Judeo-Arabic Proverbs from Fez

Louis Brunot

Elie Malka

1940

Sensitive Content

This text includes discriminatory perspectives on people's skin color. This text provides insight into Jewish history; however, The Posen Library does not condone or promote hate speech of any kind.

Proverbs

1. “If a pale woman desires you, do not desire her! Do not waste on her the legacy from your father and your grandfather! She is like a white spot that, settling in the eye, blinds it.”

This is just a saying; it does not indicate a general repulsion for some women’s white skin.

2. “If a rosy-skinned woman desires you, desire her! Spend on…

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Educators Louis Brunot and Elie Malka collected everyday sayings and proverbs used by Jews in the Moroccan city of Fez, in a project to preserve spoken Judeo-Arabic and folk traditions. They initially published their work in the French academic journal Hespéris in the late 1930s. Their book includes the proverbs in their original Judeo-Arabic dialect, alongside French translations, explanations of meanings, and a glossary of local vocabulary.
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