Jews

== Name and etymology ==
{{main|Jew (word)}}
{{main list|List of Jewish ethnonyms}}
The term "Jew" is derived from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word {{lang|he|יְהוּדִי}} {{transliteration|he|Yehudi}}, with the [[plural]] {{lang|he|יְהוּדִים}} {{transliteration|he|Yehudim}}.<ref name="EJ253">{{cite EJ|last=Grintz|first=Yehoshua M.|title=Jew|volume=11|page=253}}</ref> [[Endonym]]s in other [[Jewish language]]s include the [[Ladino language|Ladino]] {{lang|lad|ג׳ודיו}} {{transliteration|lad|Djudio}} (plural {{lang|lad|ג׳ודיוס}}, {{transliteration|lad|Djudios}}) and the [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] {{lang|yi|ייִד}} {{transliteration|yi|Yid}} (plural {{lang|yi|ייִדן}} {{transliteration|yi|Yidn}}). Originally, it is used to describe the inhabitants of the Israelite [[kingdom of Judah]].<ref>Cf. [[Marcus Jastrow]]'s ''Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature'', and the source he used: [[Megillah (Talmud)|Megilla]] 13a:2 (Talmud).</ref> It is also used to distinguish their descendants from the [[Gentile|gentiles]] and the [[Samaritans]].<ref name=":4">Amy-Jill Levine. ''The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus''. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006, page 162</ref> 

According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], these inhabitants predominately descend from the [[tribe of Judah]] from [[Judah (Bible)|Judah]], the fourth son of [[Jacob]].<ref name=":0">"Jew", ''Oxford English Dictionary''.</ref> Genesis 29:35 and 49:8 connect "Judah" with the verb {{transliteration|he|yada}}, meaning "praise", but scholars generally agree that "Judah" most likely derives from the name of a Levantine geographic region dominated by gorges and ravines.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pcAkKMECPKIC&pg=PA483 |title=Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-8028-2329-8 |editor1-last=Botterweck |editor1-first=G. Johannes |editor1-link=G. Johannes Botterweck |volume=V |location=Grand Rapids, Mich. |pages=483–84 |translator-last=Green |translator-first=David E. |editor2-last=Ringgren |editor2-first=Helmer |editor2-link=Helmer Ringgren}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Julia Phillips Berger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zese2C-fDTEC&q=when+was+the+term+jew+first+used&pg=PA41 |title=Teaching Jewish History |author2=Sue Parker Gerson |publisher=Behrman House, Inc |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-86705-183-4 |page=41}}</ref> 

The gradual [[Ethnonym|ethnonymic]] shift from "[[Israelites]]" to "Jews", regardless of their descent from Judah, although not contained in the [[Torah]], is made explicit in the [[Book of Esther]] (4th century BCE) of the [[Tanakh]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chouraqui |first=André |url=http://archive.org/details/peoplefaith00andr |title=The people and the faith of the Bible |date=1975 |publisher=Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87023-172-8 |page=43}}</ref> Some modern scholars disagree with the conflation, based on the works of [[Josephus]], [[Philo]] and [[Apostle Paul]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Staples |first=Jason A. |date=2021 |title=The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108906524 |journal=Cambridge University Press |pages=25–53 |doi=10.1017/9781108906524 |isbn=9781108906524 |s2cid=235573883 |via=Cambridge Core}}</ref>

The English word "Jew" is a derivation of [[Middle English]] ''{{lang|enm|Gyw, Iewe}}''. The latter was loaned from the [[Old French]] ''{{lang|fro|giu}}'', which itself evolved from the earlier ''{{lang|fro|juieu}}'', which in turn derived from ''{{lang|fro|judieu/iudieu}}'' which through [[elision]] had dropped the letter "d" from the [[Medieval Latin]] ''Iudaeus'', which, like the New Testament [[Koine Greek|Greek]] term ''[[Ioudaios]]'', meant both "Jew" and "[[Judean]]" / "of [[Judea]]".<ref>Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Facts On File Inc., Infobase Publishing, 2009, p. 336</ref> The Greek term was a loan from [[Middle Aramaic|Aramaic]] ''{{transliteration|arc|*yahūdāy}}'', corresponding to Hebrew {{lang|he|יְהוּדִי}} {{transliteration|he|Yehudi}}.<ref name=":0" />  

