History of the Krymchak Language

Bethany (Batya) Klein

Sep 7

24 min read

By Maxim Mireev

Translator's note: This was originally published on the Russian language website krymchaks.org and has been translated into English for better acessibility. This work discusses the history of the Krymchak language, its phonetics, evolution, and influence from Hebrew. Because it is quite long, it has been broken up into several parts for readability.

Written Monuments of the Krymchaks

Krymchak literature has ancient roots. Furthermore, it is quite rich and diverse, considering that the population of this people, even in its best times, did not exceed the population of a small modern Crimean city. The literature of the Krymchaks is represented by religious books, marriage contracts—kesubalar [1], letters of Krymchak communities to one another, folklore and authorial works, and educational literature.

The publication of books in the Krymchak language began just over a century ago: these were translations of biblical narratives as interpreted by Krymchak clergy [2]. Even earlier, in 1896, the prominent Turkologist V. Radlov introduced the world to the works of the Krymchaks in his study Samples of Folk Literature of the Northern Turkic Tribes [3]. Nevertheless, the written monuments of the Krymchaks appeared considerably earlier. Among the earliest sources attesting to the existence of writing among the Krymchaks is the so-called Book of the Major and Minor Prophets, dated to 846 CE [4]. The most widespread monuments of Krymchak writing were handwritten collections of folklore—fairy tales, songs, riddles, parables, proverbs, and sayings—known as dzhonkalar (jonqs).

Books published in recent times carry large volumes of information that were previously transmitted orally. These include fairy tales, proverbs, sayings, rhymed couplets (chastushki), songs, tongue-twisters, rhymed story-openings, and parables (see, for example, [5, 17]). This part of the cultural heritage represents the greatest value of the Krymchak ethnos, which has been appreciated not only by the Krymchaks themselves.

[1] Achkinazi, I. V. On the problem of preserving the cultural heritage of the Krymchaks // Materials on Archaeology, History, and Ethnography of Tauria (MAIET). Issue X – Kerch, 2004 – p. 628.
[2] Iala Ianbay and Marcel Erdal. The Krimchak translation of Targum Sheni of the Book of Ruth // Mediterranean Language Review, 2000, No. 12 – pp. 1–15.
[3] Radlov, V. V. Samples of Folk Literature of the Northern Turkic Tribes. – St. Petersburg, 1896. – Part VII. – 935 pp.
[4] Chwolson, D. A. Collection of Hebrew Inscriptions. – St. Petersburg, 1884. – 527 pp.

Folklore Works

People have always been interested in the heroes of ancient times. People told one another of their heroic deeds. In this way, the famous medieval Turkic destans (epics) Ashik Kerib, Dahir and Zohra, and Koroghlu entered Krymchak literature. Romantic plots and diverse adventures that befell lovers serve as the foundation for the plots of these destans, which are popular among the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Caucasus, the Volga region, as well as Central and Minor Asia.

The presence of these epic works among other Krymchak sources demonstrates that members of the Krymchak Jewish community were thoroughly familiar with the oral folklore of their Muslim neighbors.

For the sake of completeness, let us cite as an example information regarding a Krymchak manuscript of an anonymous 16th–17th-century destan, Ashik Kerib. Variant texts of this epic are contained in several Krymchak handwritten journals—dzhonki—the largest of which contains 150 pages of text. The famous plot begins with the following words:

Zaman ile bir zamanda tevriz şeherinde bir ihtiyar adam var edi ve o adamnın bir qarısı ve bir qızı ve bir oğlu var edi. Qarısının adı Hanzohra, qızının adı Gülühan, oğlının adı Aşıq Ğarip. Bu ihtiyar adam anistan bir kefsizlikke oğrayır, arası çoqqa varmayır bu ihtiyar adam oliyir.

Translation: Once upon a time, in the city of Tabriz, there lived an old man. And that man had a wife, a daughter, and a son. His wife’s name was Khanzohra, his daughter's was Gulyukhan, and his son's was Ashik Garip. This old man suddenly fell ill, and shortly thereafter, the old man dies.

The language of this work differs only slightly from modern speech, and it is fairly easy to perceive by ear. This Krymchak epic is significantly richer than the well-known stylized fairy tale of the same name written by M. Yu. Lermontov. In Lermontov's work, the tale Ashik Kerib occupies 10 pages of text, whereas in the dzhonka it occupies all 150 pages, because every plot development is accompanied by songs (turku) that convey the state and mood of the characters. The fairy tale Ashik Kerib was published in full in the original language for the first time by the Russian Turkologist Academician V. V. Radlov (Samples of Folk Literature of the Northern Turkic Tribes, Part VII, "Dialects of the Crimean Peninsula" – St. Petersburg, 1896). And into Russian, it was translated quite recently by the well-known researcher of Krymchak writing, D. I. Rebi [6].

