Resources

Jewish language FAQs

Get answers to frequently asked questions about Jewish languages, like how many languages there are and how many speakers each has.

Exhibits on Jewish languages

A selection of textual images, audio recordings, and video clips of Jewish languages, as well as liturgy, especially for Passover and High Holidays.

Bibliography of Jewish languages

Find books and articles about Jewish languages, including many works available for free online.

Jewish languages email list

See the archives or join this platform that enables communication among Jewish language researchers and enthusiasts.

Passover materials

Chad Gadya, Who Knows One, and other Passover favorites in many Jewish languages, a Zoom PowerPoint haggadah, seder images, and more.

Statistics on language vitality

Statistics on the vitality/endangerment of several Jewish languages, including number of speakers and postvernacular use.

This page presents many additional resources about Jewish languages, including endangered language initiatives, educational resources, mailing lists, syllabi, academic societies, research institutes, online corpora, digitized writings, and sound archives. If you have suggestions for resources to add, you can contact us here.

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Jewish endangered language documentation initiatives

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Other endangered language documentation initiatives

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Educational/communal resources

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Mailing lists

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Course syllabi

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Academic societies

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Academic journals

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Research institutes

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Online Corpora

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Multiple languages (Jewish press)

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Hebrew

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Jewish Neo-Aramaic

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Judeo-Arabic

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Judeo-Spanish/Ladino/Judezmo​

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Yiddish

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Digitized Manuscript Collections

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Sound archives

 

Miscellaneous

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bibliography of Jewish linguistic studies

See full annotated bibliography by Sarah Bunin Benor at Oxford Bibliographies Online.

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General Overviews

Bunis, David M. “Characteristics of Jewish Languages.” In Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture. Vol. 1, Themes and Phenomena of the Jewish Diaspora. Edited by M. Avrum Ehrlich, 167–171. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2009.

Hary, Benjamin, and Sarah Bunin Benor, eds. Languages in Jewish Communities, Past and Present. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2018.

Kahn, Lily, and Aaron Rubin, eds. 2015. Handbook of Jewish Languages. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

Lowenstein, Steven M. The Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International Jewish Folk Traditions. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Rabin, Chaim, Joshua Blau, and Haim Blanc. “Haleshonot hayehudiot: Hameshutaf, hameyuhad vehabe‘ayati.” Pe’amim 1 (1979): 40–66.

Rubin, Aaron D., and Lily Kahn. 2021. Jewish Languages from A to Z. London: Routledge.

Skolnik, Fred, ed. Encyclopaedia Judaica. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.

Spolsky, Bernard. The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Spolsky, Bernard, and Sarah Bunin Benor. “Jewish Languages.” In Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. 2d ed. Vol. 6. Edited by Keith Brown, 120–124. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006.

Sunshine, Andrew. “History of Jewish Interlinguistics: A Preliminary Outline.” In History of Linguistics 1993. Edited by Kurt R. Jankowsky, 75–82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995.

 

Bibliographies

Baumgarten, Jean. “La linguistique des langues juives: Éléments bibliographiques.” Histoire Epistémologie Langage 18.1 (1996): 179–188.

Bratkowsky, Joan G. Yiddish Linguistics: A Multilingual Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1988.

Bunis, David M. Sephardic Studies: A Research Bibliography; Incorporating Language, Literature, and Folklore and Historical Background. New York: Garland, 1981.

Bunis, David M., and Andrew Sunshine. Yiddish Linguistics: A Classified Bilingual Index to Yiddish Serials and Collections, 1913–1958. New York: Garland, 1994.

Weinreich, Uriel, and Beatrice Weinreich. Yiddish Language and Folklore: A Selective Bibliography for Research. The Hague: Mouton, 1959.

Wexler, Paul. Judeo-Romance Linguistics: A Bibliography (Latin, Italo-, Gallo, Ibero-, and Rhaeto-Romance except Castilian). New York: Garland, 1989.

