lingvoj.orgLinked Languages ResourcesA contribution to the Web of Databy Bernard Vatant, Mondeca |
Knaanic |
czkSearch languages |
Complete list of languages | This page in other languages : [fr] |
Knaanic (also called Canaanic, Leshon Knaan, Judaeo-Czech, or Judaeo-Slavic) is an extinct West Slavic Jewish language, formerly
spoken in the lands of the Western Slavs, notably the Czech lands, but also the lands of modern Poland, Lusatia and other
Sorbian regions. It became extinct in the Late Middle Ages. The name comes from the land of Knaan, a geo-ethnological term
denoting the Jewish populations living east of the Elbe river (as opposed to the Ashkenazi Jews living to the West of it,
or the Sephardi Jews of Iberian Peninsula). As such, the land is often simply translated as Slavonia, or Slavic Europe. The
term is derived from ancient Canaan. The term Canaan was used by Jews in Europe for the Slavic peoples, as a punning reference
to the so-called curse of Canaan, that Canaan shall be a slave. The language became extinct some time in the Middle Ages,
possibly due to expansion of the Ashkenazi culture and their own Yiddish language based on German. This hypothesis is often
backed up with a large number of Yiddish loanwords of Slavic origin, many of which were no longer in use in Slavic languages
themselves at the time of the Ashkenazi expansion. These are believed to be loaned from Knaanic rather than from the Czech,
Sorbian, Polish languages. Another hypothesis, voiced by Paul Wexler, is that Knaanic is indeed the direct predecessor of
Yiddish and that the language became later Germanized. In other words, the Knaanim, that is, the people speaking the Judaeo-Slavic
languages, were the main cause of changes within the Yiddish language. Such views are in contrast with the theories of Max
Weinreich, who argued that the Slavic loanwords were assimilated only after the Yiddish was already fully formed. A possible
early example of Knaanic is a 9th century letter for a Jewish community of Ruthenia. One of the very few commonly accepted
examples of Knaanic are inscriptions on bracteates issued under Mieszko the Old and Leszek the White, two Polish rulers of
12th and 13th century. The latest evidence of usage of the language come from 16th century. |
Names (more)[af] Knaanies[br] Knaneg [cs] Lešon Kenaan [de] Knaanisch [en] Knaanic language [he] לשון כנען [hr] Knaanski jezik [it] Lingua canaan [ja] クナアン語 [ko] 크난어 [pl] Język knaan [ro] Limba cnaanică [ru] Еврейско-славянские диалекты [sk] Židovská čeština [tr] Knaanik |
Language type : Extinct
Technical notes
This page is providing structured data for the language Knaanic. |
ISO 639 CodesISO 639-3 : czkLinked Data URIshttp://lexvo.org/id/iso639-3/czkhttp://dbpedia.org/resource/ISO_639:czk More URIs at sameas.org SourcesAuthority documentation for ISO 639 identifier: czkFreebase ISO 639-3 : czk GeoNames.org Country Information Publications Office of the European Union Metadata Registry : Countries and Languages |