Goy

This article is about the adoption, use and translation into English of the Hebrew word "goy". For other uses, see Goy (disambiguation).
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A page from Elia Levita's Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary (16th century) including the word goy (גוי), translated to Latin as ethnicus, meaning heathen or pagan.[1]

In modern Hebrew and Yiddish, goy (/ɡɔɪ/; גוי‎, pl.: goyim /ˈɡɔɪ.ɪm/, גוים‎ or גויים‎) is a term for a gentile, a non-Jew.[2] Through Yiddish,[3] the word has been adopted into English (pl.: goyim or goys) also to mean "gentile", sometimes in a pejorative sense.[4][5][6] As a word principally used by Jews to describe non-Jews,[5] it is a term for the ethnic out-group.[7]

The Biblical Hebrew word goy has been commonly translated into English as nation,[8][9] meaning a group of persons of the same ethnic family who speak the same language (rather than the more common modern meaning of a political unit).[10] In the Bible, goy is used to describe both the Nation of Israel and other nations.

The meaning of the word goy in Hebrew evolved to mean "non-Jew" in the Hellenistic (300 BCE to 30 BCE) and Roman periods, as both Rabbinical texts and then Christian theology placed increasing emphasis on a binary division between Jews and non-Jews.

In modern usage in English, the extent to which goy is derogatory is a point of discussion in the Jewish community.

The word "goy" is sometimes used by white supremacists to refer to themselves when signaling a belief in conspiracy theories about Jews.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ethnicus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference HebDict was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wolfthal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Oxford was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  7. ^ It is sometimes compared to similar terms in other cultures such as the Japanese word Gaijin or the Arabic Ajam. Magid, Shaul (7 December 2019). "Theorizing 'Jew" 'Judaism' and 'Jewishness': Final Reflections", The Journal of Jewish Identities 11:1 (January 2018): 205-215". Academia.edu. Archived from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference ISB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference wiseman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference NationEty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference SPLC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).