 

Collected Works of Individuals

Birnbaum, Solomon A. Ein Leben für die Wissenschaft: Wissenschaftliche Aufsätze aus sechs Jahrzehnten. 2 vols. Edited by Erika Timm. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2011.

Chetrit, Joseph. Diglossie, hybridation et diversité intra-linguistique: Études socio-pragmatiques sur les langues juives, le judéo-arabe et le judéo-berbère. Paris: Editions Peeters, 2007.

Fishman, Joshua A. Yiddish: Turning to Life. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1991.

Wexler, Paul. Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of “Jewish” Languages: With Special Attention to Judaized Arabic, Chinese, German, Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Slavic (Modern Hebrew/Yiddish), Spanish, and Karaite and Semitic Hebrew/Ladino; A Collection of Reprinted Articles from across Four Decades with a Reassessment. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006.

 

Journals and Book Series

Edah Ve-lashon. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1977–.

Jewish Language Review. 1981–1987.

Journal of Jewish Languages. 2013–.

Masorot. 1984–.

Misgav Yerushalayim: The Center for Research and Study of Sephardi and Oriental Jewish Heritage.

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Collections of Jewish Language Research

Alvarez-Péreyre, Frank, and Jean Baumgarten, eds. Linguistique des langues juives et linguistique générale. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2003.

Aspesi, Francesco, Vermondo Brugnatelli, Anna Linda Callow, and Claudia Rosenzweig, eds.Il mio cuore ̀e a Oriente: Studi di linguistica storica, filologia e cultura ebraica dedicati a Maria Luisa Mayer Modena. Milan: Cisalpino, 2008.

Baumgarten, Jean, and Sophie Kessler-Mesguich, eds. Special Issue: La linguistique de l’hébreu et des langues juives. Histoire Epistémologie Langage 18.1 (1996).

Benabu, Isaac, and Joseph Sermoneta, eds. Judeo-Romance Languages. Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, 1985.

Dawidowicz, Lucy, Alexander Erlich, Rachel Erlich, and Joshua A. Fishman, eds. For Max Weinreich on His Seventieth Birthday: Studies in Jewish Languages, Literature, and Society. The Hague: Mouton, 1964.

Kahn, Lily, ed. Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

Maman, Aaron, Steven Ellis Fassberg, and Yochanan Breuer, eds. Shaʻare lashon: Mehkarim ba-lashon ha-’ivrit, be-aramit uvi-leshonot ha-yehudim, mugashim le-Mosheh Bar-Asher. 3 vols. Jerusalem: Mosad Byalik, 2007.

Miller, Joshua, and Anita Norich, eds. Languages of Modern Jewish Cultures: Comparative Perspectives. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016.

Paper, Herbert H., ed. Jewish Languages: Themes and Variations; Proceedings of Regional Conferences Sponsored by the Association for Jewish Studies Held at the University of Michigan and New York University in March–April 1975. Cambridge, MA: Association for Jewish Studies, 1978.

Tobi, Joseph, and Dennis Kurzon, eds. Hikre ma‘arav u-mizrah: Leshonot, sifruyot u-firke toladah, mugashim le-Yosef Shitrit. Jerusalem: Karmel, 2011.

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Sociolinguistics and Sociology of Language

Benor, Sarah Bunin, and Tsvi Sadan, eds. Special Issue: Jewish Languages in the Age of the Internet. Language and Communication 31.2 (2011).

Fishman, Joshua A., ed. Special Issue: The Sociology of Jewish Languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981).

Fishman, Joshua A., ed. Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1985.

Fishman, Joshua A., ed. Special Issue: The Sociology of Jewish Languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 67 (1987).

Spolsky, Bernard. The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

 

Hebrew and Aramaic Component in Jewish Languages

Khan, Geoffrey, ed. Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. 4 vols. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2013.

Morag, Shelomo, Moshe Bar-Asher, and Maria Mayer-Modena, eds. Vena Hebraica in Judaeorum Linguis: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in Jewish Languages (Milan, October 23–26, 1995). Milan: Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, 1999.