There has also come down to us the fairy tale The Padishah, His Son, and the Fairest in the World, which bears a striking resemblance to A. S. Pushkin’s well-known Tale of Tsar Saltan. There is a hypothesis that A. S. Pushkin borrowed the motif of this fairy tale from the Krymchaks during his stay in Crimea in 1820 (just as he did with The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, borrowed from Washington Irving).

This fairy tale is taken from the dzhonka of I. Yu. Gabay and was translated into Russian by D. I. Rebi. In this way, the cultures of great and small peoples intertwine, forming a single universal human treasury.

In the library of the Hebrew University (Jerusalem), there are two different collections of Krymchak songs [7]. One of them consists of 324 short songs of the chastushka (rhymed ditty) type, which are typical folklore works.

For example:

Gemilerde vaz olur, Gül açılsa yaz olur, Ben sana gül demedim, Öçüri az olur

Translation: Every boat has its balance; When flowers bloom, summer arrives; I did not call you a rose; Its lifespan is short.

In the dzhonki, we can also find examples of Krymchak riddles, which sound approximately like this:

Къулахлары вар, – мытмий, аяхлары бар – гезмий. (къазан)It has ears—it does not hear; it has legs—it does not walk. (A cooking pot / cauldron)
Къаранлыхта корыныр, къаранлыхта батар, дагъларны, йерны йакъар. (йылдырым)In the darkness it appears, in the darkness it sinks, the mountains and the earth it sets ablaze. (Lightning)
Кечеден айахсыз, сабахтан дорт айахларда, кундуз – эки айахларда, ахшам – уч айахларда. (адам)At night without legs, in the morning on four legs, during the day on two legs, in the evening on three legs. (A human being)

An inalienable part of the folklore entered into the dzhonki consists of curses. Here are some of them:

Шишиб къал! — May you swell up!
Козынъ чыхсынъ! — May your eyes pop out!
Къатыб къалгъайсын, къатыб къал! — May you freeze stiff, drop dead!

Citations:

[5] Medvedeva, L. Ya. Collections of Karaite and Krymchak manuscripts in the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences // Soviet Turkology. – 1988. – No. 6. – p. 91.
[6] V. Lombroso, D. Rebi. Ashik Karib // The Krymchaks – Simferopol, 2001 – pp. 41–132.
[7] Baginskaya, V. I. Folk Songs and Proverbs of the Krymchaks. – Krasnodar, 2003. 128 pp.

Religious Literature

Krymchak writing was substantially enriched thanks to the creation of books on religious themes. It is precisely the religious Book of the Major and Minor Prophets, dated to 846 CE, that testifies to the beginning of the formation of the Krymchak ethnos. One of the marginal inscriptions (epigraphs) in this book reports the Turkic names of its owners—Seyit and Aybet—while another, deciphered and published by K. B. Starkova, states: "This was written by me, Isaac, scribe of the Khagan" [8].

Until 1930, this manuscript was kept in the Krymchak community of Karasubazar, until it was handed over to V. L. Dashevsky, a research fellow at the Asiatic Museum of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad. Currently, this manuscript, written in biblical square script on specially prepared calfskin parchment with a single wooden cover, is the oldest handwritten monument located in the territory of the former USSR and is preserved in Saint Petersburg [9].

In an early 16th-century source, the Ritual of Kaffa, there is important data concerning the language of the Krymchaks. The author and editor of this ritual was Moses ha-Goleh, a scholarly Kyiv rabbi accepted by the Krymchak community who became its prominent religious leader. Excerpts from a copy of this ritual, kept in the early 1920s in the Kaufmann collection in the library of the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment among the Jews, were utilized in the research of the Russian Jewish historian I. Z. Berlin.

In one of the passages from the Ritual of Kaffa cited by I. Z. Berlin, there is evidence that for the majority of the members of the Krymchak community, part of the prayers were translated into the conversational language of the Krymchaks, which the editor of the ritual terms "lishon Tavricha", "Tatar lishon", and "Turqi lishon", which translate as "the language of Taurida", "the Tatar language", and "the Turkic language". Sabbath sermons were likewise delivered in this language [10].

Among the Krymchak manuscripts in the collection of the Saint Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, there is preserved a handwritten prayer book from the second half of the 17th century with translations of Jewish prayers into the Krymchak language [11].

In the early 17th century, the Krymchak religious figure David Lekhno edited and prepared the Ritual of Kaffa for print, appending to it a preface in the Krymchak language.

Many manuscripts of religious content were removed in an unknown direction from the Simferopol Krymchak house of worship (Qaal) in 1929. The situation is better regarding the many religious books printed at the beginning of the century by Krymchak clergy.

