Re: [tied] Re: Question

01-11-03 22:16, Sergejus Tarasovas wrote:

> No, they haven't done so, since they don't identify themselves with
> the Jews at all. But most of them have indeed replaced Karaite with
> Lithuanian and/or local Polish-Belarusian-Russian vernacular. The
> Lithuanian government has been making some effort to help them retain
> their national (including linguistic) identity, but my impression is
> the full linguistic assimilation is inevitable, unfortunately.

There are some remnants of the Karaites in today's Poland as well (about
200 of them, I think). There was one Karaite family in a small town near
Warsaw where I lived as a kid. Warsaw has the only Karaite cemetery in
Poland. As far as I know, all of them are Polish-speaking and have
abandoned their original language, classified in the NW Turkic (Kypchak)
group, so "Karaite" is now a purely religious label.

Piotr