Shabbat (Saturday) in Modern Egypt: Customs and Their Reflection in Spoken Judeo-Arabic

Egyptian Jews speak a distinctive Arabic dialect differing in several respects from the Arabic spoken by their Muslim and Christian neighbours. The article describes lexical items originating in both Hebrew and Arabic that are connected to traditions and customs related to the holy day of Shabbat (Saturday); some of these items are in a mixed style (Hebrew-Arabic). This vocabulary, shared by the Jews of Egypt, is not understood by their non-Jewish neighbours. The focus is on vocabulary and customs, but some grammatical peculiarities that appear in the vocabulary are also referred to.