Special mention must be made of the vigorous publishing activity of Rabbi Nissim Halevi Chachir, who translated and brought to light several major books of religious content in the Krymchak language. Editions of Rabbi Chachir’s Krymchak translations of biblical books are held in many libraries. Interestingly, they are not translations in the literal sense of biblical texts from ancient Hebrew into Krymchak.

For example, the entire text of the book Nisim ve-Niflaot ("Miracles and Wonders") (Jerusalem: Frumkin Printing House, 1907. — 56 pp.) is written in Krymchak. It recounts various events connected to the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Consequently, one might expect that this is a translation of the Book of Exodus, but this is not the case. The book Nisim ve-Niflaot is a text intended for narration on the first night of Passover; it is a so-called maggid, an expanded outline for the leader of the festive meal.

The beginning of the text is as follows:

Эвляд сорар бабасына песах геджесинде, маца кесильген вакты, не учюн кесейирсиз бу мацу, мацаны дийин. Бабасы джояп къайтарыр эвлядына ве эв адамларына ки: «Биз бурджлуйыз бу песах геджесинде хашем йитбарахнынъ буюкликини бабаларымыза эттиги неслерини анълатып ве онунъ буюкликини билип чокъ шукюр этмеге; Билесин огълум ки ол вакъытта Нимрод падишанынъ кунюнде ки о буюк ве кучлю падиша эди»

Translation: On the Passover evening, when they cut [the matzah], the child asks his father: "Why are you cutting this matzah, tell me about the matzah?" The father replies to his child and to all the household members: "On this Passover evening we are obligated to speak of the greatness of Hashem Yitbarakh [the Blessed Name] and the things He did for our fathers, and, knowing His greatness, to offer much thanksgiving. Know, my son, that in those times, in the days of King Nimrod, he was a great and powerful padishah."

It was in this manner that the Krymchaks began recounting the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The legend of Nimrod occupies a significant place at the beginning of the book. The subsequent description of events is also a retelling of biblical legends. Attention should be paid to the title page of the book Nisim ve-Niflaot, which bears these words: "This is a brief history of the Exodus, beginning from the deeds of Nimrod and Abraham up to the departure of (his) sons from Egypt, as is customary among us to narrate on Passover night."

Sometimes, in a Krymchak book, there is both a biblical text and its translation. In addition to the biblical text, there is also a text in Hebrew, traditionally used by Krymchak clerics as a sacred language, just as in Europe Catholic clergy use Latin and Muslims use Arabic. As an example, one may examine the Krymchak translation of the Book of Ruth. The title page of the book reads as follows: "The Book of Ruth, its translation from Hebrew and translation into the Tatar language in which we, the children of the Krymchaks, converse."

The text of one of the editions (Piotrków: Cederbaum Printing House, 1906. — 52 pp., title page in Hebrew-Russian) contains three parallel variants: in the book, the biblical text is divided into 15 small excerpts, each of which is followed by another Hebrew text of corresponding content, followed by the translation of the latter into the Krymchak language. An examination of the texts showed that the Krymchak variant is a translation of a Hebrew translation of an unknown Aramaic Targum of the Book of Ruth. The term "Targum" refers to Aramaic translations of the books of the Bible. The age of some Targums exceeds two thousand years. It may be assumed that this Targum, along with its Turkic translation, was utilized by the Krymchaks in oral form long before its publication.

The beginning of the Krymchak text:

Translation: And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there were several hungry (years) in the land of Israel. Ten terrible famine (years) were sent by heaven onto the earth from those days when the world was created until the time when the Messiah comes to judge those living upon this earth. The first famine was in the days of Adam. The second famine was in the days of Lamech. The third famine was in the days of Abraham. The fourth famine was in the days of Isaac.

For comparison, as is well known, the beginning of the biblical Book of Ruth is as follows: "In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons."

Another work by Rabbi Chachir awaits its researcher. This is a trilogy published in 1902 under the title Ne'imot b'Yemin Netsach. The trilogy includes prayers widespread among the Krymchaks. The first part of the trilogy comprises hymns traditionally sung during Shabbat and on the night following Shabbat. The second part contains prayers performed during the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Kippur. The third part contains songs and prayers dedicated to joyful events and minor holidays. The book contains 172 pages; the text in the Krymchak language, written in square Hebrew script, is accompanied by a parallel Hebrew text.

It should be noted that practically all texts intended for use in public worship are written in the Krymchak language, which was close and comprehensible to the congregants of Krymchak prayer houses. The title of the trilogy translates literally into Russian as "Melodies at the Right Hand of Eternity", which is also a pasuk (verse), that is, a line from the preface to the evening prayers.

