Ioudaios

{{Short description|Ancient Greek ethnonym for Jews and Judeans}} {{italic title}} [[File:Moschus Ioudaios Inscription from Oropos.jpg|thumb|300px|The first known occurrence of the singular ''Ioudaios'' is in the "Moschus Ioudaios inscription", dated c. 250 BC, from Oropos in Greece. The inscription describes a ''Ioudaios'' of Greek religion; such that in this context Shaye J. D. Cohen states the word must be translated as "Judean".{{sfn|Cohen|1999|p=96-98}}]] '''''Ioudaios''''' ({{langx|grc|Ἰουδαῖος}}; {{pl.}} {{lang|grc|Ἰουδαῖοι}} {{translit|grc|Ioudaioi}}){{refn|group=n|{{lang|grc|Ἰουδαῖος}} is the {{gcl|NOM|glossing=wikilink}} {{gcl|SG|glossing=wikilink}} form, {{lang|grc|Ἰουδαῖοι}} the {{gcl|NOM}} {{gcl|PL|glossing=wikilink}}; likewise {{lang|grc|Ἰουδαίων}} {{translit|grc|Ioudaiōn}} {{gcl|GEN|glossing=wikilink}} {{gcl|PL}}, {{lang|grc|Ἰουδαίοις}} {{translit|grc|Ioudaiois}} {{gcl|DAT|glossing=wikilink}} {{gcl|PL}}, {{lang|grc|Ἰουδαίους}} {{translit|grc|Ioudaious}} {{gcl|ACC|glossing=wikilink}} {{gcl|PL}}, etc.}}<ref name="LSJ">{{LSJ|*)ioudai{{=}}os|Ἰουδαῖος|ref}}.</ref> is an Ancient Greek ethnonym used in classical and biblical literature which commonly translates to "Jew" or "Judean".<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=259&letter=J Jewish Encyclopedia]</ref><ref name="OEtD">{{OEtymD|Jew}}</ref>

The choice of translation is the subject of frequent scholarly debate, given its central importance to passages in the Bible (both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament) as well as works of other writers such as Josephus and Philo. Translating it as ''Jews'' is seen to imply connotations as to the religious beliefs of the people, whereas translating it as ''Judeans'' confines the identity within the geopolitical boundaries of Judea.<ref name=Dunn>James D. G. Dunn ''Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels'' 2011 Page 124 "6.6 and 9.17, where for the first time Ioudaios can properly be translated 'Jew'; and in Greco-Roman writers, the first use of Ioudaios as a religious term appears at the end of the first century ce (90- 96, 127, 133-36). 12."</ref>

A related translation debate refers to the terms {{lang|grc|ἰουδαΐζειν}} (verb),<ref name="LSJverb"/> literally translated as "Judaizing" (compare Judaizers),<ref>Young's Literal Translation of {{bibleverse||Gal|2:14|YLT}}</ref> and {{lang|grc|Ἰουδαϊσμός}} (noun), controversially translated as Judaism or ''Judeanism''.<ref name="OEtDJudaism"/>

==Etymology and usage== {{main|Jew (word)|l1=''Jew'' (word)}} The Hebrew term ''Yehudi'' ({{Script/Hebrew|יְהוּדִי}}) occurs 74 times in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible. It occurs first in the Hebrew Bible in {{bibleverse|2 Kings|16:6|KJV}} where Rezin king of Syria drove the 'Jews' out of Elath, and earliest among the prophets in Jeremiah 32:12 of 'Jews' that sat in the court of the prison." In the Septuagint the term is translated ''Ioudaios''.

According to Shaye J. D. Cohen, the meaning of the term "''Ioudaios''" evolved throughout the Second Temple period, with 2 Maccabees representing a greater emphasis on the cultural and religious aspects of Jewish identity.{{sfn|Cohen|1999|pp=105–106}} Despite this shift, later sources still highlight the importance of kinship and blood in Jewish national identity. For instance, Josephus recounts that Antigonus II Mattathias, the last Hasmonean king of Judea, labeled Herod a "half Judean," ({{lang|grc|ἡμιιουδαιος}}, or hemi-Ioudaios), referencing his Idumean ancestry, rather than his behavior.<ref>{{Citation |title=Theoretical Considerations: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Antiquity |date=2006 |work=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |pages=19, 22 |editor-last=Goodblatt |editor-first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/theoretical-considerations-nationalism-and-ethnicity-in-antiquity/CB4441D91310FB3557F79891F6AE8564 |access-date=2024-06-14 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067.002 |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==''Ioudaismos''== The Ancient Greek term '''Ioudaismos''' ({{lang|grc|Ἰουδαϊσμός}}; from {{lang|grc|ἰουδαΐζειν}} {{gloss|to side with or imitate the [Judeans]}}),<ref name="LSJverb">{{LSJ|*)ioudai/zw|ἰουδαΐζειν|ref|mLSJ}}.</ref> often translated as "Judaism" or "Judeanism",<ref name="OEtDJudaism">{{OEtymD|Judaism}}</ref> first appears in 2 Maccabees in the 2nd century BC. In the context of the age and period it held the meaning of seeking or forming part of a cultural entity and resembles its antonym ''Hellenismos'', meaning acceptance of Hellenic (Greek) cultural norms (the conflict between ''Ioudaismos'' and ''Hellenismos'' lay behind the Maccabean revolt and hence the invention of the term ''Ioudaismos'').<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2q6qTb-A7GwC&pg=RA1-PA39 |author=Oskar Skarsaune |author-link=Oskar Skarsaune | title=In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity|publisher=InterVarsity Press|pages=39FF |access-date=2010-08-22|isbn=978-0-8308-2670-4|year=2002}}</ref> Shaye J. D. Cohen wrote:

