Knaanic (also called Canaanic, Leshon Knaan or Judeo-Slavic) was a West Slavic Jewish language, formerly spoken in the Czech lands, now the Czech Republic. It became extinct in the Late Middle Ages. The name Knaanic applied mainly to Judeo-Czech, but also to other Judeo-Slavic languages.
The name comes from the ancient Canaan (Hebrew ???? "k?na?an"). The use of a name derived from Canaan for a slavic language spoken by a jewish peoples living in a slavic region is an indication to the Canaanite origin of Hebrew language (and people) as perceived by the speakers themselves and/or surrounding slavic people, probably as relayed to them by Bibilical mythology.
Ruth Bondyová: Mezi námi ?e?eno. Jak mluvili ?idé v ?echách a na Morav? (Between us: language of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia), Society of Franz Kafka 2003, ISBN 80-85844-88-5. The book documents languages used by Jews in the Czech lands during 12-20th century. Review in Czech, pages 28-33.
References
Knaanic. Retrieved June 13, 2006, from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, fifteenth edition. SIL International. Online version.
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