Tedghi, Joseph, ed. Les interférences de l’hébreu dans les langues juives. Paris: Institut National des Langes et Civilisations Orientales, 1995.

See dictionaries here.

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Defining the Field

Benor, Sarah Bunin, and Benjamin Hary. A Research Agenda for Comparative Jewish Linguistics Studies. In Languages in Jewish Communities, Past and Present, Hary and Benor, eds. 672-694. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2018.

Birnbaum, Solomon A. “Judezmo.” YIVO Bleter 11 (1937): 192–198.

Efroykin, Israel. Oyfkum un umkum fun yidishe goles-shprakhn un dialektn. Paris: Farlag Kiyem, 1951.

Gold, David L. “Jewish Intralinguistics as a Field of Study.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 31–46.

Loewe, Heinrich. Die Sprachen der Juden. Cologne: Jüdischer Verlag, 1911.

Mieses, Matthias. Die Entstehungsursache der jüdischen Dialekte. Vienna: R. Löwit Verlag, 1915.

Weinreich, Max. “Prehistory and Early History of Yiddish: Facts and Conceptual Framework.” In The Field of Yiddish: Studies in Yiddish Language, Folklore, and Literature. Edited by Uriel Weinreich, 73–101. New York: Linguistic Circle of New York, 1954.

Weinreich, Max. History of the Yiddish Language. 2 vols. Edited by Paul Glasser. Translated by Shlomo Noble and Joshua A. Fishman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

Wexler, Paul. “Jewish Interlinguistics: Facts and Conceptual Framework.” Language 57.1 (1981): 99–149.

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Jewish Linguistic Theory

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Genesis and Sociology of Jewish Languages

Bar-Asher, Moshe. “Behinot be-heker leshonot hayehudim ve-sifruyotehem.” Pe’amim 93 (2002): 77–89.

Fishman, Joshua A. “The Sociology of Jewish Languages from a General Sociolinguistic Point of View.” In Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages. Edited by Joshua A. Fishman, 3–21. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1985.

Rabin, Chaim. “What Constitutes a Jewish Language?” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 19–28.

Weinreich, Max. History of the Yiddish Language. 2 vols. Edited by Paul Glasser. Translated by Shlomo Noble and Joshua A. Fishman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

Wexler, Paul. “Preface: Old Views, New Views, and Renewed Views.” In Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of “Jewish” Languages: With Special Attention to Judaized Arabic, Chinese, German, Greek, Persian, Portuguese, Slavic (Modern Hebrew/Yiddish), Spanish, and Karaite, and Semitic Hebrew/Ladino; A Collection of Reprinted Articles from across Four Decades with a Reassessment. By Paul Wexler, xv–liv. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006.

 

Typology of Jewish Languages

Alvarez-Péreyre, Frank, and Jean Baumgarten, eds. Linguistique des langues juives et linguistique générale. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2003.

Benor, Sarah Bunin. “Towards a New Understanding of Jewish Language in the Twenty-First Century.” Religion Compass 2.6 (2008): 1062–1080.

Hary, Benjamin H. Translating Religion: Linguistic Analysis of Judeo-Arabic Sacred Texts from Egypt. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2009.

Sephiha, H. Vidal. “Langues juives, langues calques et langues vivantes.” Linguistique 8.2 (1972): 59–68.

Wexler, Paul. “Jewish Interlinguistics: Facts and Conceptual Framework.” Language 57.1 (1981): 99–149.

 

Comparative Linguistic Analysis

Aslanov, Cyril. “Mekhelek diber lezulato: Milim ivriyot shema‘amadan hishtana agav hishtak‘utan bileshonot hayehudim.” Masorot 15 (2010): 25–38.

Bar-Asher, Moshe. “Bekhinot bekheker hamarkiv ha‘ivri ba‘aravit hayehudit hakhadasha bamizrakh uvama‘arav.” Masorot 3–4 (1998): 147–169.

Bunis, David M. “A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of Judezmo and Yiddish.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 30 (1981): 49–70.