The compiler of all the aforementioned books, Rabbi Nissim Halevi Chachir (Tsakhchir), was a famous religious teacher of the Krymchaks. Like most of the most respected spiritual pastors, he could be identified by an acronym of his name, formed from the first letter of his given name and the last two letters of his surname—Netsach, which in Hebrew signifies "eternity". Thus, the name of the compiler is commemorated within the title of the trilogy.

The introduction to the book was written by Chachir’s father-in-law, the equally renowned Rabbi Chaim Hezekiah Medini. An enterprising and purposeful, almost legendary figure, Rabbi Medini was the spiritual head of the Krymchaks of Karasubazar from 1866 to 1899. Over the course of 33 years, Pastor Chaim Medini established a whole series of schools and rabbinical academies (yeshivot) in Crimea, thereby elevating the literacy level of the Krymchaks. At the turn of the century, Pastor Medini traveled to Jerusalem to accelerate the publication of all the above-described religious books in the Krymchak language, hoping that the religious doctrine he preached would become accessible in every Krymchak home. Today, these religious books take on immense value as primary sources for the study of the Krymchak language.

[8] Starkova, K. B. Les plus anciens manuscrits de la Bible dans la collection de l'Institut des études orientales de l'Académie des sciences de l'URSS // La paléographie hébraïque médiévale. – Paris, 1971. pp. 227–249.
[9] V. Lombroso, D. Rebi. The Krymchaks – Simferopol, 2001 – pp. 133–137.
[10] Ya. S. Ianbay. Turkic literature of the Krymchaks // Materials on Archaeology, History, and Ethnography of Tauria (MAIET). Issue VII. – Kerch, 2000.
[11] Starkova, K. B. Les plus anciens manuscrits de la Bible dans la collection de l'Institut des études orientales... – Paris, 1971. pp. 227–249.

Records of an Everyday Nature

Records of an everyday nature and correspondence also serve as an important source of information regarding the history, culture, daily life, and language of the Krymchaks. One of the earliest sources of such information is an early 16th-century letter from the Krymchak community of Kaffa to the Krymchak community of Karasubazar. It was written in square Hebrew script in the Krymchak language.

Most entries in the communal ledger of the Karasubazar Krymchak community in the second half of the 18th century were made in the Krymchak language. The occasion for such notes was any more or less noteworthy domestic incident occurring within the community. Here, for example, is one such entry made by a member of the Karasubazar community in 1785 [12]:

Şaatlikke qaysı oldı bizim ogümizde neçik ki keldi Şulemu bize dedi ki:

One of us, Sholem, came before us and said:

"Sizler bu cevanlarda şaat oluñız, filbaqi iqtiza vaqıtda şaatliğiñizi edersiz," dedi ki,

"Be my witnesses to these words, and confirm your testimony when necessary." He said:

"Anamızdan bize eki qardaş bir ev qaldı.

"Our mother left a house to us two brothers.

Qardaşım Elezer vefat oldu (yaşasın bizim muallimler ve cümle izrailler);

My brother Eliezer has passed away (may our teachers and all Israel live);

ve lâkin ekimiz Memetşa mirzağa yüz doqsan altı kuruş muameleli borcumız vardır.

however, both of us owe Mirza Memetsha a debt of 196 kurush with interest.

Bu evni satmalı olduq bu borc içün.

In order to repay this debt, we decided to sell the house.

Böyle tevratqa emin etti.

Thus the law [of the Torah] will be upheld.

Eger bu evni sattıqtan soñra borc berildikten er ne qadar quruş artsa balalarındır; kerek menim isem, kerek kendi isesi, cümle balaçıqlarnıñ sabiylerniñdir.

Whatever money remains after the house is sold and the debt is paid shall pass to the children. This applies equally to my share and his share; it belongs to all the children and infants.

Bu cevanlarda büyük emin ettim, bir türlü qıynaldığım yoqtur. Ancaq ki qalbim ilen bu cevanlara sizler şaat oluñız," dedi.

I make a solemn pledge to this decision with no hesitation whatsoever. I am wholehearted in this matter. Be witnesses to that which I request," he said.

Ve biz yazdıq bu satırlarnı ve imzaladıq adlarımıznı mında olmaq içün şaatlikke, yahşılıqqa ve körmek içün doğrulıq.

Therefore, we have written these lines and affixed our signatures to bear witness to this good settlement and to confirm its truth.

Bügün pençeşenbe künü Sivan ayınıñ 10-ı, 5545 senede. Ve cümle bu sözler qattıdır, bektir ve qaviydir.

Today is Thursday [eve of Friday], the 10th of the month of Sivan, in the year 5545 [c. 1785 CE]. All of these words are firm, steadfast, and binding.

