The word “Jew” passed into the English language from the Greek (Ioudaios) by way of the Latin (Judaeus), and is found in early English (from about the year 1000) in a variety of forms: Iudea, Gyu, Giu, Iuu, Iuw, Iew which developed into “Jew.” The word “Jew,” therefore, is ultimately traced to the Hebrew Yehudi, a term which originally applied to members of the tribe of Judah, the fourth son of the patriarch, Jacob. The term was also utilized for those who dwelt in the area of the tribe of Judah and thus later, during the seven years that David reigned in Hebron, his territory was called the Kingdom of Judah (II Sam. 5:5). Later still, with the split of the kingdom during the reign of Rehoboam, the Northern Kingdom was called Israel and the Southern was called Judah, although it also encompassed the territory of the tribe of Benjamin (I Kings 12:16–21). From that time on the term “Yehudi” applied to all residents of the Southern Kingdom, irrespective of their tribal status. After the destruction of Israel only Judah remained, and the term “Yehudi,” or “Jew,” then lost its specific connection with the Southern Kingdom. (Yehoshua M. Grintz, “Jew,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, ed. Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum [2d ed.; Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2007], 11:253, emphasis in bold added)
