Return to Chaiya's Sephardic WorldLanguage, Names, and Heraldry
of Jews in Medieval Spain
Last Updated March 23, 1999
Languages
The Jews of Spain were well-known for their skill with languages. Most probably spoke Hebrew, "Ladino" ("Judeo-Spanish" or Medieval Spanish), and Arabic. "Mozarabic Spanish", that spoken by Christians in Muslim lands, was the common language of the streets throughout the peninsula. Muslim and Jewish scholars were also likely to know Greek.
Judy Frankel writes: "Sephardic Spanish was both a spoken and a written language, incorporating the Hebrew alphabet, and written from right to left. The written tradition, which died out at the end of the 16th century, focused on Bible translations and religious issues. It was referred to then as 'Ladino'."
Woeful Sephardic Jews did not, apparently, exclaim "oy, vey!". According to the Oy Vey! Website, they cried out "Way way!".
You can see a description of the Hebrew alphabet at the Web page: http://www.macom.co.il/hebrew/the.alphabet.html.
You can read a very short discussion of Ladino; see also the Judeo-Spanish Home Page.
Read a poem written in Ladino, by 15th Century poet Abraham Toledo (no relation!)
Pedro de Alcazar (Craig Levin) has a nice article on Romance languages of the Iberian Penninsula on Arval Benicoeur (Josh Mittleman)'s webiste - well worth a visit.
Names
Naming Practices
The format of my name is similar to many others of the middle ages: It's [given name] [daughter of] [father's name] [from location]. My given name is "Chaiya" (see below), "bat" is Hebrew for "daughter of" (if you know a Jewish girl who had a bat mitzvah, she went through a ceremony making her a daughter of the Law). "Avraham" is my persona's father's name (I chose it because it's easy to document and is easily recognizable as a Jewish name). Finally "Toledano" shows that my father is Avraham of Toledo.
Persona-wise, changing my given name after one year was not a problem. Sephardic Jews sometimes re-named their children if they were suffering from a serious illness. This was to confuse any demons that might be plaguing the child. A name of such good meaning as "Life" would be a natural choice.
When I first needed a name for my persona, I started the way a lot of SCAdians do - with a "Name Your Baby" book. I compiled a list of lovely Hebrew names with nice meanings, and eventually settled on "Aharona". I soon discovered two things, however: One, I couldn't document it (find any proof that it was actually used as a girl's name in the middle ages) and Two, no one could hear it right when I said it. People thought I said "Corona", which I thought was fine for a beer but not for a Nice Jewish Girl.
After more research, I hit upon the name Chaiya. This was the Hebrew name of the first woman ("Eve"); it means "life" (as in the song from Fiddler on the Roof, "To life, to life, l'chaim!"); and the name mavens of the Academy of St. Gabriel wrote:
we found the Hebrew name "Chaiya," which was probably used as a name for Jewish women. Although we don't have any examples of this name, we have several reasons for believing that it was used.
"Chaiya" (pronounced with a "ch" as in Gaelic or German) appears to be one form of the name that was turned into "Eve" in English. As a biblical name, it's a likely name for any period. The male version of this name, "Chaim," is found in period (since men's names were recorded much more than women's, a male form of a female name is a good sign that the female version also existed). Finally, children who were critically ill were sometimes given "Chaiya" or "Chaim" (which means "life") as a new or additional name to confuse the evil eye.
It appears that the spelling "Chaiya" is not a particularly common one. In the Hebrew alphabet, this name is spelled with the letters "het," "vet," and "heh," (
cbh ) and a more common Anglicization of this name is "Chavah."Jaelle of Armida, Arval D'Espas Nord, Alexander Traveller, Evan da Collaureo, Walraven van Nijmege, Solveig Throndarsdottir, Pedro de Alcazar, Da'ud ibn Auda, Talan Gwynek, and Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed to this letter.
The name is also often known as "Havah".
See the Jewish Names Page for a discussion of Jewish names and Julie Stampnitzky's database of Medieval Jewish Names for a list. Arval Benicoeur has a great page of name links at The Medieval Naming Guide; there is a list of Names of Jews From Toledo and Some Sephardic Names" gathered by a geneologist. There is also a list of Christian Spanish names at Kate Monk's Onomastikon, although I have been cautioned about their authenticity (thank you, Don Pedro, for your help in this matter!). See a great list of names with references and a whole ton of links at Harry Stein's Sephardim.com website.
A very helpful discussion and list of Jewish names from medieval England can be found here.
Heraldry
I defer in this matter entirely to the most learned Yaakov HaMizrachi, who once wrote:"In the middle ages, Jewish arms found their way on seals. Many of these seals bear an esteucheon shape, sparking the question as to whether the Jews who bore them were armigerious. Women used seals as well as men, but I do not recall off-hand whether any have the esteucheon shape.
"Jewish arms tend to be rather similar to the non-Jewish arms of the region. There is an emphasis on armes parlant, such as those described above. People named David (or wishing to claim Davidic descent) bore a star of David. One Spanish Jew named del Portal bears an Arch.
"For more information: see Jewish Seals of Medieval Europe [by Daniel M. Friedenberg] and the bibliography therein."
See also Sephardim.com's list of links of "coat of arms" of Sephardic names and Jewish Heraldry from the Heraldica site.
Some people claim to have found a copy of a device that may be related to the arms of King David, brought to Crete from Spain. See the Shealtiel Family website for more information.
Go on to next page in Chaiya's Sephardic World, Music.
Updated June 7, 1999. Please note that I am not (by any means!) a history "maven". Researching my persona is one hobby of several within my SCA interest, which is itself one hobby of many. I can't make any claims as to the accuracy of the information on these pages.
All text copyright Stacy Braslau-Schneck, 1998.
Please send your comments, corrections, suggestions, or "clicks" to Stacy Braslau-Schneck. "Yad/Return" image ©2001 Ilene Winn-Lederer
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