JudaeanJudeann.adj.

Etymology: < classical Latin Iūdaeus of or belonging to Judaea or its people, Jewish ( < Hellenistic Greek Ἰουδαῖος of or belonging to Judaea or its people, Jewish < Aramaic yĕhūḏāyi inhabitant of Judaea, Jew: see below) + -an suffix. With use as noun compare Old French judeain Jew (c1220), and also classical Latin Iūdaeus (male) Jew, Iūdaea Jewish woman, Hellenistic Greek Ἰουδαῖος (male) Jew, Ἰουδαία Jewish woman. Compare also earlier Judeish n., Judew n., Jew n. With use as adjective compare earlier Judaic adj., Judaical adj., Judeish adj.Ulterior etymology of the Aramaic noun. Aramaic yĕhūḏāyi is < Yĕhūḏāh (Hebrew Yĕhūḏāh ), the name of one of the twelve sons of Jacob (see note at Judas n.), of the Israelite tribe of which he was the ancestor, and of the kingdom of Judah + -i -i suffix². Compare Hebrew yĕhūḏī , self-designation (see Jew n.). The name of Judaea. With the place name Judaea compare classical Latin Iūdaea and its etymon Hellenistic Greek Ἰουδαία Judaea (short for e.g. Ἰουδαία γῆ , Ἰουδαία χώρα Judaean country). The place name is attested in English contexts from the Old English period onwards (as Old English Iudea , Middle English Iudea , Iude , Jude , Judee , Judy , etc., early modern English Judaea , Iudea , Judea , Iudee , etc.). Compare also the compound Old English Iudea land , Middle English Iudea londe , iudelonde , Judy londe land of Judaea, although in Old English this probably chiefly shows Iūdēa , genitive plural of the ethnonym Iūdēas Jews (see Judeish adj.). Shakespearean crux. The following much-discussed Shakespearean passage is now usually taken to show a compositorial error for Indian n.:a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1623) v. ii. 356 One, whose hand (Like the base Iudean [1622 Indian]) threw a Pearle away Richer then all his Tribe. See further R. Levin ‘The Indian/Iudean Crux in Othello’ in Shakespeare Q. (1982) 33 60–67, and the discussion in the Arden Shakespeare edition (ed. E. A. J. Honigmann, 1997) 342–3.