Ashkenazi
Pronunciations
Ashkenazi | (AHSH-kih-NAH-zee) | listen |
Definitions
n. Jews with recent ancestry in the Diaspora of Northern and Eastern Europe.
adj. Of or relating to the culture, customs, or ancestry of Jews with recent ancestry in the Diaspora of Northern and Eastern Europe.
Example Sentences
"Most Ashkenazim have a deep affinity for Ashkenazi food." (Glinert)
Listen to recordings of this sentence: ( Recording 1)"Ashkenazim generally don't eat rice and legumes on Pesach, while Sephardim do." (JPS)
Listen to recordings of this sentence: ( Recording 1)
Languages of Origin
- Textual Hebrew
Etymology
אשכנזי ashkenazi 'from Ashkenaz'; medieval rabbis called Germany Ashkenaz, based on a passage in Jeremiah (51:27), and thought that after the Flood, Noah's great-grandson, Ashkenaz, settled in Germany
- Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
- North America
- Australia / New Zealand
- Great Britain
- South Africa
- The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
- The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
- The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
Alternative Spellings
Ashkenazim, Ashkenazis, Ashkenazees, Ashkenazeem
Notes
plural: 'Ashkenazim'
See also Ashkenazic, Sephardi, and Mizrachi.
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