JudeoArabic

Judeo-Arabic refers to the Arabic dialects historically used by Jewish communities across the Arab world, and to the literary tradition produced in those communities. It encompasses several regional varieties—most notably Iraqi, Moroccan, Yemeni, Egyptian, and Tunisian Judeo-Arabic—each rooted in its local Arabic speech while sharing common Jewish religious and cultural contexts. Unlike Judeo-Spanish or Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Arabic is not a single standardized language but a family of dialects linked by ethnoreligious use rather than by a uniform written standard.

Most Judeo-Arabic materials were written in the Hebrew alphabet, rendering Arabic phonology with Hebrew letters and vowel markers. The content includes translations and commentaries of religious works, such as Bible translations, Talmudic excerpts, and liturgical poetry, as well as secular letters, travel accounts, and philosophical writings adapted from Arabic sources. The vocabulary often combines classical Arabic with Hebrew loanwords and Jewish liturgical terms.

Historically, Judeo-Arabic flourished in major urban centers from late antiquity through the medieval and early modern periods, with vibrant literary productions in Baghdad, Cairo, Fez, Sana'a, and beyond. The community's migration and the broader decline of Jewish life in many Arab lands during the 19th and 20th centuries led to a gradual reduction in everyday use; many speakers shifted to Hebrew in Israel or to other languages in the diaspora. Today Judeo-Arabic survives mainly through archival manuscripts and scholarly study, though it remains an important source for understanding Arab-Jewish culture and the history of Arabic-speaking Jews.