Some scholars prefer translating ''Ioudaios'' as "Judean" in the Bible since it is more precise, denotes the community's origins and prevents readers from engaging in antisemitic [[eisegesis]].<ref>Adele Reinhartz,  [http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/vanishing-jews-antiquity-adele-reinhartz/ "The Vanishing Jews of Antiquity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822181415/http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/vanishing-jews-antiquity-adele-reinhartz/|date=22 August 2017}} "Marginalia", ''L.A. Review of Books'', 24 June 2014.</ref><ref>Danker, Frederick W. ''"Ioudaios"'', in ''A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.'' third edition University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0226039336}}</ref> Others disagree, believing that it erases the Jewish identity of Biblical characters such as [[Jesus]].<ref name=":4" />

Daniel R. Schwartz distinguishes "Judean" and "Jew". Here, "Judean" refers to the inhabitants of Judea, which encompassed southern [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. Meanwhile, "Jew" refers to the descendants of Israelites that adhere to [[Judaism]]. Converts are included in the definition. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Daniel R. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287s34 |title=Judeans and Jews: Four Faces of Dichotomy in Ancient Jewish History |date=2014 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1442648395 |pages=3–10|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287s34 }}</ref> But Shaye J.D. Cohen argues that "Judean" should include believers of the Judean God and allies of the Judean state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J.D. |title=The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520226937}}</ref>

The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., يَهُودِيّ ''yahūdī'' (sg.), ''al-yahūd'' (pl.), in [[Arabic]], "Jude" in [[German language|German]], "judeu" in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], "Juif" (m.)/"Juive" (f.) in [[French language|French]], "jøde" in [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], "judío/a" in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], "jood" in [[Dutch language|Dutch]], "żyd" in [[Polish language|Polish]] etc., but derivations of the word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe a Jew, e.g., in [[Italian language|Italian]] (''Ebreo''), in [[Persian language|Persian]] ("Ebri/Ebrani" ({{lang-fa|عبری/عبرانی}})) and [[Russian language|Russian]] (''Еврей, Yevrey'').<ref>{{cite book|last=Falk|first=Avner|author-link=Avner Falk|title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews|year=1996|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|location=Madison, N.J.|isbn=0-8386-3660-8|page=131}}</ref> The German word "Jude" is pronounced {{IPA-de|ˈjuːdə|}}, the corresponding [[adjective]] "jüdisch" {{IPA-de|ˈjyːdɪʃ|}} (Jewish) is the origin of the word "Yiddish".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary|title=Yiddish|edition=11th|year=2004|publisher=Merriam-Webster|location=Springfield, Massachusetts|isbn=0-87779-809-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersc00merr_6/page/1453 1453]|url=https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersc00merr_6/page/1453}}</ref>

According to ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]'', fourth edition (2000),
<blockquote>It is widely recognized that the attributive use of the noun ''Jew'', in phrases such as ''Jew lawyer'' or ''Jew ethics'', is both vulgar and highly offensive. In such contexts ''Jewish'' is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of ''Jew'' as a noun, a practice that carries risks of its own. In a sentence such as ''There are now several Jews on the council'', which is unobjectionable, the substitution of a circumlocution like ''Jewish people'' or ''persons of Jewish background'' may in itself cause offense for seeming to imply that Jew has a negative connotation when used as a noun.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style|at=Jew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xb6ie6PqYhwC&pg=PA269|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=2005|isbn=978-0-618-60499-9|editor1-last=Kleinedler|editor1-first=Steven|editor2-last=Spitz|editor2-first=Susan|display-editors=etal}}</ref></blockquote>