{"id":2152,"date":"2026-07-28T13:54:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/?p=2152"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:54:06","slug":"haquetia-in-gibraltar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/haquetia-in-gibraltar\/","title":{"rendered":"Haquet\u00eda in Gibraltar"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sam Benady<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The Rock of Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704, and almost immediately Moroccan Jews began to settle there (the first Jews to reside openly in the Iberian Peninsula since the Expulsions of 1492 in Spain and 1497 in Portugal). These Jews came mostly from Tetuan, and they brought with them their language, which was based on Spanish, as a large proportion of the Jews of Tetuan were descended from Spanish Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 This immigration occurred in spite of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which ceded Gibraltar to Britain, and in which the Spanish monarch, Philip V, stipulated that Jews and Moors should not be allowed to reside in Gibraltar. However, the Jews were important by the British, as they acted as middlemen in the provision of supplies from Morocco, without which the garrison could not survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jews of Gibraltar, although now quite a small minority, have been prominent in professional and public life as well as in trade. One of the forgers of modern Gibraltar, the late Sir Joshua Hassan, was Chief Minister of the Rock for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Other immigrants flooded in from round the Mediterranean and beyond, and in the succeeding years a dialect evolved \u2013 \u201cLlanito\u201d or \u201cGiannito\u201d (a term also used for the Gibraltarians themselves). This dialect is based on Andalusian Spanish, with many adapted English words, but also words from Genoese, Portuguese, Arabic, Haquet\u00eda and other languages \u2013 even German has contributed at least one word: \u2018Chuni\u2019= \u2018cute\u2019 (from schoene<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            This Gibraltarian vernacular has been the subject of a number of academic studies throughout the years, but I do not believe that any of these has focused on the contribution made by haket\u00eda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the  words in Haquet\u00eda used by all Gibraltarians<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Ainear <\/strong>– to look at, eg: <\/em>\u2018Ainea el sah<\/u>en\u2019 (from Hebrew \u2019Ain = Eye)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcatufa<\/strong> – Chufa, \u00abtiger nut\u00bb ( from Arabic).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bezim<\/strong> – Courage. pl. \u2018bezims. (From Hebrew Eggs = testicles)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camalo <\/strong>–  Porter, Stevedore.    <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chavos –<\/strong> money (\u2019Ochavos\u2019)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esnoga<\/strong> – Synagogue (from Portuguese)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

H<\/u>asheo <\/strong>– Gossip<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ma\u2019ot<\/strong> – money (from Hebrew)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parn\u00e9 <\/strong>– money (from Hebrew \u2018parnas\u00e1\u2019)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sah<\/u>en <\/strong>– \u2018neighbour (from Hebrew. Referring to someone in earshot)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tum\u00e1 <\/strong>– Lit. \u2018dirt\u2019.  Used derisively for the (Catholic) Church: eg: \u2018Tengo una tia             muy<\/strong> metida en la tum\u00e1.<\/strong>\u2019 – \u2018I have a very religious aunt.\u2019 Almost certainly       used     without knowing the literal meaning (from Hebrew)!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woh<\/u>! –<\/strong>  Woe<\/em> — (from English) eg: \u2018Woh<\/u> por ti<\/strong>!\u2019= Woe to you! \u2018Haremos woh<\/u>\u2019<\/strong>= so         what?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phrases in Haquet<\/strong>\u00eda used only by (older) Jewish Gibraltarians<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferasmal <\/strong>– an acronym for ‘out of all evil’. An expression of affection.  May carry an        ironic meaning, depending on the context and tone of voice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dulce lo vivas <\/strong>– ‘May you live sweetly’ = an expression of courtesy said whenever             sweet refreshments is offered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ya hasr\u00e1 – <\/strong>Expression that laments the loss of something (period, event, etc.)<\/em> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tu boca en el cielo<\/strong> – ‘May your words be heard in Heaven’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Escapados del mal<\/strong> –  ‘May you be protected from trouble’–Expression of affection.          A common expression of  well-wishing <\/em><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

etc.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phrases in Haquet\u00eda that are used in Gibraltar, but which I had always assumed were vernacular Spanish<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dale que dale<\/strong> – ‘without hesitation’; ‘at once’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoy en d\u00eda- ‘<\/em><\/strong>now a days’<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pasar las negras – <\/strong>undergoing a lot of trouble and calamities<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Se vi\u00f3 negro –  ‘<\/em><\/strong>enormous efforts’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gibraltar, March, 2011<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sam Benady             The Rock of Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704, and almost immediately Moroccan Jews began to settle there (the first Jews to reside openly in the Iberian Peninsula since the Expulsions of 1492 in Spain and 1497 in Portugal). These Jews came mostly from Tetuan, and they brought with… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-2152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-haquetia-in-gibraltar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2153,"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152\/revisions\/2153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogia.com.ar\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}