Research Guides: Jewish Studies: Languages

General

Handbook of Jewish languages by edited by Lily Kahn, Aaron D. Rubin
Publication Date: 2017
This Handbook of Jewish Languages is an introduction to the many languages used by Jews throughout history, including Yiddish, Judezmo (Ladino) , and Jewish varieties of Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Berber, English, French, Georgian, Greek, Hungarian, Iranian, Italian, Latin American Spanish, Malayalam, Occitan (Provençal), Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Syriac, Turkic (Karaim and Krymchak), Turkish, and more. Chapters include historical and linguistic descriptions of each language, an overview of primary and secondary literature, and comprehensive bibliographies to aid further research. Many chapters also contain sample texts and images. This book is an unparalleled resource for anyone interested in Jewish languages, and will also be very useful for historical linguists, dialectologists, and scholars and students of minority or endangered languages. This paperback edition has been updated to include dozens of additional bibliographic references.

Mother Tongue: The Preservation of Jewish Languages and Cultures
Mother Tongue, a rescue initiative for documentation and preservation of Jewish languages spoken for centuries that are now endangered, utilizes audio-visual tools to document speakers from varied Jewish communities. It awards special attention to women’s language and culture and to peripheral communities whose voices have remained largely unheard.

Milon Even-Shoshan : be-shishah kerakhim by Even-Shoshan, Avraham
Publication Date: 2003
Most authoritative Hebrew language dictionary.
Morfix Dictionary
Online Hebrew-English dictionary
Complete Hebrew-English dictionary by Alcalay, Reuben
Publication Date: 1959-61
Best printed English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English dictionary; especially good for classical Hebrew literature.

Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon
CAL is a text base of the Aramaic texts in all dialects from the earliest (9th Century BCE) through the 13th Century CE, currently with a database of approximately 3 million lexically parsed words, and an associated set of electronic tools for analyzing and manipulating the data, whose ultimate goal is the creation of a complete lexicon of the language.
Jastrow's Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud, and Midrashic Literature

ULY - Union List of Yiddish
ULY – Union List of Yiddish – is a joint effort of four institutions with substantial Yiddish collection, YIVO (Institute for Jewish Research), YBC (Yiddish Book Center), NYPL (New York Public Library) and the National Library of Israel. The goal in this project is to create a full catalog of Yiddish publications, allow one search and link back to the different institutions and add a link to a digital copy where possible.
Digital Yiddish Theatre Project
Uses digital technology to study and preserve the rich legacy of the Yiddish stage.
Plotting Yiddish Drama
A searchable, continually expanding database of detailed plot synopses of Yiddish plays.

Ladino-English, English-Ladino Concise Dictionary by Elli Kohen; Dahlia V. Kohen-Gordon
Publication Date: 1999-03-01
Beginning with an introduction to the history and background of the Ladino language, this dictionary includes an appendix of idiomatic expressions in common use among the Sephardic Jewish population of Istanbul.
A guide to reading and writing Judezmo by Bunis, David M.
Publication Date: 1975