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In
modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the He ...
and
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
(, he, גוי, regular plural , or ) is a term for a
gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...
, a non-Jew.
Through Yiddish,
the word has been adopted into English (pluralised as goys or goyim) also to mean gentile, sometimes with a pejorative sense.
As a word principally used by Jews to describe non-Jews,
it is a term for the
ethnic exogroup and is sometimes compared to similar terms in other cultures such as the Japanese ''
Gaijin
is a Japanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese citizens in Japan, specifically being applied to foreigners of non-Japanese ethnicity and those from the Japanese diaspora who are not Japanese citizens. The word is composed of two kanji: and ...
'' or Arabic ''
Ajam
''Ajam'' ( ar, عجم, ʿajam) is an Arabic word meaning mute, which today refers to someone whose mother tongue is not Arabic. During the Arab conquest of Persia, the term became a racial pejorative. In many languages, including Persian, Tur ...
''.
The
Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...
word ''goy'' has been commonly translated into English as ''
nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
'', meaning a group of persons of the same ethnic family who speak the same language (rather than the modern meaning of a political unit).
''Nation'' has been used as the principal translation for ''goy'' in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
, from the earliest English language bibles such as the 1611
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
and the 1530
Tyndale Bible
The Tyndale Bible generally refers to the body of Bible translations, biblical translations by William Tyndale into Early Modern English, made . Tyndale's Bible is credited with being the first Bible translation in the English language to work ...
.
Hebrew Bible
The word means "nation" in
Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...
.
In the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
, and its variants appear 560 times in reference to both the
Israelite
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
s and the non-Israelite nations.
The first recorded usage of ''goyim'' occurs in and applies to non-Israelite nations. The first mention of ''goy'' in relation to the Israelites comes in , when God promises
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
that his descendants will form a ("great nation").
One exception is in , where it states that the "King of Goyim" was
Tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
. Bible commentaries suggest that the term may refer to
Gutium
The Guti () or Quti, also known by the derived exonyms Gutians or Guteans, were a nomadic people of West Asia, around the Zagros Mountains (Modern Iran) during ancient times. Their homeland was known as Gutium ( Sumerian: ,''Gu-tu-umki'' or ,''G ...
.In all other cases the meaning of is 'nations.'
In , the Israelites are referred to as a , a "holy nation".
One of the more poetic descriptions of the
chosen people
Throughout history, various groups of people have considered themselves to be the chosen people of a deity, for a particular purpose. The phenomenon of a "chosen people" is well known among the Israelites and Jews, where the term ( he, עם ס ...
in the Hebrew Bible, and popular among Jewish scholars is , or "a unique nation upon the earth" ( and )
Translations of 'goy' in English-language Christian Bibles
The
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
of the Bible translates the word / as "nation" 374 times, "heathen" 143 times, "Gentile" 30 times (see ''Evolution of the Term'' below) and "people" 11 times.
The
New American Standard Bible
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is an English translation of the Bible. Published by the Lockman Foundation, the complete NASB was released in 1971. The NASB relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew and Gre ...
translation uses the following words: "every nation" (2 times) Gentiles (1) Goiim (1), Harosheth-hagoyim* (3), herds (1), nation (120), nations (425), people (4).
Evolution of the term
While the books of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
often use to describe the Israelites, the later Jewish writings of the
Hellenistic Period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
(from approximately 300BCE to 30BCE) tended to apply the term to other nations.
Goy acquired the meaning of someone who is not Jewish in the first and second century CE. Before that time, academics
Adi Ophir and Ishay Rosen-Zvi have argued, no crystallized dichotomy between Jew and non-Jew existed in Judaism. Ophir and Rosen-Zvi state that the early Jewish convert to Christianity,
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
, was key in developing the concept of "goy" to mean non-Jew:
The Latin words gentes/gentilis - which also referred to peoples or nations - began to be used to describe non-Jews in parallel with the evolution of the word in Hebrew. Based on the Latin model, the English word "gentile" came to mean non-Jew from the time of the first English-language Bible translations in the 1500s (see
Gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...
).
The twelfth century Jewish scholar
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
defines plain ''goy'' in his
Mishneh Torah
The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''h ...
as a worshipper of idolatry, as he explains, "Whenever we refer to a gentile
oywithout any further description, we mean one who worships false deities". Maimonides saw Christians as idolators (because of concepts like the
trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
) but not Muslims who he saw as more strictly monotheistic.
As a slur
Goy can be used in a derogatory manner. The
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
lexicographer
Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten (Yiddish: ; April 11, 1908 – February 19, 1997) was an American humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism, and Yiddish lexicography.
