A word can carry the shape of a building, the sound of a neighbourhood and the memory of a vanished world. In Judeo-Spanish, or Ladino, koshk refers to a small…
The Italian word spaghetti travelled widely before it found a place in Judeo-Spanish food vocabulary. In Ladino, speakers may encounter forms such as spageti,…
Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, carries traces of the Spanish spoken by Sephardic Jews before and after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula. Its vocabulary…
The Judeo-Spanish word beraha comes from the Hebrew berakhah (בְּרָכָה), meaning a blessing. It belongs to the Hebrew root ב־ר־ך, commonly transliterated as…
The Ladino word pishin refers to a kitten, a small cat, or a young animal addressed with affection. Like many Judeo-Spanish words, it carries more than a…
A word for a driver can carry the history of several communities. In Judeo-Spanish, or Ladino, shofér is associated with a person who drives, and its shape…
Ladino, also called Judeo-Spanish, carries the history of Sephardic Jewish communities through words shaped by Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish, Balkan languages and…
The Ladino word sinyor is recognisable to Spanish speakers, yet it tells a distinctly Judeo-Spanish story. It comes from Spanish señor, meaning “sir”,…
In Judeo-Spanish, or Ladino, a verb can carry a wider practical meaning than its closest English translation suggests. Kazar is one such word. In some contexts…
The Turkish loanword bakkal belongs to the everyday vocabulary of the Ottoman world, where languages and communities met in streets, markets and small…