İmza / Signatures

This text was originally written in square Hebrew cursive, subsequently transliterated into Arabic script by the prominent Krymchak educator I. S. Kaya, and used in his article published in the journal Okuv Ishleri.

The greatest quantity of such records was made by the Karasubazar Krymchaks, where for many years there was a large Krymchak quarter known as the "Krymchak side." Such entries were made in handwritten journals—dzhonki. Into the dzhonki, in addition to the already mentioned folklore works, were inscribed texts of religious content, events of secular life, personal events, and various financial accounts.

The dzhonka passed from father to eldest son as an important and very precious family relic. Most of these handwritten journals, unfortunately, were lost during the anti-religious campaign of the 1930s and during World War II, when not only the dzhonki perished, but the Krymchaks themselves. A very small number of dzhonki are currently preserved in the uncataloged archive of the prominent Krymchak educator Evsey Peysakh, kept today in Saint Petersburg, and in a few Krymchak families [13].

[12] Tragic is the fate of a small people—the Krymchaks, almost completely exterminated during the years of fascist occupation of Crimea // Multi-Ethnic Crimea – Simferopol, 1988 – p. 35.
[13] Berlin, I. Z. Historical Fates of the Jewish People on the Territory of the Russian State. – Petersburg, 1919. – 201 pp.

Authorial Works

Original authorial works appeared among the Krymchaks only at the beginning of the 20th century. With the establishment of Soviet power in Crimea, the state began to conduct intensive anti-religious propaganda. Secular institutions began to emerge in place of religious ones. Beginning in the early 1920s, "Krymchak Clubs" were opened in all cities of Crimea, in which theatrical plays were staged in the native language by amateur performers. The first theatrical section was established in 1923.

The repertoire was diverse: plays on biblical themes (Esther and Mordecai), adaptations of popular Turkic musical comedies (Arshin Mal Alan, Koroghlu), and others. The need arose to create plays depicting the actual life of the Krymchaks. Thus arose the plays Doghmush Qurbanlary ("Victims of Kinship"), Eki Ev Qaragha Dondu ("Two Houses Turned to Black / Mourning") by M. Dondo, Qyrmyzy Yildyz ("The Red Star"), Murtsyz Sevda ("Beardless Love") by I. Chachir, and Amma da Kelin ("What a Bride!") by A. Kh. Bakshi. Naturally, the texts of all these dramatic poems exist in written form and capture the state of the language and culture of the Krymchaks of the 1920s–1930s.

The text of the last of the aforementioned plays was published in the book The Krymchaks, released in Simferopol in 2001. The plot of the play is as follows: A father intends to marry off his sixteen-year-old daughter, Rayechka. The daughter does not want to marry; she says she wants to receive a complete education. But her father confronts her with the fact that he already has a candidate picked out for her. Rayechka, being a resourceful girl, implores the domestic servant Ersyz to dress up as a girl and meet the groom. She herself disguises herself as the servant girl.

The groom arrives and sees this "bride." Horrified, he prepares to flee. At that moment, the father enters and sees the groom trying to leave the house under any pretext. He asks Rayechka what happened. The groom realizes a practical joke has been played on him, but he is delighted when he understands that his true bride will be such a beautiful young woman. Rayechka also finds the groom appealing, and she gives her consent to the marriage. The scene concludes with the enraged father chasing Ersyz, still dressed in a woman's dress, off into the wings.

The play inherits the traditions of classical comedy, strictly observing the unity of time, place, and action. The language of the comedy is already heavily Russified; it contains a whole stratum of calqued expressions, such as anglichanskiy til ("the English language"), as well as numerous colloquial slang expressions borrowed from Russian. Nevertheless, the play was written by a Krymchak author in the Krymchak language.

By and large, this period can be considered a flourishing—however brief—of dramaturgy in the Krymchak language. Following this came a period of total, deliberate Russification, during which theatrical circles were closed down.

Soon after arrived World War II, during which the greater part (80%) of this already small ethnos perished. However, it was precisely this tragedy that gave birth to a whole cycle of mournful songs about the bitter fate of a people who fell victim to fascist genocide, such as Bugun Desem ("If I Say Today..."), Dzhanavar Fashist Qyrymda... ("The Fascist Beasts in Crimea..."), and many other works written by A. Levi, I. Konfino, V. Baginskaya (Gurdji), and others. It was customary to read such works on Tykun—the memorial day for the Krymchaks shot during the fascist occupation of Crimea—up until 1986.

The elderly still remember and perform these sorrowful songs today, reading these poems and regarding them as folk songs. Nevertheless, in these poems and songs, there are allusions to traditional Krymchak and Crimean Tatar songs. For example, the lines:

Анам десем, анам йох, Атам… десем, атам йох…

(If I cry "Mother!", I have no mother, If I cry "Father!", I have no father...)

taken from the poem The Fascist Beasts in Crimea..., echo the lines of the eighth folk song recorded by Filonenko in his study Krymchak Etudes.

