Judezmo, a language that was spoken by ancient Hebrew pastoralist is #78 on the list of endangered languages .
As generations die off and culture shifts, new languages are learnt and old ones die off. With each new generation comes a new culture which introduce new things and new things have to be named and defined. The dictionary gets updated and new volumes of books get printed while old ones get out of print, being left behind together with the place and culture they served.
Judezmo is a language that was spoken by the ancient Hebrew pastoralists in Israel, the Balkans, North Africa, and Greece. It is also known as Ladino / Judezmo as a Jewish Language and other names as Judeo-Espanyol, Franco, Espanyol, Judeo-Spanish. After scratching just the surface of the essence of this ancient language, it is clear that its history is plagued by the same problems that plague all ancient history that was closely knit with early globalization — European influence.
Althemese Barnes looks at the grave of her step great-grandmother who was buried in the old plantation cemetery. The cemetery is located on a woodsy under-growth laden piece of property on Betton Road. Retrieved from TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT FILES
So how does a language spoken by nomadic Hebrew pastoralist from North Africa and Israel end up recognized as a Indo-European language? Indo-European languages are those languages that are native to Europe. Does it them mean that Judezmo was a European language used by pastoralist in North Africa and ancient Israel?
If Judezmo was a European language then why is it on the verge of extinction. What happened to the speakers and their children. Who were the Eastern Sephardic Jews? There is more to the Judezmo story than extinction. An account we need to open.
