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The Czech language of Jews in Přemyslid Bohemia of the eleventh to fourteenth century

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Published/Copyright: February 9, 2016

Abstract

The contribution discusses aspects of the language of Czech Jewry residing in Prague during the Přemyslid reign. The author shows that their vernacular was basically identical with contemporary Prague Czech. The corpus of Canaanite, i.e., Slavic, especially Old Czech glosses in Hebrew script is remarkable for its orthography, phonology, lexicology and grammar. The author discusses the linguistic situation with respect to multilingualism, Slavic interpretation of the glosses, their functions and features and several sociolinguistic aspects such as archaisation, place names in communication and name giving.

Appendix: Abbreviations

OZ I, II – Isaac ben Moses. 1862. Or zaruaʿ I‒II. Zhitomir: Spira.

OZ III, IV – Isaac ben Moses. 1887‒1890. Or zaruaʿ III‒IV. Jerusalem: Hayim Hirschensohn.

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Published Online: 2016-2-9
Published in Print: 2016-3-1

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