# sephardic/mizrachic term for גוי (goy)



## Segulah

I know that the term goy (גוי) made it to modern hebrew though yiddish where it took on the meaning of gentile. The biblical hebrew term only means nation. So I wonder what non-ashkenazim used to say when they referred gentiles.


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## scriptum

To the best of my knowledge, _goy_ meaning "gentile" is a Talmudic word, common to the Ashkenazi and the non-Ashkenazi Jews. The word is outdated and rarely used in modern language. People usually say "לא-יהודי".


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## origumi

Segulah said:


> I know that the term goy (גוי) made it to modern hebrew though yiddish


This is inaccurate. The term גוי (goy) as opposed to Jew was coined during the 2nd Temple period the latest. It may have been used this way already in biblical times.

It appears in the morning prayers (ברכות השחר, common to all Jews). We bless God that did not create us גוי (or woman, or slave, or ignorant). Not too PC, I know.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=G (English)
http://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=348 (Hebrew)
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%92%D7%95%D7%99 (Hebrew)


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## Segulah

Thats true, it's in the prayers. 
So the same word was used by the other communities?


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## berndf

origumi said:


> The term גוי (goy) as opposed to Jew was coined during the 2nd Temple period the latest.


Circumstantial evidence for this is also that, if Christian tradition is accurate, Paul used ἔθνη (e.g. Romans 15:11, written around 58 A.D.; reproduced as _gentes/gentiles_ in Latin) for _gentiles_ which appears to be a translation of גוים. In very early Christianity, the term _gentiles_ referred to non-Jews and not to non-Christians.


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## ahshav

another word is נכרי, nokhri


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## just a normal guy

scriptum said:


> to the best of my knowledge, _goy_ meaning "gentile" is a talmudic word, common to the ashkenazi and the non-ashkenazi jews. The word is outdated and rarely used in modern language. People usually say "לא-יהודי".


 
דווקא "גוי" עושה קאמבק ולא נדיר לשמוע אותו כשמדברים, רעה בד"כ, על לא-יהודיים.


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## BezierCurve

ahshav said:


> another word is נכרי, nokhri


 
Could that be also used as a term for _a stranger_ in general (someone coming from abroad, no matter of what origin)?


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## vivnara

I once worked for an Algerian lady, who called the Arabs - "maur" (m) and "mauresque" (f), i.e. the French for Moor. It could be that other Mizrachi Jews from North Africa also referred to the non-Jews as such.


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## Maayan

BezierCurve said:


> Could that be also used as a term for _a stranger_ in general (someone coming from abroad, no matter of what origin)?


 
Someone who's coming from abroad to work would be referred to as עובד זר _'oved zar_ = foreign worker
Someone who's coming for a trip or a holiday would be referred to as תייר _tayar_ = tourist or מבקר mevaker = visitor
Another sad option is פליט _palit_ = refugee


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## BezierCurve

Thanks, Maayan.


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## Grapez

My friend once met some of the Yemenite Jews that were recent immigrants to Israel. He told me that when they saw Russians in the street, they assumed they were non-Jewish, and referred to them as ערבים


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## kishmish

I asked my father, who was born in Irak and lived there till he was 11 years old. They refered to the non-Jews simply as Muslims, for there were no other non-Jews.


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## Abu Rashid

> They refered to the non-Jews simply as Muslims, for there were no other non-Jews.



Sounds more like a generalisation than a reality. Iraq has always had a plethora of different faith communities.


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## kishmish

Of course, Abu Rashid, but the Jewish community had relationships and communicated mostly with Muslims.
My father anyway could not recall another term, and he remembers and cherished many memories from his life in Baghdad.
However, he was a child after all, so there may be others who remember differently.


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