Zhyd

Etymology

Max Vasmer derives the word жид/żyd/žìd, etc. from Italian giudeo, from Latin judaeus, while rejecting some other etymologies.

Russian

In modern Russian (жидовка / жид), it has been an antisemitic slur, similar to the word yid, since the mid-19th century.

On December 4, 1762 Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto permitting all foreigners to travel and to settle in Russia, adding kromye zhidov ("except the Jews"). In the legislative enactments of the last decade of Catherine's reign the term zhid was replaced by еврей yevrey, "Hebrew".

Ukrainian

Under the influence of Russian, the terms have also become pejorative in modern Ukrainian (жидівка / жид, zhydivka / zhyd). Nikita Khrushchev commented on the term in his memoirs:

In the Western Ukrainian dialect of Yiddish, the term for 'Jew" is 'Zhyd' - as is found in the name of the Hassidic dynasty of Ziditshov. The dialect stresses the Y-sound of the Yiddish word "Yid" into a 'Zh".

In December 2012, Ukrainian politician Ihor Miroshnychenko of the Svoboda party wrote on Facebook that Hollywood actress Mila Kunis, who is Jewish, is "not a Ukrainian but a zhydivka." Ukrainian Jews protested the use of the term. Svoboda officials and Ukrainian philologist Oleksandr Ponomariv argued that in the Ukrainian language, the word does not always have the anti-Semitic connotations that it does in the Russian language, though Ponomariv warned that the term would be considered offensive by Jewish people. The Ukrainian Ministry of Justice declared that Miroshnichenko's use of the word was legal because it is an archaic term for Jew and not necessarily a slur. In a letter of protest directed to then-Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, the term Zhydovka was described by Rabbi Marvin Hier of the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center as an "insidious slur invoked by the Nazis and their collaborators as they rounded up the Jews to murder them at Babi Yar and in the death camps."

Other Slavic languages

In Polish the words are the neutral, standard and non-pejorative way to refer to Jews, which is being used by the Polish Jews to describe themselves (for example "Żydowski Instytut Historyczny" - Jewish Historical Institute or "Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska" - Jewish Religious Community). However there exist numerous derivatives, some of which can be pejorative, such as żydzisko, żydek. The plural non-pejorative form is żydzi (masculine virile aspect), while żydy is pejorative, because it (grammatically) moves the masculine noun into the category of animals or females. The pejorative character of the word żyd is also reflected in the fact that it used to be a colloquial synonym for "inkblot".

In most other Slavic languages, such as Czech/Slovak (), Slovene, Croatian (židovka, židov for "Jew"; and Židovka, Židov for "Israelite", "Israeli national")—as well as Hungarian and Lithuanian which are influenced by Slavic languages—these terms, similar to the usage in Polish, are not pejorative, as they simply mean 'Jew'. However historically the word had a derogatory connotation, due to the discrimination of the Jews.

Notes

References

References

1. [[John D. Klier. Klier, John D.]] 1982. "Zhid: Biography of a Russian Epithet." ''[[The Slavonic and East European Review]]'' 60(1):1-15. {{JSTOR. 4208429.
2. "Mila Kunis Targeted By Anti-Semitic Ukrainian". [[TMZ (website).
3. LaZebnik, Edith. (1979). "Such a Life". G. K. Hall.
4. [https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=%2Fusr%2Flocal%2Fshare%2Fstarling%2Fmorpho&basename=morpho\vasmer\vasmer&first=1&text_word=%D0%96%D0%B8%D0%B4&method_word=beginning&ww_word=on&ic_word=on&sort=word&encoding=utf-rus WORD: жид]
5. Gelblum-Bross, Roma. (1992). "To Samarkand and Back". Roma Bross Reg'd.
6. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_F8pAAAAYAAJ History of the Jews in Russia and Poland]'', by [[Simon Dubnow]], Jewish Publication Society of America, 1916, p. 260, Retrieved 8/13/2024.
7. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_F8pAAAAYAAJ History of the Jews in Russia and Poland]'', by Simon Dubnow, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1916, p. 320, Retrieved 8/13/2024.
8. (20 December 2012). "Ukrainian government: Anti-Semitic pejorative used against Mila Kunis is legal". [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]].
9. 0-674-02718-3 (page 60)
10. Яременко В. і Сліпушко О.. Новий тлумачний словник української мови. — К. : Аконіт, 2000. — Т. 2 (Ж—О). — С. 26. — {{ISBN. 966-7173-02-X.
11. Khrushchev, Nikita. 1971. ''[https://archive.org/details/khrushchevrememb00khru Khrushchev Remembers]''. New York: Bantam Books. p. [https://archive.org/details/khrushchevrememb00khru/page/151 151-152].
12. Winer, Stuart. 19 December 2012. "[http://www.timesofisrael.com/ukraine-okays-slur-zhyd-for-jews/ Ukraine okays 'zhyd' slur for Jews]." ''The Times of Israel''.
13. [http://glavcom.ua/articles/8823.html Glavcom.ua], [[:uk:Фельдман Олександр Борисович. Oleksandr Ponomariv [Олександр Пономарів]]], 28 November 2012, ''Reason to believe the word "жид" is not anti-Semitic (Підстав вважати слово "жид" антисемітським немає)''.
14. 0-674-02718-3 (page 60)
15. Robert Looby. (27 March 2015). "Censorship, Translation and English Language Fiction in People's Poland". Hotei Publishing.
16. Antony Polonsky. (2004). "Jews in Łódź, 1820-1939". Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
17. Peter Florian Dembowski. (2005). "Christians in the Warsaw Ghetto: An Epitaph for the Unremembered". University of Notre Dame Press.
18. Danusha Veronica Goska. (2002). "Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype and Its Application in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture". Indiana University.
19. (1999). "Slavic gender linguistics". John Benjamins.
20. "Žìdov". [[Znanje]].
21. "żyd".
22. Český rozhlas. "Odkud se v češtině vzalo slovo Žid?" Rozhlas.cz. Published March 29, 2019. Accessed September 25, 2024. https://temata.rozhlas.cz/odkud-se-v-cestine-vzalo-slovo-zid-7995745.