Textbooks and pedagogical literature can be singled out as a distinct category of written sources penned by specific authors.

In the 1920s, the Soviet government conducted a policy of developing national cultures. In 1926, two Krymchak schools functioned in Crimea, where 7 teachers instructed 300 Krymchak children. For this reason, the renowned Krymchak educator I. S. Kaya published the first textbook for elementary Krymchak schools in 1928, utilizing the Latin alphabet. Two years later, he published another textbook for Krymchak schools under the title Qrьmcaq mekteblerinin ekinci sьnьfьna maxsus oquv kitabь ("Reading Book Intended for the Second Grade of Krymchak Schools").

Both books contain texts designed for young school-age children and are vital to us because they document the exact state of the Krymchak language in the 1920s:

Original Krymchak Text	Russian Translation	English Translation
Балалар йувунайлар.	Дети купаются.	The children are bathing.
Йазнынъ чиллесы. Балалар йазлых ташлангъанлар. Мектэблердэ охымах йох. Ава пек сычъакъ. Кунэш къыздырай. Ойнамах ичун сокъахта чъыйылгъан балалар нэ йапачъахларыны быльмийлер.	Лето в разгаре. У детей каникулы. В школах занятий нет. Жарко. Солнце припекает. Собравшиеся поиграть на улице дети не знают, что им делать.	Summer is in full swing. The children are on vacation. There are no classes in the schools. It is very hot. The sun blazes. The children gathered on the street to play do not know what to do.
Балалардан быры:	Один из мальчишек:	One of the boys says:
– Айдынъыз, чайгъа варыб, быр йувунайых! – дий.	– Айда на речку купаться!	"Come on, let's go to the river and take a swim!"
Къалгъан балалар:	Остальные:	The rest of the children say:
– Йахшы сойледынъ! Айдынъыз, варайых! – дийлер.	– Хорошо сказал! Пошли! – говорят.	"Well said! Come on, let's go!"
Эпсы балалар догъры чайгъа келийлер.	Все дети понеслись на речку.	All the children rush straight to the river.
Озен йанында зув-чув: быр йакътан урбаларны чыхарайлар, быр йакътан кийынийлер. Сувдакы балалар чапышайлар, къычрышайлар, быры бырлерынынъ устынэ сув сычратайлар.	На берегу – сутолока: кто раздевается, кто одевается. Купающиеся в воде барахтаются, кричат, брызгают друг на друга водой.	On the bank, there is bustling noise: on one side they undress, on the other they get dressed. The children in the water splash around, shout, and spray water on one another.
Эсльычъы быр адам огъылына:	Пожилой мужчина сыну:	An elderly man says to his son:
– Олды, Шимон, йувунгъанынъ, чых энды сувдан! – дий.	– Хватит, Шимон, купаться, выходи уже из воды!	"That's enough bathing, Shimon, come out of the water now!"
Шимон, сувдан чыхкъанда, къалтырай, титрий эды. Атасы онъа:	Вышедший из воды Шимон дрожит, трясётся от холода. А отец ему:	Shimon, coming out of the water, shivers and trembles. His father says to him:
– Кордынъ мы, сойледым дэ санъа “сувда о къадар отырмах олмаз”, дэб! Сен меным созымны саймадынъ, штэ шынды дыр-дыр къалтырайсынъ! – дэды.	– Видишь, говорил же я тебе “нельзя так долго оставаться в воде”! Ты меня не послушался, вот и дрожишь теперь “дыр-дыр”!	"Do you see? Didn't I tell you, 'You must not stay in the water so long!' You did not heed my word, and look at you now, shivering 'brrr-brrr'!"

The story presented above is one of the texts located within I. S. Kaya's 82-page book Qrьmcaq mekteblerinin ekinci sьnьfьna maxsus oquv kitabь. The original text was published in Latin script.

(Translator's note: I.S. Kaya's book is in the process of being illustrated, so that children and educators alike can read these stories. You can also find them in the "Complete Guide to the Krymchak Language" on Amazon).

The primary value of I. S. Kaya’s textbooks lies in the fact that they are the first written monuments that fully reflect vowel sounds. The ancient Hebrew and Aramaic scripts used by the Krymchaks over the preceding several centuries did not adequately reflect the phonetic values of vowels.

Graphic Systems of the Written Monuments

The uniqueness (and simultaneously, the challenge) of the Krymchak language lies in the fact that throughout the history of its existence, it changed its writing system five times.

Religion was a vital factor in the formation of the Krymchak ethnos. By virtue of the fact that the Krymchaks practice Judaism, ancient Hebrew and Aramaic served as their sacred languages. The paleo-Hebrew script was utilized by Jews prior to the Babylonian conquest; with its help, the greater part of the texts of the Bible was recorded.

