Greek Aljamiado refers to a tradition that existed prior to the 20th century of writing Greek language in the Arabic script. The term Aljamiado is a borrowing from Romance languages such as Spanish, for which a similar tradition existed. Although less widespread and less studied than these counterparts, Greek Aljamiado has a long and diverse tradition as well, as far back as the 13th century, with poems written Jalal al-Din Rumi and his son Sultan Walad in Greek but in Arabic script.[1]
This tradition existed among some Greek Muslims from Crete as well as Epirote Muslims in Ioannina who wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet. It also existed among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant (Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria) for writing of liturgical texts.[2]
The inverse of this tradition existed among Greek orthodox Christian Karamanli Turks, who use the Greek alphabet for writing of their Turkish dialect.
- ^ Rumi quotes and Rumi Poems. (2020) Greek www.rumi.org.uk/greek/gr/
- ^ HMML Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (27 July 2024). This month, "Greek Aljamiado" (i.e., Greek written in Arabic script) became one of the more than 90 languages identified in HMML's online Reading Room (vhmml.org). Greek Aljamiado was a common phenomenon among Byzantine-rite Christians in Arabic-speaking communities, but has been little studied. So far, 84 examples of Greek Aljamiado have been identified in HMML's collections of Christian manuscripts digitized in Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Cataloging by HMML staff and associates makes these manuscripts easier to find, and supports scholars in their research of the extent and purposes of Greek Aljamiado usage. Pictured: Greek Aljamiado is written on the left page of this manuscript, in the collection of the Ordre Basilien Alepin in Jūniyah, Lebanon. View in Reading Room (OBA 00256): www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/120512 [Image attached] [Story update]. Facebook. [1]