<blockquote>We are tempted, of course, to translate [''Ioudaismos''] as "Judaism," but this translation is too narrow, because in this first occurrence of the term, ''Ioudaismos'' has not yet be reduced to designation of a religion. It means rather "the aggregate of all those characteristics that makes Judaeans Judaean (or Jews Jewish)." Among these characteristics, to be sure, are practices and beliefs that we would today call "religious," but these practices and beliefs are not the sole content of the term. Thus ''Ioudaïsmos'' should be translated not as "Judaism" but as Judaeanness.<ref>Cohen, Shaye J.D. (1999) ''The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties'' University of California Press. 105-106</ref></blockquote>

==Translation implications== As mentioned above, translating it as "Jews" has implications about the beliefs of the people whereas translation as "Judeans" emphasizes their geographical origin.

The word ''Ioudaioi'' is used primarily in three areas of literature in antiquity: the later books of the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple literature (e.g. the ''Books of the Maccabees''), the New Testament (particularly the ''Gospel of John'' and ''Acts of the Apostles''), and classical writers from the region such as Josephus and Philo.

There is a wide range of scholarly views as to the correct translations with respect to each of these areas, with some scholars suggesting that either the words Jews or Judeans should be used in all cases, and other scholars suggesting that the correct translation needs to be interpreted on a case-by-case basis.{{weasel inline|date=September 2017}}

One complication in the translation question is that the meaning of the word evolved over the centuries. For example, Morton Smith, writing in the 1999 ''Cambridge History of Judaism'',<ref>[http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/series/series_display/item3937015/?site_locale=en_GB Cambridge History of Judaism volume 3 page 210]</ref> states that from c.100 BCE under the Hasmoneans the meaning of the word ''Ioudaioi'' expanded further: <blockquote> :For clarity, we may recall that the three main earlier meanings were: :(1) one of the descendants of the patriarch Judah, i.e. (if in the male line) a member of the tribe of Judah; :(2) a native of Judaea, a "Judaean"; :(3) a "Jew", i.e. a member of Yahweh's chosen people, entitled to participate in those religious ceremonies to which only such members were admitted. :Now appears the new, fourth meaning: :(4) a member of the Judaeo-Samaritan-Idumaean-Ituraean-Galilean alliance </blockquote>

In 2001, the third edition of the ''Bauer lexicon'', one of the most highly respected dictionaries of Biblical Greek,<ref>Rykle Borger, "Remarks of an Outsider about Bauer's Wörterbuch, BAGD, BDAG, and Their Textual Basis," Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker, Bernard A. Taylor (et al. eds.) pp. 32–47.</ref> supported translation of the term as "Judean", writing: <blockquote>Incalculable harm has been caused by simply glossing Ioudaios with 'Jew,' for many readers or auditors of Bible translations do not practice the historical judgment necessary to distinguish between circumstances and events of an ancient time and contemporary ethnic-religious-social realities, with the result that anti-Judaism in the modern sense of the term is needlessly fostered through biblical texts.<ref>Danker, Frederick W. ''"Ioudaios"'', in ''A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.'' third edition University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0226039336}}</ref></blockquote>

In 2006, Amy-Jill Levine took the opposite view in her ''Misunderstood Jew'', writing: "The translation 'Jew', however, signals a number of aspects of Jesus' behavior and that of other 'Jews', whether Judean, Galilean, or from the Diaspora: circumcision, wearing tzitzit, keeping kosher, calling God 'father', attending synagogue gatherings, reading the Torah and Prophets, knowing that they are neither Gentiles nor Samaritans, honoring the Sabbath, and celebrating the Passover. All these, and much more, are markers also of traditional Jews today. Continuity between Judeans and Jews outweighs the discontinuity."<ref>Amy-Jill Levine. ''The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus''. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006, page 162</ref>