Bunis, David M. “A Theory of Hebrew-Based Fusion Lexemes in Jewish Languages as Illustrated by Morphologically Derived Animate Nouns in Judezmo and Yiddish.”Mediterranean Language Review 16 (2005): 1–115.

Mayer Modena, Maria Luisa. “Le choix ‘hébraique’ dans le lexique des langues juives.” In Divre ha-kongres ha-‘olami ha-teshi’i le-mada‘e ha-yahadut. Vol. 1. Edited by David Assaf, 85–94. Jerusalem: Ha-igud ha-ʻolami le-madaʻe ha-yahadut, 1986.

Morag, Shelomo. “Hamilim ha-ivriot ba-leshonot hayehudim: Mispar hebetim klaliyim.” Mi-kedem umi-yam 5 (1992): 101–114.

Szulmajster-Celnikier, Anne, and Marie-Christine Varol. “Yidich et judéo-espagnol: Dynamique comparée de deux langues de Diaspora.” Plurilinguismes 7 (1994): 93–132.

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Specific Jewish Languages in the Context of Jewish Linguistics

Benor, Sarah Bunin. “Do American Jews Speak a ‘Jewish Language’? A Model of Jewish Linguistic Distinctiveness.” Jewish Quarterly Review 99.2 (2009): 230–269.

Birnbaum, Solomon A. “Judezmo.” YIVO Bleter 11 (1937): 192–198.

Birnbaum, Solomon A. Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016 [1979].

Chetrit, Joseph. Diglossie, hybridation et diversité intra-linguistique: Études socio-pragmatiques sur les langues juives, le judéo-arabe et le judéo-berbère. Paris: Editions Peeters, 2007.

Fudeman, Kirsten A. Vernacular Voices: Language and Identity in Medieval French Jewish Communities. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.

Gamliel, Ophira. “Jewish Malayalam.” International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 38.1 (2009): 147–175.

Hary, Benjamin H. Translating Religion: Linguistic Analysis of Judeo-Arabic Sacred Texts from Egypt. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2009.

Sabar, Yona. A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary: Dialects of Amidya, Dihok, Nerwa and Zakho, Northwestern Iraq; Based on Old and New Manuscripts, Oral and Written Bible Translations, Folkloric Texts, and Diverse Spoken Registers, with an Introduction to Grammar and Semantics and an Index of Talmudic Words Which Have Reflexes in Jewish Neo-Aramaic. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2002.

Weinreich, Max. History of the Yiddish Language. 2 vols. Edited by Paul Glasser. Translated by Shlomo Noble and Joshua A. Fishman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

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Comparing Jews and Other Groups

Fishman, Joshua A. “Post-Exilic Jewish Languages and Pidgins/Creoles: Two Mutually Clarifying Perspectives.” Multilingua 6.1 (1987): 7–24.

Myhill, John. Language in Jewish Society: Towards a New Understanding. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2004.

Stillman, Norman A. “Language Patterns in Islamic and Judaic Societies.” In Islam and Judaism: 1400 Years of Shared Values. Edited by Steven M. Wasserstrom, 41–55. Portland, OR: Institute for Judaic Studies in the Pacific Northwest, 1991.

Wexler, Paul. “Periphrastic Integration of Semitic Verbal Material in Slavicized Yiddish and Turkish.” In The Field of Yiddish: Studies in Language, Folklore, and Literature; Fourth Collection. Edited by Marvin I. Herzog, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Dan Miron, and Ruth Wisse, 431–473. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1980.

Wexler, Paul. “Exploring the Distinctive Features of Wandersprachen: The Case of European Romani and Jewish Languages.” Mediterranean Language Review 2 (1986): 7–45.

 

Jewish Language Ideologies

Birnbaum, Solomon A. Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979.

Bunis, David M. “The Names of Jewish Languages: A Taxonomy.” In Il mio cuore è a Oriente: Studi di linguistica storica, filologia e cultura ebraica dedicati a Maria Luisa Mayer Modena. Edited by Francesco Aspesi, Vermondo Brugnatelli, Anna Linda Callow, and Claudia Rosenzweig, 415–433. Milan: Cisalpino, 2008.

