[lbo-talk] Obscure question on origin of ethnic slur

[Shane Mage]

Chris Doss wrote:
>
>...Nowadays, the derogatory Russian word for Jew is
>"Zhid," which I've always thought was taken from the
>German and always had a negative connotation. However,
>I've been reading Solshenitsyn's book 200 Years
>Together (the Russian edition) and he quotes old
>documents from the 11th century using the word, not
>only before there was any contact between German Jews
>or Germans in general and Russia, but in a largely
>value-neutral context (this is about the time Vladimir
>converted the Rus' to Christianity). For instance, the
>Khazar Empire is refered to as "Zemlya Zhidovskaya,"
>"Land of the Zhids,"...and, according to Sol
anyway, there was a Khazar regiment in Kiev until the10th century?...

This seems to be strong support for the old theory (popularized
by Koestler in "The Thirteenth Tribe") that the East European
jewry, whose language came to be known as Yiddish,  originally was largely
composed of Khazarian Jewish refugees from the Mongol invasions.

Shane Mage

"Thunderbolt steers all things...It consents and does not
consent to be called 
Zeus."                                                         

Herakleitos of Ephesos