerusalem–Holon means “dishwashing” or “dishes 1990; and Yehuda Nini, MimizraΩ to wash.” wumiyam: Yehudei Mitsrayim – ºayyey yom yom vehishtakfutam 21. See for example Moshé Bar-Asher, besifrut hashut “Evolution des termes hébreux 5642–5674 (From dans le judéo-arabe,” in idem, Mas- East and West: The Jews of Egypt – sorot uleshonot (above, note 14), p. Their Everyday Lives and Their 255 (Hebrew); idem, “Aspects lin- Reflection in the Responsa Litera- guistiques de la composante ture 1882–1914), Tel-Aviv 2000. On hébraïque du judéo-arabe mod- everyday life in modern times see, erne,” Massorot uleshonot, p. 211 e.g., Jacques Hassoun, “Chro- (Hebrew). For words signifying niques de la vie quotidienne,” in Christians and Muslims see, e.g., idem (ed.), Juifs du Nil, Paris 1981. Guershon Ben-Oren and Wolf 28. For a description of this ceremony Moshkowitch, “L’argot des com- and a French version of the dia- merçants juifs de Géorgie comparé logue see Hassoun, Chroniques á celui d’autres pays d’Orient,” (above note 27), pp. 174–175. Massorot, 2 (1986), p. 54 (Hebrew). See also the next note. 29. Cf. E. E. Elder, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Reader. London 1927, p. 113. 22. Cf. the form narel¬m, used by the Jews of Piedmont in : Primo Levi, Hatavla hamahazorit (Hebrew translation of Il Sistema Periodico), Tel Aviv 1987, p. 10.

23. See also Blanc, “The Nekteb- Nektebu Imperfect” (above, note 3), p. 217.

24. BT Megilla 9b, commenting on Gen. 9:27.

46