Re derivation of the word Zhid

[James L. Rice]

On East Slavic terrain: Sreznevskii notes "zhidovin" as a pejorative in the
Hypatian Chronicle under 1175 AD, but many biblical and other church uses of
"zhid" were without negative stylistic coloring.

In Russia, Eugene Sue's JUIF ERRANT (1844-45) was at once translated into
Russian as VECHNYI ZHID.  The stylistic weight and theme of this book make
it unthinkable to translate the Russian title or refer to it now in English
as "The Eternal Yid". There "zhid" is certainly not a pejorative. The same
stylistic observation applies to Turgenev's short story "Zhid" (1847) -- a
tale too grim to be called a mere stereotype, but it would be a mistake to
translate the title as "The Yid."  The same is true of Dostoevsky's lost
drama of the 1840's, "Zhid Iankel'" (apparently elaborated from Gogol's
Iankel' in "Taras Bul'ba").

HOWEVER, we may be sure that Turgenev's mother at Spasskoe in the 1840's, or
Dostoevsky's father growing up a generation earlier in Podolian Bratslav
(which was then about 40% Jewish), or Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky (and
Tolstoy, and Chekhov) themselves, found occasion to put a pejorative SPIN on
the vocable "zhid" on various occasions.

The case of Dostoevsky is a special one, because just in the era when Jews
started to become more prominent in Russian civic life, D. discussed this
development in great detail in the pages of his journal, DIARY OF A WRITER
(see index of the English edition), and even debated the issues in print
with a very intelligent Jewish writer named Kovner.  (Kovner was at the time
in prison for embezzling a fixed percentage from a Jewish bank, having
placed himself above the law following the example of Raskol'nikov in CRIME
AND PUNISHMENT.  He was thus a bit cracked, but Dostoevsky treated him with
great politeness, and never hints that he is debating a felon.)

Kovner specifically reproached Dostoevsky for using the word "zhid" in his
fiction and non-fiction.  The novelist conceded that much of what he'd
written about Jews was "unsubstantiated, frivolous... and legend" but
insisted that nothing had been ad hominem.  He stuck to his formula of a
"Jewish idea" (zhidovstvo) taking over the world from "failed Christianity."
Meanwhile, it is interesting that in his notorious chapter on "The Jewish
Question" (March, 1877) Dostoevsky the journalist used "zhid" and
derivatives 14 times, "evrei" and derivatives 117 times.  Kovner's attack
forced the great writer to affect a measure of diplomacy.  (There are three
excellent books on Dostoevsky and the Jews: by Leonid Grossman, David
Goldstein, and Felix Ingold.  Grossman and Ingold emphasize Dostoevsky's
"empathy" for the Jews. Goldstein's English translation of his study is
marred by using the rabid pejoratives "yid" or "kike" -- with their
incommensurate post-holocaust burden of hatred -- as automatic equivalents
of 19th-century "zhid" throughout.)

The blundering grasp of the "Jewish Question" by Dostoevsky and his era
resembles America's postwar perceptions of the "Negro Question."  Sinclair
Lewis's novel KINGSBLOOD ROYAL (1947) satirically examines that era, with
all the pejoratives duly assessed.

Soviet-era Russian dictionaries generally tried to touch out "zhid", but
like antisemitism at large, it remains part of society, and so widespread
that no doubt in isolated offhand instances it may be without pejorative
intent.  As a rule, of course, one assumes that it is abusive -- as
apparently it has been applied since the age of Rus'.

Jim Rice

  At 07:03 PM 8/16/98 +0100, you wrote:
>The following is simply taken from standard dictionaries of English and the
Bible and I make no claim to expert knowledge of the subject!
>
>The English term Jew derives via Old French juieu or juiu (12th century)
from Latin Iudaeus, Greek Ioudaios, from Hebrew Yehudhi.
>
>The Slavonic term Zhid (e.g. Czech Zid with a hook over the z) has the same
Hebrew origin, according to my Czech etymological dictionaries, via Old
Italian Giudio, Latin Iudaeus. Etymologically it is the traditional neutral
term for Jews.
>
>The meaning in Hebrew is given as member of the tribe of Judah (Yehudhah) -
Judah being one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
>
>It is not clear according to what little I have read whether the name of
the tribe does for certain come from the name of Judah, son of Jacob and
Leah in Genesis.
>
>The etymology of Judah is uncertain, but its meaning is popularly
associated with yadah, praise.
>
>James Naughton
>
>James = anglicised form of Jacob, through Spanish Jaime. Naughton, cf.
Celtic name Nechtan...
>
>