Words
From ‘abaayA* to zingoolA**
JUST AS there are hardly any Jews left in Iraq today, very few people — apart from those Iraqi Jews living in Israel — communicate in Violette’s maternal language: Judeo-Arabic. It is dying language which the younger generations in their new countries have lost entirely, spoken only by a diminishing band of elderly members of the old community, scattered around the world. For this reason, Memories of Eden contains many of the words and expressions that Violette used and we have added an eight-page lexicon to which we invite readers to contribute.
Please post your suggestions and comments to our open discussion Forum or Contact Us privately by email. We look forward to hearing from you.
— Mira and Tony
* Woman’s black cloak of silk or wool ** Deep-fried, honeyed batter