cog·nate
LINGUISTICSS
(of a word) having the same linguistic derivation as another; from the same original word or root (e.g., English is, German ist, Latin est, from Indo-European esti):
"the term is obviously cognate with the Malay segan"
FORMAL
related; connected:
"cognate subjects such as physics and chemistry"
cognate definition - Search (bing.com)
The letter J was derived from the letter I and was initially used interchangeably with it. In English the letter J started to gain prominence in the 16th century. Prior to that, words we now spell with a J were typically spelled with an I or Y. For example, “John” was often spelled “Iohn” or “Yohn”1
John Wycliffe, an English reformer and theologian of the 14th century. The first complete English-language version of the Bible dates from 1382 and was credited to John Wycliffe and his followers.2
In any case, as the new, religiously defined Jewish identity eventually replaced the old, tribal based Judahite one*, the tribal traditions of the Benjaminites died out as well. As noted above, the post-exilic prophets do not make the distinction between Judah and Benjamin.
*These, too, are of course modern definitions, but they are useful for our purposes. Judahite means someone or something pertaining to the pre-exilic tribe and kingdom of Judah (cf. Rendsburg, Israelian Hebrew Features in Genesis 49, 163, who writes of Judahite Hebrew, as opposed to Israelian Hebrew). Judean is the same, pertaining to the post-exilic province or state of Yehud/Judah/Judea, though R.C. Head (Dynamics of Diselection, Ambiguity in Genesis 12–36 and Ethnic Boundaries in Post Exilic Judah, 2001, 16ff.) has used Yehudian to describe the former. The term Jewish is used for the worldwide religious community. These distinctions are lacking in Hebrew, where the word יהודי encompasses all three meanings. Modern Israeli scholars have, in recent years, coined the term יהודאי as an equivalent of Judahite.3
In this book “Judahite” is used as an adjective for terms relating to the kingdom of Judah (also described here as the “southern kingdom’), e.g., Judahite pottery. “Judean’ is used to refer to geographical regions, such as the Judean Desert. “Israel’ generally refers to the northern kingdom, while “ancient Israel” refers to the Iron Age people—north and south combined. In “two Hebrew kingdoms” I ostensibly adhere to the ideology of later Judahite-Judean authors but at the same time acknowledge both the proximities and differences in their material culture and cognitive world (see more in Finkelstein 1999a)4
In any case, the word “Yisrael” remained the most common term for referring to the people for many years after the Tannaitic period. Alongside it, there was less common usage of the term “Jews”, and both continued to be used in their ethnic, cultural, historic, and religious connotations. As to the question of when the term “Jew” again became the word most identified with these meanings, we do not possess a clear answer.5
Yiddish (ייִדיש, יידיש or אידיש, yidish or idish, pronounced [ˈ(j)ɪdɪʃ], lit. 'Jewish'; ייִדיש-טײַטש, Yidish-Taytsh, lit. 'Judeo-German')[9] is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originates from 9th century[10] Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with many elements taken from Hebrew (notably Mishnaic) and to some extent Aramaic. Most varieties of Yiddish include elements of Slavic languages and the vocabulary contains traces of Romance languages.[11][12][13] Yiddish is primarily written in the Hebrew alphabet.
Prior to World War II, its worldwide peak was 11 million,[14] with the number of speakers in the United States and Canada then totaling 150,000.[15] Eighty-five percent of the approximately six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust were Yiddish speakers,[16] leading to a massive decline in the use of the language. Assimilation following World War II and aliyah (immigration to Israel) further decreased the use of Yiddish among survivors after adapting to Hebrew in Israel.6
Looking at the etymology of the words Jew and Jewish in the chart above, it seems certain that they are cognates of Yiddish, not Hebrew. This means that their usage only takes us back to 9th century German Ashkenazis who observed Judaism. It does not relate to the Biblical or historical pre-9th century people who were known as Ivrim or Yehudim, because it was known that they claimed to be the seed of someone called Abraham from their history and he was called an Ivri, who had a son named Yitzchak, who had a son named Yaacob/Ysrael/Jacob, who had 12 sons, one of whom was named Yudah/Judah.
