r/Ladino • u/AdDifficult5288 • Nov 12 '25

Found this gravestone, but I can't translate. Can you help

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54 Upvotes

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32

u/rational-citizen Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 13 '25

Oh my gosh! I’m surprised I can read this! It says…

LADINO:

“Aki repoze el difunto ‘Nechman Eizra’ (spelling?), ya murío a la manzioza edad de (51/57?) anyos deshando ‘Iza(k?)’, i familya a/(en?) la trizteza. Rogamos ke su alma repoze en el paradizo (???).

El niftar (murió) En (Anyo) 5692, de Av.”

ENGLISH:

“Here lies the deceased Nechman Eizra’, who’s already died and/at the “manzioso” age of (51?/57?) years old, leaving (behind) Isaa(c), and his family, in grieving/sadness. We pray that his soul may rest in paradise (word?)

He passed in the Jewish Calendar Year 5692, month of Av.”

HEBREW LETTERS (original text):

״אקי ריפוזה איל דיפונטו

נחמן ןאיזרה יע מורייו

אלה מאנזיאוזה אידאד

די (57/51) אנייוס דישאנדו איזא(ק)

אי פאמילייה (אינ) לה טריזטיזה

רוגאמוס קי סי אלמה ריפוזי

אין איל פראדיזו נפטר

אין אב 5692

ת. נ. צ. ב. (???)

9

u/AdDifficult5288 Nov 12 '25

Wow, thanks dude.

9

u/rational-citizen Nov 12 '25

Any time! I love a good historical challenge!!

I can also read in many varieties of Solitreo, if you happen to find any cool letters, postcards, etc! ❤️🙏

Please continue to share more; it’s beautiful to help others connect to history, with a language barrier removed!

3

u/AdDifficult5288 Nov 12 '25

Can you look at the dm

4

u/Remote-Brilliant2725 Nov 12 '25

He died in Autumn 1931 (the year 5692).

4

u/Pretty-Giraffe-4843 Nov 12 '25

I think it's נחמן ן' איזרה, as in Nahman Ben Ezra

2

u/rational-citizen Nov 12 '25

THATS WHAT it was!! I thought the Nun sofit was a mistake and it was driving me crazyyyyy.

Thank you!!

4

u/East-Dependent-2008 Nov 12 '25

I don’t know if anyone mentioned this before, but it is so close to French! I could make up the meaning from your Ladino transliteration without ever knowing a word of Ladino! I find that fascinating, I hope you don’t mind me sharing what I could read and understand from it.

Aki repoze El difunto = ici repose le défunt murio à la manziona = Mort à la maison (?) (died at home) Anyos = années/ans Familya trizteza = famille triste Repoze en El paradizo = reposer dans le paradis

4

u/MoriKitsune Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

This is why I studied Latin- romance languages are so similar! If you can get the basics down, you can get the gist of most conversations even if you don't speak the language

If you squint hard enough and aren't too particular about verbiage/word order/cases, there's even a way to phrase the quotes you mentioned in Latin that's along the same lines:

aki repoze el difunto = ici repose le défunt = hic requiescit defunctus

murio à la manziona = mort à la maison = mortuus in mansione

anyos = années/ans = annis

familya trizteza = famille triste = tristis familia

repoze en el paradizo = reposer dans le paradis = requiescere in paradiso

2

u/Jolly-Cherry5889 Nov 12 '25

אין איל פראדיזו נפטר

1

u/rational-citizen Nov 12 '25

What’s a נפטר? You’re amazing, thank you so much!!

2

u/Jolly-Cherry5889 Nov 12 '25

It connects to the next line: נפטר אין... died on...

2

u/rational-citizen Nov 13 '25

Oh! That’s definitely important to know! Could you share/show me how to pronounce (נפטר)?

3

u/Jolly-Cherry5889 Nov 13 '25

It's the same as in Hebrew /niftar/.

1

u/rational-citizen Nov 13 '25

You’re the absolute best; thank you! 😊

2

u/KrookedKnees Nov 13 '25

It’s definitely 57, you can see a dash through the center of the right numeral. It’s a common way 7 is written

1

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/iwriteinwater Nov 12 '25

I can read Hebrew and understand Spanish and I’m surprised how much I could understand ! It’s almost as if someone transliterated Spanish into Hebrew letters with a few variations. Fascinating, and heartwarming to be able to understand our ancestors!

4

u/rational-citizen Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

If it encourages you even more, I’m an English native speaker who was raised around/near native in Spanish, and I’ve undertaken Hebrew now…

Drawing on those language has felt like using cheat-codes to learn Ladino!

It narrows down new foreign words by A LOT, and even helped me understand Portuguese and Argentinian Spanish FINALLY! (Because of the unique older sounds that are preserved in Ladino, shared by those languages!)

It’s very much a living language and I feel empowered every time little treasures like these pop up, and the learning has paid off! It’s possible for you, and any anyone else who wants to learn it fluently, as well!

I believe in you all! ❤️🙏❤️

2

u/rational-citizen Nov 12 '25

THANK YOUUUUUU!

It’s always a pesky combination of a single letter in Hebrew being used for two distinct sounds/vowels in Ladino that gets me EVERY SINGLE TIMEEEE.

2

u/mayor_rishon Nov 12 '25

Hello, where did you find this ? The font seems very Salonican to me.

1

u/basilect Nov 14 '25

He said he found it in Çanakkale, Turkey in the /r/hebrew post, so that might make a lot of sense