Etymology of the word Jew
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This article focuses on the etymology of the word Jew.
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[edit] Biblical and Middle Eastern origins: The Jews in their land
There is some scholarly controversy over whether Judaea is a patronymic or if it was a purely geographic term of uncertain Semitic origin. If indeed it is patronymic, it corresponds to the Hebrew y'hudi (יהודי) (or yehudi) connected to Judah in English, a member of the Twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel, i.e., Jacob's sons. According to Genesis, Judah was the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob, from whom the tribe descended. It is suggested that the word, "Jew" originally derived from the Tribe of Judah when the Kingdom of Israel, consisting of what is contemporarily known as Ten Lost Tribes of Israelites, was destroyed and were taken into captivity while the tribe of Judah, which had earlier separated from the other tribes to form the Kingdom of Judah, remained unaffected.
The Jewish ethnonym in Hebrew is Yehudim (plural of yehudi) (יהודים). Classical Rabbinic literature has a tradition which traces the word Jew to Genesis 29:35 [1] which says that Judah's mother — the matriarch Leah — named him Yehudah (i.e. "Judah") because she wanted to "praise God" for giving birth to so many sons: "She said, 'This time let me praise (odeh אודה) God (יהוה),' and named the child Judah (Yehudah יהודה)." Thus combining "praise" and "God" into one new name.
In Hebrew, the name "Judah" (י ה ו [ד] ה) contains the four letters of the Tetragrammaton — the special, holy, and ineffable name of the Jewish God. The very holiness of the name of Judah attests to its importance as an alternate name for "Israelites" that it ultimately replaces.
Thereafter in the Biblical narrative, Judah vouchsafes the Jewish monarchy, and the Israelite kings David and Solomon derive their lineage from Judah. Indeed, there is the tradition that the "Judaeans" (יהודים) (Jews) are named for him, their ancient tribal ancestor.
This word also appears in the Bible in a verb form, in Esther 8:17 [2] which states, Many of the people of the land "mityahadim - became Yehudim/Judeans/Jews" because the fear of the Yehudim fell on them.
[edit] Possibilities of European origin
The most common view is that the Middle English word Jew is from the Old French giu, earlier juieu, from the Latin Iudaeus from the Greek Ἰουδαῖος. The Latin simply means Judaean, from the land of Judaea. In the Old English the word is attested as early as 1000 in various forms, such as Iudeas, Gyu, Giu, Iuu, Iuw, Iew.
A much less common view is that the word Jew is from Jewry, from the Greek Ἑβραῖοι (evrei) meaning Hebrews, which some speculate comes from the ancient Egyptian hiberu or habiru, which meant "stranger".
In the Hebrew language the word "Hebrew", ivri (עברי), means "one who 'passes' over" as did the patriarch Abraham, referred to as "Abram the Hebrew" [3] (Genesis 14:13) who "passed over" from being a gentile to becoming a "convert" to the faith of Monotheism, though it could derive from the fact th Abraham came from the other side of the River Euphrates. Another theory is that this root is derived from the name of Eber (עבר) mentioned in Genesis 10:21 [4] .
[edit] Ancient terminology
In some places in the Talmud the word Israel(ite) refers to somebody who is Jewish but does not necessarily practice Judaism as a religion: "An Israel(ite) even though he has sinned is still an Israel(ite)" (Tractate Sanhedrin 44a). More commonly the Talmud uses the term Bnei Yisrael, i.e. "Children of Israel", ("Israel" being the name of the third patriarch Jacob, father of the sons that would form the twelve tribes of Israel, which he was given and took after wrestling with an angel, see Genesis 32:28-29 [5]) to refer to Jews. According to the Talmud then, there is no distinction between "religious Jews" and "secular Jews." In modern English, the term "Israelite" is never used to refer to contemporary Jews, but can be used to refer to Jews of the Biblical era. The Jews of today's State of Israel are called "Israelis" and do not call themselves "Israelites" in English. They Hebrew word "Yisraeli" is the same for both.
[edit] Usage by non-Jews
The term Israelite has also been appropriated by various non-Jewish groups, for example the Rastafarians, who claim descent from the tribes of Israel.
[edit] Negative use
The word Jew has been used often enough in a disparaging manner by anti-Semites that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was frequently avoided altogether, and the term Hebrew was substituted instead (e.g. Young Men's Hebrew Association). Even today some people are wary of its use, and prefer to use "Jewish". Indeed, when used as an adjective (e.g. "Jew lawyer") or verb (e.g. "to Jew someone"), the term Jew is purely pejorative. However, when used as a noun, "Jew" is preferred, as other circumlocutions (e.g. "Jewish person") give the impression that the term "Jew" is offensive in all contexts.
In much the same manner, Yid (ייִד) — Yiddish for "Jew", and a benign term when taken without context — was once used as an insult, but now is often used by Jews in praise, to describe an upstanding religiously observant Jew (e.g., "He's such a Yid, giving up his time like that") or to distinguish upstanding religiously observant Jews from non-observant, with the implication that the latter would be better people if they were stricter in their observance (e.g., "Yidn [ייִדן – plural for Yid] wouldn't do such a thing").
In the past, the term "Jewess" was sometimes used for Jewish women. This word, like "Negress" is now at best an archaism, and is generally taken as an insult. However, some modern Jewish women have reclaimed the term Jewess and use it proudly.
[edit] See also
- Jewish ethnonym in various languages
