Goy

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Goy (Hebrew: גוי, plural goyim גוים or goys) is a transliterated Hebrew word which translates as "nation" or "people". In the English language, the usage of the word goy can be controversial.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

A page from Elia Levita's Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary (16th century) contains a list of nations, including word "גוי", translated to Latin as "Ethnicus"
A page from Elia Levita's Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary (16th century) contains a list of nations, including word "גוי", translated to Latin as "Ethnicus"

In the Hebrew Bible, goy and its variants appear over 550 times in reference to Israelites and to Gentile peoples. The first recorded usage of goy occurs in Genesis 10:5 and applies to non-Israelite nations. The first mention in relation to the Israelites comes in Genesis 12:2, when God promises Abraham that his descendants will form a goy gadol ("great nation"). While the earlier books of the Hebrew Bible often use goy to describe the Israelites, the later ones tend to apply the term to other nations.

Some Bible translations leave the word Goyim untranslated and treat it as the proper name of a country in Genesis 14:1. Bible commentaries suggest that the term may refer to Gutium.[1] The "King of Goyim" was Tidal.

[edit] Modern usage

In modern Hebrew and Yiddish, the word goy is a standard term that refers to members of Gentile nations. In Yiddish it is the only proper term used to say 'Gentile' and many bilingual English and Yiddish speakers do use it dispassionately. In English however, the use of the word goy can be controversial. Like other common (and otherwise innocent) terms, it may be assigned pejoratively to non-Jews[2][3][4] (as well as to Jews who are perceived by other Jews to lack religious commitment to Judaism[citation needed]). To avoid any perceived offensive connotations, writers may use the English terms "Gentile" or "non-Jew".

As it happens with ethnic stereotypes for "not one of us" in various cultures, a stereotype of a goy, as expressed in Jewish humor, bears derogatory elements, e.g., as Hillel Halkin writes: "A stereotypical goy acts blindly; a stereotypical Jew thinks before acting," [5] when commenting on skit of Jack Benny: when a mugger comes upon him: "your money or your life", and prods him with the gun, he protests "I am thinking! I am thinking!"

[edit] References

  1. ^ Goiim in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [1]
  2. ^ The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
  3. ^ "There is nothing inherently insulting about the word 'goy.' In fact, the Torah occasionally refers to the Jewish people using the term 'goy.' Most notably, in Exodus 19:6, G-d says that the Children of Israel will be 'a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,' that is, a goy kadosh. Because Jews have had so many bad experiences with anti-Semitic non-Jews over the centuries, the term 'goy' has taken on some negative connotations, but in general the term is no more insulting than the word 'gentile.' Jewish Attitudes Toward Non-Jews, Jewfaq.org. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  4. ^ "The word goy means literally "nation", but has come to mean "Gentile", sometimes with a derogatory connotation." Diane Wolfthal. Picturing Yiddish: gender, identity, and memory in the illustrated Yiddish books of Renaissance, Brill Academic Publishers, 2004, ISBN 9004117423, p. 59 footnote 60.
  5. ^ "Why Jews Laugh at Themselves", an essay by Hillel Halkin, Commentary Magazine, Vol 121, April 2006, No 4, pp. 47-54

[edit] External links

Look up Goy in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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