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Judeo-Persian

Judeo-Persian is a Jewish dialect of Persian, spoken by Jews who have been living in Iran since ancient times. While most Jews now speak Persian as their first language, Judeo-Persian is still used as a liturgical and literary language by some Jewish communities in Iran. The history of the Judeo-Persian community in Iran goes back to the 6th century BCE, when the Persian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Judah. After the conquest, many Jews were brought to Iran as slaves, but others came as traders and merchants. Over time, the Jewish community in Iran grew and became an important part of Persian society. During the early centuries of the Islamic era, Persian was the lingua franca of the Middle East, and Judeo-Persian continued to be used by Jews in Iran. However, after the Mongols conquered Iran in the 13th century, the use of Judeo-Persian declined, as the Mongols promoted the use of Turkic languages in the empire. Judeo-Persian regained some prominence in the 16th and 17th centuries, when Iran was ruled by the Safavid dynasty. During this time, many Jews immigrated to Iran from other parts of the Ottoman Empire, and Judeo-Persian became the language of the Jewish community in Iran once again. However, the use of Judeo-Persian declined rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries, as more and more Jews began to speak Persian as their first language. By the early 20th century, Judeo-Persian was mostly used by older generations of Jews in Iran. Today, there are only a few thousand speakers of Judeo-Persian, and the language is considered to be endangered. However, there are efforts to revive Judeo-Persian, and to keep the language alive for future generations.

Language group

Iranian languages

Language locales, regions and scripts

Judeo-Persian
jpr
Judeo-Persian, Hebrew
jpr-Hebr