Ladino retains some old Spanish features

In Medieval Spain, “Ladino” meant a person, usually Jewish, who spoke Spanish and probably Arabic and acted as an intermediary between Islamic and Christian cultures.

In America, it was first applied to Indians or mestizos who could speak Spanish and were clever and sometimes devious in their dealings.

It came to mean sly or cunning.

The Spanish spoken by Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 also was called Ladino.

They took Ladino to North Africa, Turkey, Greece, Holland and elsewhere.

Many Jews went to the Americas, for example, to Monterrey, Mexico, where they established an industrialized economy. Very early they established themselves in such cities as New York and Atlanta.

Jews who remained in Spain were called “conversos,” or converted Jews. Many well-known Spaniards were descended from conversos, including St. Teresa of Avila.

In Europe, Jews were divided into two groups: the Askenazi, of Germany and Eastern Europe who spoke Yiddish, a German dialect, and Sephardic, or Spanish, Jews who spoke Ladino.

Both languages incorporated some Hebrew words.

Eamon de Valera, former Prime Minister of Ireland, was of Sephardic ancestry.

At one time, Ladino Spanish was the second or third most widely spoken language in Israel.

Ladino retains sounds and features that disappeared from modern Spanish centuries ago.

Here is an example of written Ladino and modern Spanish:

Ladino:

Vini a Cordoba para ver
Ande bivieron mis padres
Antes la ekspulsion.

I los topi dainda ayi
Avlando en silensio entre si
I con mi.

(I came to Cordoba to see
Where my parents lived
Before the expulsion.

And I found them still there
Speaking in silence among themselves
And with me.)

Modern:

Vine a Córdoba para ver
Donde vivieron mis padres
Antes de la expulsión.

Y los encontré aún allí
Hablando en silencio entre sí
Y conmigo.

Harold Raley is a linguist, professor and writer who lives in Friendswood. Have a question about language? He can be reached at haroldraley49(at)gmail.com.

Source: Galvestyon County «The Daily News»
By Harold Raley
Contributor
Published July 4, 2010