"jew" as adjective -- not in OED?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/14/2013 01:09 PM, George Thompson wrote:
>Surely in "Jew Beef" (= kosher beef) "jew" has to be an adjective?
>
>I searched the OED for "jew", limited to adjectives, got the response that
>nothing was found, and didn't look further.
>If scanning of all entries for
>the word in categories other than adjective is required, then that is a
>defect in the system.
>
>GAT

And "combining form" doesn't help.  Should something be added to the
"Part of speech" choices?  "compound"? "attributive"?

Joel



>On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 11:52 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
> > I would defend the label.  These are indeed, I would argue, nominal
> > compounds rather than adjective + noun phrases.  "Jew" in such cases
> > doesn't pass the diagnostics for adjective-hood:
> >
> > That lawyer seems {Jewish/*Jew}.
> > Despite Brendan's proselytizing, Moises remained {Jewish/*Jew}.
> > It's very kosher/Jewish/*Jew
> >
> > etc.
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> >
> > On May 14, 2013, at 11:36 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >
> > > George, look way down under "Jew, n." for "Compounds" -- C1 is
> > > "General attrib. or as adj."  I've missed this disguised and low (on
> > > the page) artifice of the OED before, for this and other nouns.  I
> > > think the heading in such cases should be "n. and adj.".
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > > At 5/14/2013 10:37 AM, George Thompson wrote:
> > >> Seems strange, but such is the case, if the on-line OED doesn't mislead
> > me.
> > >>
> > >>            JEW BEEF. -- The subscribers offer their services to
> > merchants
> > >> who are in the habit of trading to the West Indies, that in order to
> > >> complete a well assorted cargo for those markets, it will prove to be an
> > >> acquisition to apply to them for the above article; they are in 5 or 10
> > >> gallon kegs.  ***  Levy & Lyons, 26, White-hall street. N. B.  Regular
> > >> certificates will be given.
> > >>            Mercantile Advertiser, November 1, 1804, p. 2, col. 2
> > >>
> > >> HDAS and Jonathon Green's dictionary have "jew" as a disparaging
> > adjective,
> > >> which isn't the case here.  Their examples are generally in the form of
> > "a
> > >> Jew xyz" which translates into "a Jew who is an xyz" -- a Jew lawyer,
> > >> perhaps.  Here, it meant "kosher", and the ad was placed by a Jewish
> > firm.
> > >>
> > >> GAT
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> George A. Thompson
> > >> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> > >> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>George A. Thompson
>Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org