Jew(word)

TheEnglishtermJewis originally derived from theHebrewtermYehudi(lit. 'ofJudah'), which passed intoGreekasIoudaiosand intoLatinasIudaeus,in turn evolving into theOld Frenchtermgiuafter the letter "d" was dropped.^[1]A variety of related forms are found in early English from about the year 1000, includingIudea,Gyu,Giu,Iuu,Iuw,andIew,which eventually developed into the modern English word for theJewish people.

Etymology

Yehudiin the Hebrew Bible

According to theBook of Genesis,Judah(יְהוּדָה‎,Yehudah) was the name of the fourth son of the patriarchJacob.During the Exodus, the name was given to theTribe of Judah,descended from the patriarch Judah. After the conquest and settlement of the land ofCanaan,Judah also referred to the territory allocated to the tribe. After the splitting of theunited Kingdom of Israel,the name was used for the southernkingdom of Judah.The kingdom now encompassed the tribes of Judah,BenjaminandSimeon,along with some of the cities of theLevites.With the destruction of the northernkingdom of Israel (Samaria),the kingdom of Judah became the sole Jewish state and the termy'hudi(יהודי‎) was applied to all Israelites.

The termYehudi(יְהוּדִי‎) occurs 74 times in theMasoretic textof the Hebrew Bible. The plural,Yehudim(הַיְּהוּדִים‎) first appears in2 Kings 16:6where it refers to a defeat for the Yehudi army or nation, and in2 Chronicles 32:18,where it refers to the language of the Yehudim (יְהוּדִית‎).Jeremiah 34:9has the earliest singular usage of the wordYehudi.InEsther 2:5–6,the name "Yehudi" (יְהוּדִי‎) has a generic aspect, in this case referring to a man from thetribe of Benjamin:

"There was a man aYehudi(Jewish man) inShushanthe capital, whose name wasMordecaithe son of Jair the son ofShimeithe son ofKish,aBenjamite;who had been exiled fromJerusalemwith the exile that was exiled withJeconiah,king ofJudah,whichNebuchadnezzar,king ofBabylon,had exiled. "

The name appears in the Bible as a verb inEsther 8:17which states:

"Many of the people of the landbecame Yehudim(in the generic sense) (מִתְיַהֲדִים‎,mityahadim) because the fear of the Yehudim fell on them. "

In some places in theTalmudthe wordIsrael(ite)refers to somebody who is Jewish but does not necessarily practiceJudaismas areligion:"An Israel(ite) even though he has sinned is still an Israel(ite)" (TractateSanhedrin44a). More commonly the Talmud uses the termBnei Yisrael,i.e. "Children of Israel", ( "Israel" being the name of the third patriarchJacob,father of the sons that would form the twelve tribes of Israel, which he was given and took after wrestling with an angel, seeGenesis32:28–29^[2]) to refer to Jews. According to the Talmud then, there is no distinction between "religious Jews" and "secular Jews."

Inmodern Hebrew,the same word is still used to mean both Jews and Judeans ( "of Judea" ). InArabicthe terms areyahūdī(sg.),al-yahūd(pl.), and بَنُو اِسرَائِيلbanū isrāʼīl.TheAramaicterm isY'hūdāi.

Development in European languages

TheSeptuagint(reputedly a product ofHellenistic Jewishscholarship) and other Greek documents translatedיְהוּדִי‎,Yehudiand theAramaicY'hūdāiusing theKoine GreektermIoudaios(Greek:Ἰουδαῖος;pl.ἸουδαῖοιIoudaioi), which had lost the 'h' sound. TheLatinterm, following the Greek version, isIudaeus,and from these sources the term passed to other European languages. TheOld Frenchgiu,earlierjuieu,hadelided(dropped) the letter "d" from the LatinIudaeus.TheMiddle EnglishwordJewderives fromOld Englishwhere the word is attested as early as 1000 in various forms, such asIudeas,Gyu,Giu,Iuu,Iuw,Iew.The Old English name is derived from Old French. The modernFrenchterm is "Juif/Juive" (m/f).

Most European languages have retained the letter "d" in the word for "Jew". Etymological equivalents are in use in other languages, e.g.JudeinGerman,judeuinPortuguese,jødeinDanishandNorwegian,judíoinSpanish,joodinDutch.In some languages, derivations of the word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe a Jew, e.g.,EbreoinItalianand Spanish,Ebri / Ebrani(Persian:عبری/عبرانی) inPersianand ЕврейYevreyinRussian.^[3](SeeList of Jewish ethnonymsfor a full overview.) The German wordJude([ˈjuːdə]) iscognatewith the Yiddish word for "Jew",Yid.^[4]

Jewish dictionary definitions and etymologies

According to the Klein dictionary by rabbiErnest Klein,the Hebrew word for Jew, Judean, or JewishHebrew:יְהוּדִיwhich is "yehudi"in Hebrew orig. meant 'member of the tribe Judah', later also 'member of the Kingdom of Judah'. When after the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.E. only the Kingdom of Judah survived, yehudi יֽהוּדִי came to denote 'Jew', resp. 'Jewish'. cp. 'Judaic', 'Jew', 'Chueta' and 'Yiddish'.^[5]

According to rabbiMarcus Jastrow's dictionary,yehudiis defined as "worshipper of one God" and rejecting idolatry.