Fishman, Joshua A. “Post-Exilic Jewish Languages and Pidgins/Creoles: Two Mutually Clarifying Perspectives.” Multilingua 6.1 (1987): 7–24.

Frakes, Jerold C. The Politics of Interpretation: Alterity and Ideology in Old Yiddish Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.

Fudeman, Kirsten A. Vernacular Voices: Language and Identity in Medieval French Jewish Communities. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.

Myhill, John. Language in Jewish Society: Towards a New Understanding. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2004.

Myhill, John. “Varieties of Diaspora Languages.” In Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture. Vol. 1, Themes and Phenomena of the Jewish Diaspora. Edited by M. Avrum Ehrlich, 172–180. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2009.

Prager, Leonard. “A Preliminary Checklist of English Names of Jewish Lects.” Jewish Language Review 6 (1986): 225–236.

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Electronic books available publicly 

Bacher, W. 1895. Die Anfänge der hebräischen Grammatik. Leipzig: Brockhaus.

Bauer, H. & Leander, P. 1927. Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen. Halle: Niemeyer.

Bernstein, I. 1908. ייִדישע שפּריכװערטער און רעדנסאַרטן. New York: Brider Kaminski.

Blondheim, D. S. 1925. Les parlers judéo-romans et la Vetus Latina: étude sur les rapports entre les traductions bibliques en langue romane des Juifs au moyen âge et les anciennes versions. Paris: Champion.

Brown, F. et al. 1907. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Buhl, F. P. W. 1895. Wilhelm Gesenius' hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament. Leipzig: Vogel.

Cowley, A. E. 1910. Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Efroykin, I. 1951. אױפֿקום און אומקום פֿון ייִדישע גלות-שפּראַכן און דיאַלעקטן. Paris: Kiyem.

Harkavy, A. 1928. ייִדיש-ענגליש-העברעיִשער װערטערבוך. New York: Hebrew Publishing Company.

Hary, B., and S.B. Benor, eds. Languages in Jewish Communities, Past and Present. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2018.

Joüon, P. 1923. Grammaire de l'hébreu biblique. Rome: Institut Biblique Pontifical.

Joffe, J. A. & Mark, Y. (eds.). 1961. גרױסער װערטערבוך פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך 1. New York: Committee for the Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language.

Joffe, J. A. & Mark, Y. (eds.). 1966. גרױסער װערטערבוך פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך 2. New York: Committee for the Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language.

Joffe, J. A. & Mark, Y. (eds.). 1971. גרױסער װערטערבוך פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך 3. New York: Committee for the Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language.

Joffe, J. A. & Mark, Y. (eds.). 1980. גרױסער װערטערבוך פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך 4. New York: Committee for the Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language.

Kautsch, E. 1909. Wilhelm Gesenius' hebräische Grammatik. Leipzig: Vogel.

Levy, J. 1876. Neuhebräisches und chaldäisches Wörterbuch über die Talmudim und Midraschim. Leipzig: Brockhaus.

Lipschütz, E. M. 1920. Vom lebendigen Hebräisch. Berlin: Jüdischer Verlag.

Loewe, H. 1911. Die Sprachen der Juden. Cologne: Jüdischer Verlag.

Rejzen, Z. 1920. גראַמאַטיק פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך. Vilnius: Shreberk.

Rubsztein, B. 1922. די אַנטשטײונג און אַנטװיקלונג פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך. Warsaw: Shul un Lebn.

Stutchkoff, N. 1950. דער אוצר פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך. New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Zaretzki, I. 1926. פּראַקטישע ייִדישע גראַמאַטיק. Moscow: Shul un Bukh.

Zaretzki, I. 1929. ייִדישע גראַמאַטיק. Vilnius: Kletskin.

Zunz, L. 1837. Namen der Juden. Leipzig: Fort.