Jacob Jordaens - Moses and his Ethiopian wife Sephora

The word Cushi or Kushi ( he, כּוּשִׁי colloquial: ) is generally used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to a

dark-skinned Dark skin is a type of human skin color that is rich in melanin pigments. People with very dark skin are often referred to as "black people", although this usage can be ambiguous in some countries where it is also used to specifically refer to d ...

person of

African descent Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

, equivalent to Greek "'' Aithíops''".

Etymology and biblical use

The word is a derivation of ''Cush'' ( ''Kūš''), referring to the ancient Kingdom of Kush which was centered on the Upper Nile and Nubia (modern-day Sudan). Mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Cushites are considered descendants of Noah's grandson, Cush the son of

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term " ...

. In biblical and historical usage, the term "Cushites" ( Hamites) refers to individuals of East African origin ( Horn of Africa and Sudan).

Modern use

In early Modern Hebrew usage, the term ''Cushi'' was used as an unmarked referent to a dark-skinned or

red-haired Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...

person, without derogatory implications. For example, it is the nickname, or term of endearment, of the Israeli commando of Yemenite extraction, Shimon "Kushi" Rimon (b. 1939). When William Shakespeare's '' Othello'' was first translated to Hebrew in 1874, the hero of the play was named ''Ithiel the Cushite'' (). In 2012,

Kiryat Arba :''This article is mainly about the modern Israeli settlement, not the biblical town'' Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba ( he, קִרְיַת־אַרְבַּע, , Town of the Four) is an urban Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Hebron, in the south ...

's Chief Rabbi

Dov Lior Dov Lior ( he, דב ליאור, born 30 October 1933) is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi who served as the Chief Rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank until late 2014. He is the rosh yeshiva of the Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva an ...

referred to US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

as a "kushi" of the West. In contemporary usage, the term can be regarded as an

ethnic slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or ot ...

, akin to the American usage of '' Nigger''. In 2016, hasidic singer Mordechai Ben David attracted controversy after a video taken at his December 28 concert in Jerusalem, wherein he referred to US President Barack Obama as a kushi, was circulated online.

References

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Etymology and biblical use

Modern use

References

See also