Meg. 12^bקרי ליה י׳ אלמא מיהודה וכ׳ he is called Y'hudi (Esth. II, 5), which would indicate that he belongs to the tribe of Judah, and yet he is called ish y'mini &c.?, v. נִימוֹס. Ib. 13^a... ואמאי י׳... שכל הכופר בע "ז נקרא י׳ but why is he designated as Y'hudi? Because he disowned idolatry; for whosoever disowns idolatry, is called a Jew (ref. to Dan. III, 12); Esth. R. to II, 5 לפי שייחד... נקרא י׳ לומר י׳ יחירי because he professed the unity of God, he was called Y'hudi, meaning to say, a Y'hudi, a believer in One God.
— Marcus Jastrow,Jastrow's Dictionary^[6]

Modern use

Obverse of a Jewish silverYehudcoin from the Persian era, with falcon or eagle and Aramaic inscription"יהד"*"Yehud"*(Judaea)

Inmodern Englishand other contemporary languages, the term "Israelite" was used to refer to contemporary Jews as well as to Jews of antiquity until the mid-20th-century. Since the foundation of theState of Israel,it has become less common to use "Israelite" of Jews in general. Instead, citizens of the state of Israel, whether Jewish or not, are called "Israeli", while "Jew" is used as an ethno-religious designation.

Perception of offensiveness

The wordJewhas been used often enough in a disparaging manner byantisemitesthat in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was frequently avoided altogether, and the termHebrewwas substituted instead (e.g.Young Men's Hebrew Association). The German counterpartJudewas extensively used during theNazi periodas a part of its anti-semitic campaign (eventually leading togenocide).^[7]The word has become more often used in a neutral fashion, as it underwent a process known asreappropriation.^[8]^[9]Even today some people are wary of its use, and prefer to use "Jewish".^[10]^[11]Indeed, when used as an adjective (e.g. "Jew lawyer" ) or verb (e.g. "to Jew-down someone"^[12]), the termJewis purely pejorative. According toThe American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,Fourth Edition (2000):

It is widely recognized that the attributive use of the nounJew,in phrases such asJew lawyerorJew ethics,is bothvulgarand highly offensive. In such contextsJewishis the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use ofJewas a noun, a practice that carries risks of its own. In a sentence such asThere are now several Jews on the council,which is unobjectionable, the substitution of a circumlocution likeJewish peopleorpersons of Jewish backgroundmay in itself cause offense for seeming to imply thatJewhas a negative connotation when used as a noun.^[13]

References

^Cf.Marcus Jastrow'sDictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature,and the source he used:Megilla13a:2 (Talmud).
^"Genesis » Chapter 32".Archived fromthe originalon 2005-11-29.Retrieved2005-07-07.
^Falk, Avner(1996).A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews.Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 131.ISBN 0-8386-3660-8.
^"Yiddish".Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary(11th ed.). Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. 2004. p.1453.ISBN 0-87779-809-5.
^Klein, Ernest."Klein Dictionary, יְהוּדִי 1".www.sefaria.org.Sefaria.Retrieved8 October2023.
^Jastrow, Marcus."Jastrow's Dictionary".www.sefaria.org.Sefaria.Retrieved8 October2023.
^"Yellow Star; 'Jude'".The National Holocaust Centre and Museum.8 February 2015.
^Stephen Paul Miller; Daniel Morris (2010).Radical Poetics and Secular Jewish Culture.University of Alabama Press. p. 153.ISBN 978-0-8173-5563-0.
^M. Lynn Weiss (1998).Gertrude Stein and Richard Wright: The Poetics and Politics of Modernism.Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 66.ISBN 978-1-60473-188-0.
^Sales, Ben (October 5, 2020)."'Jew' isn't a slur. You don't have to avoid saying it ".The Washington Post.
^Oppenheimer, Mark (April 22, 2017)."Reclaiming 'Jew'".The New York Times.
^"Jew down".American Jewish Committee.30 March 2021.Retrieved23 March2024.
^Kleinedler, Steven; Spitz, Susan; et al., eds. (2005).The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style.Houghton Mifflin Company. Jew.ISBN 978-0-618-60499-9.

[1] Cf.Marcus Jastrow'sDictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature,and the source he used:Megilla13a:2 (Talmud).

[2] "Genesis » Chapter 32".Archived fromthe originalon 2005-11-29.Retrieved2005-07-07.

[3] Falk, Avner(1996).A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews.Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 131.ISBN 0-8386-3660-8.

[4] "Yiddish".Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary(11th ed.). Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. 2004. p.1453.ISBN 0-87779-809-5.

[klein1-5] Klein, Ernest."Klein Dictionary, יְהוּדִי 1".www.sefaria.org.Sefaria.Retrieved8 October2023.

[jm1-6] Jastrow, Marcus."Jastrow's Dictionary".www.sefaria.org.Sefaria.Retrieved8 October2023.

[7] "Yellow Star; 'Jude'".The National Holocaust Centre and Museum.8 February 2015.

[MillerMorris2010-8] Stephen Paul Miller; Daniel Morris (2010).Radical Poetics and Secular Jewish Culture.University of Alabama Press. p. 153.ISBN 978-0-8173-5563-0.

[Weiss1998-9] M. Lynn Weiss (1998).Gertrude Stein and Richard Wright: The Poetics and Politics of Modernism.Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 66.ISBN 978-1-60473-188-0.

[10] Sales, Ben (October 5, 2020)."'Jew' isn't a slur. You don't have to avoid saying it ".The Washington Post.

[11] Oppenheimer, Mark (April 22, 2017)."Reclaiming 'Jew'".The New York Times.

[12] "Jew down".American Jewish Committee.30 March 2021.Retrieved23 March2024.

[13] Kleinedler, Steven; Spitz, Susan; et al., eds. (2005).The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style.Houghton Mifflin Company. Jew.ISBN 978-0-618-60499-9.

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