Academic publications in the last ten to fifteen years increasingly use the term Judeans rather than Jews. Most of these writers cite Steve Mason's 2007 article, "Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History". Mason and others argue that "Judean" is a more precise and a more ethical translation of ioudaios than is "Jew".<ref>Adele Reinhartz, [http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/vanishing-jews-antiquity-adele-reinhartz/ "The Vanishing Jews of Antiquity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822181415/http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/vanishing-jews-antiquity-adele-reinhartz/ |date=2017-08-22 }} "Marginalia", ''L.A. Review of Books'', June 24, 2014.</ref> Much of the debate stems from the use of the term in the New Testament where ''Ioudaios'' is often used in a negative context. Translating ''Ioudaios'' as "Judeans" implies simply people living in a geographic area, whereas translating the term as "Jews" implies a legalistic religious and ethnic component which in later Christian works was characterized as a religion devoid of "grace", "faith", and "freedom". It is this later understanding which some scholars have argued was not applicable in the ancient world. They argue that the New Testament texts need to be critically examined without the baggage that Christianity has associated with the term "Jew". Others such as Adele Reinhartz argue that New Testament anti-Judaism cannot be so neatly separated from later forms of anti-Judaism.<ref name ="Penner">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qnv7CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 | title = De-Introducing the New Testament: Texts, Worlds, Methods, Stories|author=Todd Penner |author2=Davina Lopez |author-link2=Davina Lopez | publisher = John Wiley & Sons| pages = 71–74| year = 2015 | isbn = 978-1-118-43296-9}}</ref> It has also been suggested that “Judean” can refer to believers of the Judean God and allies of the Judean state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J.D. |title=The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520226937}}</ref>

In 2014, Daniel R. Schwartz distinguishes "Judean" and "Jew", where the former means "Of or pertaining to Judea or southern Palestine", while the latter refers "A person belonging to the worldwide group constituting a continuation through descent or conversion of the ancient Jewish people and characterized by a sense of community".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Daniel R. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287s34?turn_away=true |title=Judeans and Jews: Four Faces of Dichotomy in Ancient Jewish History |date=2014 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1442648395 |pages=3–10}}</ref>

In 2021, Lester L. Grabbe explained that he translates the terms ''Ἰουδαῖος'', ''Iudaeus'', and ''יהודי'' as "Jew" when they appear in historical sources, using the term "Judaean" specifically for individuals who lived in, or were born in, the geographic region of Judea.<ref>{{Citation |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 4: The Jews under the Roman Shadow (4 BCE–150 CE) |date=2021 |issue=99 |pages=17 |series=Library of Second Temple studies |place=London |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-70070-4 |quote=The term 'Judaean' is normally restricted to those who live in Judaea or were at least born there. Otherwise, the term 'Jew' is used for anyone in the Jewish ethnic community or who is labelled יהדי/יהודי/Ἰουδαῖος/Iudaeus in the historical sources.}}</ref>

In 2024, Jodi Magness, wrote the term ''Ioudaioi'' refers to a "people of Judahite/Judean ancestry who worshipped the God of Israel as their national deity and (at least nominally) lived according to his laws."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Magness |first=Jodi |title=Jerusalem through the ages: from its beginnings to the Crusades |date=2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-093780-5 |location=New York, NY |pages=131}}</ref>

==Language comparison== The English word Jew derives via the Anglo-French "Iuw" from the Old French forms "Giu" and "Juieu", which had elided (dropped) the letter "d" from the Medieval Latin form ''Iudaeus'', which, like the Greek ''Ioudaioi'' it derives from, meant both Jews and Judeans / "of Judea".<ref name="OEtD"/>

However, most other European languages retained the letter "d" in the word for Jew; e.g. Danish and Norwegian ''jøde'', Dutch ''jood'', German ''Jude'', Italian ''giudeo'', Spanish ''judío'' etc.

The distinction of translation of ''Yehudim'' in Biblical Hebrew between "Judeans", and "Jews" is relevant in English translations of the Bible.

