If you come across a document written in Judeo-Spanish (“Ladino”) in your basement or attic, composed by a grandparent or great-grandparent, there is a good chance that it is penned in Solitreo. Solitreo refers to the cursive variety of the Hebrew alphabet used among Sephardic populations for centuries. Written from right to left, Solitreo is no longer used among speakers (or writers) of Judeo-Spanish today. In fact, most speakers of the language are not able to read postcards, photo inscriptions, ledgers, or letters in this script, even if they understand Judeo-Spanish or can read Hebrew. Solitreo is part of the Sephardic legacy, and an understanding of these ganchos “hooks” not only allows one to decipher documents in this style of writing but also reclaim an all but lost remnant of the past.
After a year and a half of collecting, digitizing, and transcribing a range of documents in Solitreo, the Documenting Judeo-Spanish (www.documentingjudeospanish.com) project launched in March 2020. This project, directed by Professor Bryan Kirschen of Binghamton University and supported by the Harpur College Faculty Research Grant, has provided a platform for educators, students, scholars, and community members to view just over two dozen unique documents in Solitreo, including a Livro de Misvot (Book of Honors) from Bulgaria, community correspondence from Greece, theatrical sketches from the United States, and poetry from Turkey. The portal is particularly innovative in that it allows users to select a document and hover their cursor over any word to reveal its romanized (Latin character) transcription; an additional click shows the meaning of the highlighted word. All texts also include parallel transcriptions and translations.
Spearheaded by research assistant and Binghamton University alumnus Nathan Gross (‘21), the Documenting Judeo-Spanish project also includes a fully-developed font in Solitreo. Letters and ligatures are based on careful review of hundreds of pages of content penned in Solitreo, including pages visible to the public or in our greater collection of documents. Finding a platform to share this font was of utmost importance, especially to provide the greatest level of accessibility. In March 2023, we were pleased to announce the launch of our Solitreo font, available through Google Fonts. After years of collaboration, version 1 of this font is now available, with additional features (e.g. ligatures) planned for subsequent releases. Should you be interested in using the Solitreo font, we recommend viewing our short step-by-step video tutorial one our website.
While a Solitreo font is an anomaly in that this system of (hand)writing was never used in books or periodicals (printed in Rashi or Meruba characters), the font comes at a time when we are seeing an uptick of interest not only in Judeo-Spanish but also digital advances in the ways that speakers and users of the language interact with the language. Having this free resource available through Google Drive, which includes the highly-used Google Docs and Google Slides applications, provides another avenue for Judeo-Spanish to be preserved in digital domains. We look forward to hearing from you and learning about the ways in which you utilize this font.
If you have any documents in Solitreo that you need help deciphering, or if you’d like to discuss having your materials featured on our platform, please contact kirschen@binghamton.edu
קאמינוס די ליג׳י אי מייל – סאנוס אי ריזייוס קי איסטיש!
Kaminos de leche i miel — sanos i rezios ke estesh!
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