Zarphatic, also called Judeo-French (Zarphatic: Tzarfatit) or Western Loez,[3] is an extinct Jewish language that was spoken by the French Jews of northern France and in parts of west-central Germany, such as Mainz, Frankfurt am Main and Aix-la-Chapelle.
It first appeared in this form in the 11th century in glosses of the Torah and Talmud written by the rabbis Moshe HaDarshan and Rashi.
[3] The language became secularised during the 13th century, becoming used in varied domains such as poetry, medicine, astronomy, and commerce.
[3] Most linguists agree that Zarphatic was not fundamentally different from Old French, and that it was more of a writing system and literary tradition that reflected the Jewish culture of the day.
According to some researchers,[9] it was different from the Christian majority dialect, and thus a specific Judeo-Romance language.