Religion - Etymology of the Word "Jew"
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 iudeus from the Greek Ιουδαίος.
The Latin simply means Judaean, from the land of Judaea. The Old English
equivalent was Iudeas, meaning "Judean".
A much less common view is that the word Jew is from Jewry, from the
Greek Εβραίοι (evrei) meaning Hebrew, which some speculate comes from
the ancient Egyptian hiberu or habiru, which meant "stranger".
Under the latter view, Abraham, Jacob/Israel and other patriarchs are
regarded as Jews while under the former only the descendants (ethnically
or physically) of the Judaeans from the Kingdom of Judah would be Jews,
strictly speaking.
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" [1] (Genesis 14:13) who "passed over" from being a gentile to
becoming a "convert" to the faith of Monotheism. Another theory is that
this root is derived from the name of Eber (עבר) mentioned in Genesis
10:21 [2] .
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.
The name for the Jewish people in Hebrew is Yehudim (plural of yehudi) (יהודים).
Classical Rabbinic literature has a tradition which traces the word Jew
to Genesis 29:35 [3] 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.
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 [4]) 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".
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.
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 give the impression that the term
"Jew" is offensive in all contexts.
In much the same manner Yid — 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 they would be better people if they were
stricter in their observance (e.g. Yidden [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" or "poetess" 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.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_the_word_Jew
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