Following the Babylonian conquest, the Hebrew language and script were supplanted by Aramaic. Still later, on an Aramaic basis, there developed the so-called "square Hebrew script." In the 3rd–5th centuries CE, the Talmud was compiled in Aramaic.

This explains the fact that up until 1926, the Krymchaks utilized square Hebrew script and an Aramaic-derived cursive known as an adapted Rashi cursive, recognized among specialists under the name Solitreo. The square Hebrew script was used in religious literature and formal dzhonki. The adapted Rashi cursive was used for private records, domestic notes, and correspondence within the dzhonki.

As mentioned above, Hebrew and Aramaic writing does not adequately reflect vowel sounds. In the Aramaic alphabet, vowels are not designated. In ancient Hebrew, vowels were initially not designated either. Subsequently, to guarantee the exact pronunciation of religious texts—especially the Bible—long vowels began to be indicated by certain semi-vowels and consonants (via the matres lectionis system).

When writing texts in the Krymchak language, individual letters were used to designate vowel sounds, alongside the use of the aspirated sound h, represented by the letter Ayin, and combinations of the letter Yod in conjunction with various diacritical marks [14]. Yet even after the creation of a diacritical vocalization system, the Hebrew script was incapable of reflecting the nuanced pronunciation of labial vowels; it provided no means of distinguishing the sound u from ü, or the sound o from ö.

(Portrait: Isaac Kaya)

The ancient Hebrew and Aramaic scripts were replaced quite unexpectedly by Arabic script. In the summer of 1927, two articles on this topic appeared in the newspaper Krasny Krym. The first reported on a conference scheduled for June 12, drawing attention to the allegation that writing had previously been absent among the Krymchaks. The article claimed that "the Krymchaks are a pre-literate people," despite the fact that a year earlier the outstanding Krymchak pedagogue and educator I. S. Kaya had published an article presenting detailed data regarding the historical use of writing by the Krymchaks [15]. He also provided translations of several mid-19th-century records printed in the journal Okuv Ishleri—which, incidentally, were printed in Arabic script.

In 1928, I. S. Kaya published two textbooks for Krymchak schools written in Latin script. Scholars to this day debate the vowel inventory of the Krymchak language. In my view, the texts of I. S. Kaya's textbooks unequivocally demonstrate the existence of the labial front vowels ö, ü, and ı in the Krymchak language. On the fold-out chart containing the Latin alphabet, the corresponding Hebrew letters were also provided—the graphic tradition of the family dzhonki had receded irrevocably into the past.

Soon the Latin script was also abandoned—it was replaced by Cyrillic script, which the Krymchaks (at least in Crimea) use to this day, and in which all modern literary works in the Krymchak language are composed. Nevertheless, a modified Latin orthography is still used today by Western scholars to transcribe Krymchak texts for academic circulation.

[14] Medvedeva, L. Ya. Collections of Karaite and Krymchak manuscripts in the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences // Soviet Turkology. – 1988. – No. 6. – pp. 89–102.
[15] Maria S. Polinsky. The Krymchaks: History and Texts. – Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher. – 1991. – No. 63 – pp. 134–136.

Characteristics of the Krymchak Language: Its Differences from the Crimean Tatar Language

For many years, the Krymchak language was considered a dialect of the Crimean Tatar language. Nevertheless, it possesses clear distinctions in the realms of phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax. It was for this reason that in 1997, the Russian Academy of Sciences officially recognized the Krymchak language as an independent Turkic language.

The vocabulary of the Krymchak language exhibits substantial differences from the lexical stock of the closely related Crimean Tatar and Karaite languages.

First, due to historical factors, Krymchak religious literature carries an extensive stratum of biblical vocabulary. In the aforementioned book Nisim ve-Niflaot [16], 65 ancient Hebrew words are present, constituting over 2% of the total lexicon of the text. Entire introductory formulas borrowed from Hebrew are also encountered, such as:

Hakadosh Barukh Hu — "May His Name be sanctified"
Hashem Yitbarakh — "The Blessed Name"

Substantial divergences also exist in everyday vocabulary. In the book The Krymchaks by V. Lombroso and D. Rebi, a comparative table of Krymchak, Karaite, and Crimean Tatar words is presented:

