To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Columbus - way off topic
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2002 18:51:28 +0200
> (the term "Maranno", meaning "swine", is derogatory).
>
It ain't easy being politically correct these days. I've heard any number of
highly educated jews, Israeli and diaspora, use "Marano" as a perfectly
value neutral technical term meaning "A jew pretending to be a christian in
order to escape persecution at the hands of the Inquisition".
The guys in the linguistics department, I think, tell us that the meaning of
a word is defined by its usage, not its etymology. Do we have to do away
with this one, just because in Spanish it may have a referent different from
the one people intend when using it in talking (in English) about the jews
in Spain in the 1500's?