The word 'Jew' didn't exist in any biblical texts prior to the 1600s. This word has been intermingled with the words 'Israelite', 'Judahite', 'Judean', 'pharisee', and 'Edomite' for over 400 years. It's use in the Bible is ambiguous and unfortunately needs to be deciphered for every verse that it is used. Some times it refers to the Roman province of Judea, other times it refers more accurately to Edomites. Other times it references 'Israelites".
The word Jew never really derived from Judah and certainly did not exist during the Roman times as I will explain in the following paragraph..
Rome referred to the region as 'Judea' from the Latin 'Iudaea', which is derived from the Greek 'Idumea'; "land of Edomites" and those people of the region as 'Judeans'. From the time of conquest by Alexander the Great, the region was called 'Idumea'. The influence of the Greeks in the entire Levant was so culturally dominating that the written paleo-Hebrew was becoming lost. As a result, the Greek Septuagint was written in 256 BC. The international language throughout the eastern Mediterranean was koine Greek. Without records, it is plausible that Jesus may have read from the Greek Septuagint. We don't know for sure. Nevertheless, the Romans readily accepted the Greek influence existing there and added their own Latin version. The Romans simply used the Latinized version ('Iudaea') of the Greek 'Idumea'.
Much later the word Jew comes into existence in England in circa 1600s, which coincides with a wave of Yiddish immigrants coming from France and Deutschland. Originally the English term 'Jewry' referred to those immigrants coming from Eastern European people who spoke Yiddish (Ashkenazi). A French derogatory term for 'ghetto' and the Yiddish district of town was called -- 'Jeuerie'; "ghetto", from Anglo-French 'Juerie', Old French 'Juierie' or the later English version 'Jewry'. The word 'Jew' did not exist during the Roman times. Even Pontius Pilate inscribed a title in Latin on the torture stake that properly translated reads - "Jesus the Nazerene King of the Judeans". From the above etymology of the word Judean, we find the plaque was far more derogatory to the death of our Savior than people realize. The real translation is -- "Jesus the Nazerene King of the Idumeans (Edomites)."
The word 'Jew' didn't exist in any biblical texts prior to the 1600s. This word has been intermingled with the words 'Israelite', 'Judahite', 'Judean', 'pharisee', and 'Edomite' for over 400 years. It's use in the Bible is ambiguous and unfortunately needs to be deciphered for every verse that it is used. Some times it refers to the Roman province of Judea, other times it refers more accurately to Edomites. Other times it references 'Israelites".
The word Jew never really derived from Judah and certainly did not exist during the Roman times as I will explain in the following paragraph..
Rome referred to the region as 'Judea' from the Latin 'Iudaea', which is derived from the Greek 'Idumea'; "land of Edomites" and those people of the region as 'Judeans'. From the time of conquest by Alexander the Great, the region was called 'Idumea'. The influence of the Greeks in the entire Levant was so culturally dominating that the written paleo-Hebrew was becoming lost. As a result, the Greek Septuagint was written in 256 BC. The international language throughout the eastern Mediterranean was koine Greek. Without records, it is plausible that Jesus may have read from the Greek Septuagint. We don't know for sure. Nevertheless, the Romans readily accepted the Greek influence existing there and added their own Latin version. The Romans simply used the Latinized version ('Iudaea') of the Greek 'Idumea'.
Much later the word Jew comes into existence in England in circa 1600s, which coincides with a wave of Yiddish immigrants coming from France and Deutschland. Originally the English term 'Jewry' referred to those immigrants coming from Eastern European people who spoke Yiddish (Ashkenazi). A French derogatory term for 'ghetto' and the Yiddish district of town was called -- 'Jeuerie'; "ghetto", from Anglo-French 'Juerie', Old French 'Juierie' or the later English version 'Jewry'. The word 'Jew' did not exist during the Roman times. Even Pontius Pilate inscribed a title in Latin on the torture stake that properly translated reads - "Jesus the Nazerene King of the Judeans". From the above entymology of the word Judean, we find the plaque was far more derogatory to the death of our Savior than people realize. The real translation is -- "Jesus the Nazerene King of the Idumeans (Edomites)."