Russian	Krymchak	Crimean Tatar	Karaite	English Meaning
веселый	къур (qur)	шенъли (şenli)	къурсий, шен (qursiy, şen)	cheerful / merry
скверный	русфай (rusfay)	маскъара (masqara)	авара, русвай (avara, rusvay)	disgraceful / vile
гордиться	магъурланмах (mağurlanmaq)	гъурурланмакъ (ğururlanmaq)	къампаймакъ (qampaymaq)	to be proud
вдруг	анистан (anistan)	апансыздан (apansızdan)	апансыздан (apansızdan)	suddenly
влюбляться	эйран олмах (eyran olmaq)	севда олмах (sevda olmaq)	зэвдаланмакъ (zevdalanmaq)	to fall in love
спокойствие	хенльик (khenlik)	раат (raat)	рахъатлык (rahatlıq)	tranquility / peace

Furthermore, in certain cases, phonetic consonantal alternations occur between Crimean Tatar and Krymchak words:

An initial Crimean Tatar б (b) corresponds to a Krymchak в (v);
An initial Crimean Tatar т (t) before front vowels corresponds to a Krymchak ч (ch).

The law of vowel harmony (synharmonism) is occasionally violated in present-tense verb paradigms, where a > i under the palatalizing influence of y:

compare: ашийим (ashiyim — "I eat")
йашийим (yashiyim — "I live")

To the Crimean Tatar adverbial participle suffixes ending in -п (-p), there correspond Krymchak participial suffixes ending in -б (-b).

Another phenomenon of the Krymchak language is the equivalent, parallel usage of the two-variant past non-witnessed suffix -мыш (-mysh) alongside the four-variant participial suffix -гъан (-ghan).

The Krymchak language is also characterized by distinct forms of auxiliary words and conjunctions, such as:

бельким (belkim — "perhaps")
чюнкюм (chünküm — "because")
илен (ilen — "with")
кибик (kibik — "like / as")

There are also a number of significant differences in syntax (for instance, in the construction of complex compound and subordinate sentences). All of these features must be taken into account when reading Krymchak written sources.

[16] Medvedeva, L. Ya. Collections of Karaite and Krymchak manuscripts... – p. 99.

Conclusions

The condition of the Krymchak language today is tragic. The number of Krymchaks residing in Crimea totals merely 204 individuals. The number of native speakers can be counted on one's fingers. Today, it is critically urgent to halt the process of the language's total disappearance.

Based on the corpus of literary works outlined in this study, it is essential to create a dedicated corpus of books in the Krymchak language. To this end, funding must be provided for linguistic expeditions to the archives of libraries and universities in Russia and Israel, where the majority of written sources in the Krymchak language are housed.

The resulting copies of manuscripts and books must be transcribed so that they can subsequently be utilized for the study of Krymchak culture and the revitalization of the Krymchak language.

Transcription must be executed in two writing systems: Cyrillic and Latin. Transcribing Krymchak texts into the Latin alphabet is essential so that thousands of English-speaking residents of Western countries with Krymchak roots may access them. According to data from the "First Brotherhood of Crimean Jews," approximately 700 Krymchaks and their descendants live in America alone, taking an active part in communal affairs.

Subsequently, the assembled materials should be translated into English, Russian, Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian, and Turkish, so that the cultural wealth of the Krymchaks becomes accessible to the international community.

The next step on the path toward revitalizing the Krymchak language must be field research, which will help revive an essential stratum of vocabulary and record authentic phonetic pronunciation from the mouths of its few living speakers. The outcome of such research could be instructional audio CDs and an anthology of texts in the Krymchak language.

The creation of a major internet portal dedicated to the culture and language of the Krymchaks represents a vital priority. Because 80% of the Krymchaks were exterminated during the Nazi occupation of Crimea, the literary language practically ceased to evolve. Modern phenomena that have appeared in the world over the past 60 years simply lack native lexical designations in Krymchak. A prudent, gradual expansion of the lexical stock based on the richer and terminologically developed Crimean Tatar language could provide the foundation for the genuine development of the Krymchak language.

Complete Bibliographic References

[17] Achkinazi, I. V. The Krymchaks: A Historical-Ethnographic Essay. – Simferopol, 2000. – p. 114.
[18] Ya. S. Ianbay. Turkic literature of the Krymchaks // Materials on Archaeology, History, and Ethnography of Tauria. Issue VII. – Kerch, 2000.
[19] Medvedeva, L. Ya. Collections of Karaite and Krymchak manuscripts in the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences // Soviet Turkology. – 1988. – No. 6. – p. 99.
[20] Medvedeva, L. Ya. Collections of Karaite and Krymchak manuscripts... – p. 91.
[21] Iala Ianbay and Marcel Erdal. The Krimchak translation of Targum Sheni of the Book of Ruth // Mediterranean Language Review, 2000, No. 12 – pp. 1–15.
[22] Achkinazi, I. V. The Krymchaks... – p. 114.
[23] Iala Ianbay and Marcel Erdal. The Krimchak Book of Miracles and Wonders // Mediterranean Language Review, 2000, No. 12 – pp. 41–141.