Goy
Shiksah and Shagetz (y)
Swartz in all its variations
Used by a Jew in the 20th and 21st centuries, all of the above are pejoratives.
Two are direct from Hebrew, the others via Yiddish.
But not all used to be (pejoratives).
Anyone who has spent time with the Talmuds (Bavil and Yerusalmi) should know that “am ha’aretz” once referred to ruling committees, vads (vadim).
Given the literal meaning of the word, People (am) of the (ha) land (aretz) it is probably that the people known as “Am HaAretz” were landed gentry.
According to mi yodeya2, In Tana'ch, the term "am ha'aretz" meant either "the tribal counsel" as we see when Abraham wanted to purchase the Cave of Machpela, he bowed down to the "am ha'aretz". It also meant "the nation" or "people of the land" as we see this term used in Yeshayahu among other places in Tana"ch. In the mishnah and gemarah (Avot, for example), the term "am ha'aretz" means "ignoramus".
How did the meaning change?
I might speculate that when Ezra brought Jews back from Bavil he found a people who were, in the eyes of the returnees, “beneath them.”
This is human nature; usually new immigrants are considered the “unwashed masses.” This was true of the established Sefardim (Spanish/Portuguese Jews) when the German Jews first arrived on America’s shores, and of the Germans who were embarrassed by the shtetel Jews who arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s from eastern Europe.
Goy is used, repeatedly in the Torah to mean “nation.”
It is a Hebrew word, not a Yiddish word, albeit Ashkenazi Jews who know zero Hebrew use it freely in its negative sense.
HaShem promised Abram (Genesis 12 2) “I will make of thee “a great nation” — אעשך לגוי גדול .
All translations to English are from the Hertz/Soncino humash unless otherwise noted.
In Genesis (21 13) HaShem tells Abraham that He also will make Ismael “a great nation” — וגם בן האמה לגוי אשימנו .
Abraham was not the only patriarch told he would be a father to a great nation.
HaShem told Jacob/Israel (Genesis 46 3) אל-תירא מרדה מצרימה כי-לגוי גדול אשימך שם — “fear not to go down into Egypt ; for I will make of thee a great nation.”
In Isaiah (43 9) we read “כל הגוים נקבצו” — “All the nations are gathered...”
In the Pesach hagadah, we recite “Pour out Your fury on the nations [goyim] that do not know You.”. (When raising the Cup of Elijah just before Hallel in a traditional hagadah.)
Perhaps the context — the nations [goyim] that do not know You — that was added to the story in the so-called Middle Ages3 put the term “goy” in a (justifiably) negative connotation.
There IS a word (or several) in Hebrew to identify a person as a non-Jew: the word: nokar (m)/nokaret (f)/nokarim (p) — נוכר\נוכרת\נוכרים. The word literally means “foreigner” or “not one of us."
Nokar, because it is Hebrew and less known to European Jews, never took on the pejorative status of “goy.”
Cushie never was a pejorative until American liberals descended on Israel around 2005.
Ethiopian Jewish tradition identifies the land of Cush with their land of origin, but there are other ancient traditions that identify Cush with different locations in the ancient world.4
In any event, dark skinned Jews were known as “Cushim” before American liberals determined “Chushie” was not politically correct. To be politically correct, the Americans contend, black Jews must be called “she’hor’im” — “blacks.
שחור = black, but not to be confused with שיכור = drunk.
Was Malkat Sheba a Cushite? If she was, that certainly did not bother David, except perhaps when she returned to her own country.
Swartzah/Swartzer are Yiddish for a black person. It should NOT be a pejorative, but its use, almost always with a negative or condescending connotation, makes it so.
Perhaps the American liberals who insist on calling Cushim “she’hor’im” are thinking “swartzah” and “swartzer” but can’t admit it even unto themselves.
I recall a sweet young thing in 9th grade chorus who whispered into my ear “Swartz means black.” Swartz, German for black, was borrowed by the Yiddish-speaking Jews. I could not bring myself to call her “Carol Cushie” or “Carol Sha’hor.” Not even “Carol Black.” (I’m certain Ms. Swartz from my 9th grade chorus class long ago changed her name under the huppa. Mazel tov.)
Shiksah and Shagetz are Yiddish terms for nokarim – shiksah for females and shagetz for males. Unfortunately, too many non-Yiddish-speaking Jews have adopted the pejoratives, especially when their son or daughter is entranced by a non-Jew.
Hebrew is replete with pejoratives, but the pejoratives are not, unlike English, obscene. How can a word be obscene if it appears in the Torah?
That doesn’t mean casting aspersions on a person’s forebears won’t result in a bloody nose, or worse, but at least the person isn’t being obscene or profane.
Sources
1. Pejorative: https://tinyurl.com/ydb6l39o
2. Am HaAretz: https://tinyurl.com/r2zwfae
3. Goy in Hagadah: https://tinyurl.com/yxyf47rv
4. Cush: https://tinyurl.com/uq658gj
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