{|class=wikitable style |-align:center !English !Modern Hebrew !Modern Standard Arabic !Latin !Ancient Greek |-align:center !Jew |יהודי Yehudi |يهودي Yahudi |Iudaeus |{{lang|grc|Ἰουδαῖος}} ''Ioudaios'' |-align:center !"of Judea" or "Judean" |יהודי Yehudi |يهودي Yahudi |Iudaeus |{{lang|grc|Ἰουδαῖος}} ''Ioudaios'' |-align:center !Judea |יהודה Yehudah |يهودية Yahudiyya |Iudaea |{{lang|grc|Ἰουδαία}} ''Ioudaiā'' |}

==See also== *Race of Jesus *Who is a Jew *Jew (word) *King of the Jews *Hellenistic Judaism *Judaizers *Proselytes *History of the Jews in the Roman Empire *Hebrews *Israelites

==Notes and references== ;Notes {{Reflist|group=n}} ;References {{Reflist}}

==External links== '''General references''' * {{cite book|title=Judeans and Jews: Four Faces of Dichotomy in Ancient Jewish History|author=Daniel R. Schwartz|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4426-4839-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o0NRBQAAQBAJ}} * {{cite journal|url=http://cbi.sagepub.com/content/10/2/293.abstract?etoc|first=David M.|last=Miller|title=Ethnicity Comes of Age: An Overview of Twentieth-Century Terms for ''Ioudaios''|journal=Currents in Biblical Research|volume=10|issue=2|date=2012|pages=293–311|doi=10.1177/1476993X11428924|s2cid=144331530|url-access=subscription}} * {{cite book|first=Rabbi Joshua|last=Garroway|chapter=Ioudaios |editor1=Amy-Jill Levine |editor2=Marc Z. Brettler|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZRJ5zXUI2QC&pg=PA524|title=The Jewish Annotated New Testament|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2011|isbn=978-0-19-529770-6|pages=524–526}} * {{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254080968_The_Meaning_of_Ioudaios_and_its_Relationship_to_Other_Group_Labels_in_Ancient_'Judaism'|first=David M.|last=Miller|title=The Meaning of ''Ioudaios'' and its Relationship to Other Group Labels in Ancient 'Judaism'|journal=Currents in Biblical Research|volume=9|issue=1|date=2010|pages=98–126|doi=10.1177/1476993X09360724|s2cid=144383064|url-access=subscription}} * {{cite journal|first=Steve |last=Mason |title=Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History |journal=Journal for the Study of Judaism |volume=38 |issue=4 |date=2007 |pages=457–512 |url=http://www.stevemason.eu/resources/SMason-JSJ-2007-Jews-Judaism.pdf |doi=10.1163/156851507X193108 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325062826/http://www.stevemason.eu/resources/SMason-JSJ-2007-Jews-Judaism.pdf |archive-date=2015-03-25 }} * {{cite book|first=Philip|last=Esler|author-link=Philip Esler|title= Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter|chapter=Ethnicity Ethnic Conflict and the Ancient Mediterranean World|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-1-4514-1607-7|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QB9QPS4NA50C&pg=PA40|date=2003}} * {{cite book|pages=104–147|first=Graham|last=Harvey|publisher=Brill|date=2001|isbn=978-0-391-04119-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dy5D90UapWsC|title= The True Israel: Uses of the Names Jew, Hebrew, and Israel in Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Literature}} * {{cite book|first=Sean|last=Freyne|chapter=Behind the Names: Samaritans, loudaioi, Galileans|editor1=Stephen G. Wilson |editor2=Michel Desjardins|title=Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|date=2000|isbn=0-88920-356-3|pages=389–401}} * {{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vX8moleho2kC&pg=PA69|first=Shaye|last=Cohen|author-link=Shaye J. D. Cohen|title=The Beginnings of Jewishness|chapter=Ioudaios, Iudaeus, Judaean, Jew|publisher=University of California Press|date=1999|isbn=978-0-520-21141-4}} * {{cite journal|last=Williams|first=Margaret H.|title=The Meaning and Function of Ioudaios in Graeco-Roman Inscriptions|journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik|volume=116|pages=249–62|date=1997|url=http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1997/116pdf/116249.pdf}} * {{cite book|author-link=Morton Smith|first=Morton|last=Smith|title=Palestinian Parties and Politics that shaped the Old Testament|publisher=SCM Press|date=1987|isbn=978-0-334-02238-1|page=111}} * {{cite journal|first=Malcolm|last=Lowe|title=Who Were the Ioudaioi?|journal=Novum Testamentum|volume=18|date=1976|pages=101–130}}

'''Ioudaioi in the Gospel of John''' *{{cite journal|last=Meeks|first=Wayne|title='Am I A Jew?' Johannine Christianity and Judaism|journal=Christianity, Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults|year=1975}} *{{cite journal|last=Bratcher|first=Robert|title=The Jews in the Gospel of John|journal=The Bible Translator|issue=4|year=1975|volume=26|pages=401–409|doi=10.1177/026009437502600401|s2cid=164540724}} *{{cite book|last=Schram|first=Terry Leonard|title=The use of Ioudaios in the Fourth Gospel|year=1974}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718112905/http://concordance.biblos.com/ioudaio_n.htm Uses of ''Ioudaios'' in the New Testament]

Category:Greek words and phrases Category:Jews and Judaism in Greece Category:Jewish Greek history Category:Hellenistic Jews Category:Ethnonyms