Modern day Jews, therefore, can be considered a recent religion based concept, not one that directly connects to any land or ancient people, because the term itself can only take us back to 9th century Ashkenazi Germans who practiced what is known today as Judaism, which is ironic because the name of the religion does contain a connection to one of the 12 sons of Yaacob/Jacob/Israel, namely Yudah/Judah, who ruled over the southern portion of what was called Caanan in ancient history, which was later named Ysrael/Israel by the Levites who led the Maccabean rebellion against the Romans, and then given the name Palestinia by those same Romans after the defeat of the nascent kingdom the Maccabees established.
To be a Jew or Jewish today is to observe the religion of Judaism, not an ethnic identity, and no people are recognized as a nation because of the religion they observe. There has never been a unique, ethnic Jewish people, it has been solely connected with religion since the term was created. The seed of the patriarch Yaacob/Jacob/Israel were collectively known as Israel/Israelites or the children of Israel, they are never in the Old Testament referred to collectively as Yehudim/Judahites, which was only ever used when referring to members of the southern region of the land. The Maccabees understood this, as did the formulators of the Declaration of Independence of the modern state, causing both to choose the name Israel for the land in which the whole family lived.
I recently came across this question on the website Quora: Why is being a Jew transmitted through the mother's bloodline?
Shay M. (who is Jewish) replied thusly:
It has nothing to do with “bloodline” but yes, Jewish status is inherited automatically through your mother.
İn other words, if your mother is Jewish you are too. The thing is, this is not about blood lines per se. If your mother was a convert to Judaism, the child is born just as Jewish as if she was a direct descendant of King David.
Although Jewish status is inherited through your mother, tribal status (which is mostly forgotten and irrelevant these days) comes through your father, so you cannot be a Cohen or a Levi unless your father was (for example).
My comment on his answer was this:
Because being Jewish is religious, not ethnic, and the Jewish religious leaders decided to do it that way. You can’t trace back to King David by religion, since he never practiced Judaism.7
In the Torah it is written:
Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for the homeborn; for I am YHWH your God.8
This implies that anyone who willingly observes the law can be considered as one who was born under it. Which is fine, however, the law in question is called Judaism, and only applies to those who were of Judah, not to the whole family of Jacob, who were not required to observe Judaism, but to keep the Torah. Therefore, those who convert to Judaism can be considered Jews, meaning they are connected to Judah religiously, but this says nothing about the historical or Biblical connection to the family of Jacob, to whom the promises were given. This video of Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro confirms this.
The promises were given to the children of Israel, and this is based on tribal lineage, not religious observance.
Therefore, say unto the house of Israel: Thus saith my Lord YHWH: I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye came.
And I will sanctify My great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am YHWH, saith my Lord YHWH, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.9
The house of Israel, non-observers of the Torah, are to be taken from the lands where they profaned the name of their God and returned to their own land! The observance of Judaism therefore is not a prerequisite for redemption by the God of Israel for the house of Israel, i.e. the remnant of the northern kingdom, who are to be returned to claim their heritage!
The Jewish people do indeed have a right to their own state, Judea/kingdom of Judah, but so too does the house of Israel to Samaria/the kingdom of Israel!
https://symbolgenie.com/origin-letter-j-fascinating-history/
first bible translated to english - Search (bing.com)
Joseph, Judah and the Benjamin Conundrum, By Yigal Levin, pg. 230-1
Israel Finklestein, The Forgotten Kingdom, footnote, pg. 1
How Did the Word "Jew" Become Identified with the Jewish People? (hartman.org.il)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish
Why is being a Jew transmitted through the mother's bloodline? - Quora
Leviticus 24:22
Ezekiel 36:22-24
Some are confused about their origins, but some are statistically hiding the truth.