Top Five Things with Names for which “Jew” is an Adjective (by Bethany, who is Jewish)
by Ernie on 15/07/10 at 10:00 am
5. Jew’s Meat
What is it? Mind out of the gutter, people. Jew’s meat was a medieval term for mushrooms.
Why is it called that? Dunno. My best guess is that Jews were stereotypically considered to be poor or stingy so ate mushrooms instead of real meat. Or possibly that because of kosher laws, Jews sometimes ate mushrooms in lieu of meat because they were having milk at the meal (according to kosher laws, you can’t eat meat and milk-derived products at the same meal). But frankly, in the middle ages, meat was so expensive and seldom eaten by peasants that eating mushrooms specifically instead of meat could not have happened often—because the option to eat meat was seldom within a person’s reach.
Are the term’s origins antisemitic? My guess is yes.
4. Wandering Jew
What? A type of spiderwort plant often considered to be a weed.
Why? Possibly because it is very hardy and grows everywhere, and can take over gardens if not pruned back. The term is a reference to the popular medieval folktale of the Wandering Jew—a Jewish man who was cruel to Jesus while he was carrying the cross. As a result, the man was condemned to wander the earth until judgment day, a living embodiment of the truth of the Bible and the collective culpability of Jews.
Antisemitic? Oh yeah.
3. Jewfish
What? A type of grouper
Why? Possibly because the guy who first named it in English came into contact with it via some Jews in Jamaica, who liked it a lot because it was kosher, and also very large.
Antisemitic? Nah.
2. Jew’s Harp
What: A type of small musical instrument.
Why? Possibly a derivation of jaw harp (because used by the mouth), juice harp (because of the saliva produced when you use it), jeu (French for “play”), or perhaps some other reason. My personal guess before looking it up was that it was because people considered it to be a really small and pathetic excuse for a harp. So it was, you know, the kind of harp people use only if they’re too, um, stingy to pay for a real harp. So I had my suspicions. But actually, there’s no hint that that was the reason for the naming.
Antisemitic? It sure sounds antisemitic, but it’s not.
1. Jew’s Ear Fungus. Also called Judas’s Ear Fungus or Jelly Fungus.
What: A type of mushroom that looks uncomfortably like a human ear.
Why? Because it is often found on the Elder Tree, and Judas was said to have hanged himself on an Elder Tree, and Judas’s Jewishness was often emphasized in Christian lore in Europe until recently, with “Judas” synecdochally representing Jews as a whole, and vice versa. Also might have something to do with mushrooms being “Jew’s meat.”
Antisemitic? I think so. Also: gross! If they want more people to eat it, I suggest they change the name. Just like the Patagonian Toothfish was not a popular fish for eating until it was renamed Chilean Sea Bass. And now it’s overfished and endangered.
Extra: Jew’s Mallow
What? A type of plant that is used in Syria and Egypt to make a delicious dish. Also made into jute, a type of rope.
Why “Jew”? Possibly because it is named in the book of Job.
Antisemitic? No.
Missed it by that much: Jew’s Beech (Die Judenbuche)
The title of a novel, not actually the name of a type of tree.
Why? Because a Jew is found murdered at the base of the tree.
Antisemitic? Dunno. I’d have to read it.
