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From Xenophobia to Golden Age: "Jewish Paradise” Proverb as a Linguistic Reclamation

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Abstract

The phrase “Jewish paradise” (from Latin paradisus Judeorum) originated in an early seventeenth-century xenophobic and antisemitic poem. Over the centuries, the original poem has been forgotten and the phrase, originally intended to be a satirical exaggeration of the Jewish position, has become increasingly used as a neutral or even favorable expression referencing the Golden Age of Jewish Culture in early modern Poland-Lithuania. This paper traces the history of this transition and argues that it represents an example of the linguistic reclamation: turning an antisemitic phrase into a philosemitic one, used from Poland to Jewish communities worldwide.

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Notes

  1. For the rest of the poem, as well as a number of its subsequent variations and their accompanying translations, the reader can visit Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paradisus_Judaeorum&oldid=984914361.

  2. Readers can check whether this is still the case here: https://www.polin.pl/en/wystawy-wystawa-glowna-galerie/paradisus-iudaeorum.

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  1. Hanyang University Erica Campus, Ansan, Korea

    Piotr Konieczny

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Appendix 1. List of Polish Digital Libraries

Appendix 1. List of Polish Digital Libraries

Academica.

Bałtycka Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

BazTech.

Biblioteka Cyfrowa Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.

Biblioteka Główna Politechniki Śląskiej.

Biblioteka Wirtualna Nauki.

Dolnośląska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Elektroniczna biblioteka Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.

Federacja Bibliotek Cyfrowych.

IBUK.pl.

Biblioteka Jagiellońska.

Kujawsko-Pomorska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Małopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Mazowiecka Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Morska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Podkarpacka Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Podlaska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Biblioteka Cyfrowa Politechniki Łódzkiej eBiPoL.

Polona.

Polska Biblioteka Internetowa.

Polski Szekspir UW.

Pomorska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Repozytorium Cyfrowe Biblioteki Narodowej.

Sanocka Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Śląska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

Zachodniopomorska Biblioteka Cyfrowa „Pomerania”.

Zielonogórska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.

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Konieczny, P. From Xenophobia to Golden Age: "Jewish Paradise” Proverb as a Linguistic Reclamation. Cont Jewry 41, 517–537 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-021-09380-4

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