Early life
Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in Łódź ...
in ''The New Joys of Yiddish'' defines goy as someone who is non-Jewish or someone who is dull, insensitive, or heartless.
Goy also occurs in many pejorative Yiddish expressions:
* ''Dos ken nor a goy'' - Something only a goy would do or is capable of doing.
* ''A goy blabt a goy'' - "A goy stays a goy," or, less literally, according to Rosten, "What did you expect? Once an anti-Semite always an anti-Semite."
* ''Goyisher kopf'' - "Gentile head," someone who doesn't think ahead, an idiot.
* ''Goyishe naches'' - Pleasures or pursuits only a gentile would enjoy.
* ''A goy!'' - Exclamation of exasperation used "when endurance is exhausted, kindliness depleted, the effort to understand useless".
Several authors have opined on whether the word is derogatory. Dan Friedman, executive director of ''
The Forward
''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...
'' in "What 'Goy' Means, And Why I Keep Using It" writes that it can be used as an insult but that the word is not offensive.
He compares it to the word "foreigners" which Americans can use dismissively but which isn't a derogatory word.
Similarly,
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) is an American left-wing non-profit grassroots Jewish organization. JFREJ describes itself as a "movement to dismantle racism and economic exploitation" and is based in New York City. It operates bot ...
(JFREJ) has stated that "goy" is "Not an insult, just kinda sounds like it."
Rebecca Einstein Schorr argues that the word has an established pejorative overtone. She refers to the observation "the ''goyishe'' groomsmen were all drunk and bawdy; of course, you’d never see that at a Jewish wedding" and "goyishe kop" where the word is used in a pejorative sense. She admits that the word can have non-pejorative uses, such as "goyishe restaurant" - one that doesn't serve kosher food - but contends that the word is "neutral, at best, and extremely offensive, at worst."
Andrew Silow Carroll writes:
Nahma Nadich, deputy director of the Jewish Community Relations of Greater Boston writes: "I definitely see goy as a slur — seldom used as a compliment, and never used in the presence of a non-Jew" adding "That's a good litmus test: if you wouldn't use a word in the presence of someone you’re describing, good chance it’s offensive."
In antisemitism
According to the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...
, the term "goy" has been used ironically by white supremacists to refer to themselves to signal a belief in conspiracy theories about Jews.
For example, a
Hungarian antisemitic motorcycle association refers to themselves as the
Goyim riders Goyim riders are members of the Goyim Motorcycle Association (Hungarian: Gój Motoros Egyesület), an anti-Roma, anti-Gypsy and antisemitic Hungarian ultra-nationalist political movement.
Etymology
The name is rooted in the Biblical Hebrew word goy ...
,
and in 2020
one activist tried to rename the far-right group the
Proud Boys
The Proud Boys is an American far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States.Far-right:
*
*
Fascist:
*
*
*
*
*
Men only:
*
*
*
Political violence:
*
*
* It has ...
to the
Proud Goys.
In a similar vein, in 2017, the
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
American
Traditionalist Worker Party
The Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) was a far-right neo-Nazi political party active in the United States between 2013 and 2018, affiliated with the broader "alt-right" movement that became active within the U.S. during the 2010s. It was consi ...
created the
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
platform called GoyFundMe, a
wordplay
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...
on the popular crowdfunding platform
GoFundMe
GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the b ...
. The
Goyim Defense League
The Goyim Defense League, also known as the GDL, is an antisemitic hate group and conspiracy theorist network of public personalities active across a number of social media websites, primarily YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Gab. The GDL emerged ...
and its website, GoyimTV, are another example.
The word also features in the alt-right catchphrase or
meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
"The Goyim Know, Shut It Down" associated with online forums such as
4chan
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
and
8chan
8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan (stylized as ∞chan), is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site ha ...
. In this context, the speaker assumes the role of a panicked Jew who reacts to an event that would reveal Jewish manipulations or Jewish deceitfulness. According to the
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
, the meme first appeared in 2013 on 4chan.
See also
*
Gadjo
In Romani culture, a ''gadjo'' (masculine) or ''gadji'' (feminine) is a person who has no Romanipen. This usually corresponds to not being an ethnic Romani, but it can also be an ethnic Romani who does not live within Romani culture. It is often u ...
*
Ger toshav
''Ger toshav'' ( he, גר תושב, ''ger'': "foreigner" or "alien" + ''toshav'': "resident", lit. "resident alien") is a halakhic term used in Judaism to designate the legal status of a Gentile (non-Jew) living in the Land of Israel who does ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Ethno-cultural designations
Exonyms
Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible
Jewish culture
Judaism terminology
Yiddish words and phrases