Zhyd

The words ''zhyd (zhid'') and ''zhydovka (zhidovka / zhydivka/zhidivka'') are terms for Jewish man and Jewish woman, respectively, in several Slavic languages. Klier, John D. 1982. "Zhid: Biography of a Russian Epithet." ''The Slavonic and East European Review'' 60(1):1-15. . In Russian and Ukrainian languages, they are now considered ethnic slurs.

Etymology

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

Russian

In modern Russian (), 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 zhydov'' ("except the Jews"). In the legislative enactments of the last decade of Catherine's reign the term ''zhyd'' was replaced by ''yevrey'', "Hebrew".

Ukrainian

Under the influence of Russian, the terms have also become pejorative in modern Ukrainian (, ''zhydivka'' / ''zhyd'').Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule
by Karel C. Berkhoff, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008, (page 60) 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.Winer, Stuart. 19 December 2012.
Ukraine okays 'zhyd' slur for Jews
" ''The Times of Israel''. 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 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 ( for "Jew"; and 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.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.

Notes

References

{{Jews and Judaism in Europe

Antisemitic slurs
Hungarian words and phrases
Slavic words and phrases