Jew (word) Jew (word) The English term Jew originates in the Biblical Hebrew word "Yehudi", meaning "from the Kingdom of Judah", or "Jew". It passed into Greek as "Ioudaios" and Latin as "Iudaeus", which evolved into the Old French "giu" after the letter "d" was dropped. A variety of related forms are found in early English from about the year 1000, including "Iudea", "Gyu", "Giu", "Iuu", "Iuw", and "Iew", which eventually developed into the modern word. According to the Book of Genesis, Judah (, "Yehudah") was the name of the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob. During the Exodus, the name was
History of French in Old French except for , which turned into a schwa (written "e"): A final schwa also developed when the loss of a final vowel produced a consonant cluster that was (at the time) unpronounceable when word-final, usually consisting of a consonant followed by "l", "r", "m" or "n" (VL = Vulgar Latin, OF = Old French): The final schwa was eventually lost as well, but leaves its mark in the spelling, as well as in the pronunciation of final consonants, which normally remain pronounced if a schwa followed but are often lost otherwise: "fait" "done (masc.)" vs. "faite" "done