Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews

Paul Wexler is Professor of Linguistics at Tel-Aviv University.

• Abbreviations and Citations A Note on Citations and Linguistic Terminology Preface 1. Approaches to the Study of Jewish Ethnicity and Ethnic Myths 2. Conversion to Judaism in the Asian, African, and Iberian Lands up to c.1200 A.D. The Role of Conversion in the Formation of the Sephardic JewsThe Migration of Western Asian Jews to the Western MediterraneanThe Role of Western Asian Converts in the Formation of the Sephardic JewsConversion to Judaism in North Africa and SpainThe Contribution of Women Converts to the Formation of the Sephardic JewsSyncretistic Religious Expression in Spain (with special attention to the Marranos) 3. The North African Homeland of the Sephardic Jews and the Origin of the Term "Sephardic" The Alleged "Hispanicity" of the Sephardic JewsTowards a New Periodization of Sephardic History 4. The Berbero-Arab Roots of the Sephardic Jews Evidence from Language The Status of Palestinian Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic and the Determination of Sephardic Ethnic OriginsJewish Onomastics as a Reflection of the Ethnic Origins of the Sephardic JewsJewish Migration from North Africa to Spain as Reflected in North African Latin and Greek Elements in Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-SpanishThe Arabic Imprint on Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew" Iberian Judeo-Spanish Arabisms which are Unique in Inventory, Form, or MeaningThe Arabized Pronunciation of Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew"Arabic Grammatical process in Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Arabic/Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew" The Broken Plural in Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew" and Judeo-ArabicPeriphrastic Verbs with Hebrew Components in Judeo-SpanishThe Agentive Formation in Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew"World Order in Compund Numerals in Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew"Determination in Modified Noun Phrases in Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew"Derived Verb Forms in Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew" The Copying of Arabic Patterns of Discourse in Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Spanish "Hebrew"The Common (")Hebrew(") and (")Judeo-Aramaic(") Corpus of Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish The Impact of Berber on Iberian (Judeo-)Arabic and (Judeo-)Spanish Evidence from Religion and Folk Culture 5. The Processes of Judaization The Elimination of Berber and Arab PracticesThe Retention of Obsolete Berber and Arab Practices and their NomenclatureThe Espousal of Ashkenazic, Provencal, Romaniote, and New Berber and Arab PracticesThe Recalibration of Christian Terms and PracticesThe Recalibration of Muslim Arabic Terms and Names in Iberian Judeo-Arabic and (Judeo) Spanish 6. Findings and Challenges Bibliography Index of Names and Topics Index of Segments, Words, and Phrases

"This is a fascinating book based upon a wealth of diverse sources not usually brought together by scholars of Sephardic history. It is based upon the premise that Jewish languages such as Judeo-Arabic, Ladino, and Yiddish offer invaluable clues to ethnic origins."Wexler challenges the prevailing view that Sephardic Jewry did not have its genesis in Spain, but in North Africa, and that the Sephardic Jews were not descended from the ancient Judaeans, but were primarily the posterity of Berber proselytes. The author detects remnants of this North African Berber and Arab substrate in the language and culture of the Sephardic Jews. He marshals a dazzling array of historic, literary, ethnographic, and—most important—linguistic data in support of his highly original hypotheses." — Norman A. Stillman, Binghamton University