derivation of the word Zhid

[Adassovsky]

 Uladzimir Katkouski wrote :

>Dastaeuski was born in Belarus. In the language of this country
>the word "zhid" is the absolutely neutral term for "jew", not a
>derogative one at all, unlike in Russian.

I'm a  descendant of the 1920 Russian emigration in France, and believe to
have received the cultural heritage of  Tsarist Russia. In our emigrant
circles, the word "zhid" had no pejorative meaning, and was the equivalent
for the French "Juif" or the English "Jew".
The emigrant community was composed of people bearing names finishing as
well with "stein", "berg", as "sky", "ko", "ov", "dze", "chvili", "ian",
etc..., and we all felt belonging to the same community, that is "Russian"
community, I dare to say, although in my own family there are names as
"Solomko" and "Skoropadsky".

>Although during 20th
>century Belarusan word "zhid" started to get negative connotations
>because of the Russian influence, and nowdays the more politically
>correct word for it is "habrei"...

Not because of Russian influence, because of communistic influence
("cosmopolits").

Rulers or new "independant countries", all former nomenclaturists from
Soviet Union eager to keep the power, let people beleive that all their
problems come from "Russian oppression". That's not the truth. Their
problems come from communistic oppression, and there were communists as
well in their own country than in Russia. Russians were oppressed as well
as they were.

Georges.