From names to wordsJewish life

Jew

A 'Jew' is literally a Judahite — a man of the tribe and kingdom of Judah — and the word shrank, letter by letter, from Hebrew Yəhûdî through Greek, Latin and Old French to one English syllable; the same name became Yiddish yid, Ladino djudyo, Polish Żyd and Arabic yahūdī.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Biblical Hebrew to Modern Hebrew

From Aramaic to Arabic, Persian, Turkish

From Old French to French

From Latin to Middle High German, Yiddish, English

From Middle High German to German

From Latin to Italian, Czech, Polish, Russian

From Latin to Old Spanish, Spanish

From Old Spanish to Ladino

From Latin to Portuguese

600 BCEBiblical Hebrew

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

Jew