"Jew" and related terms in the ancient world

This article discusses the applications of linguistic markers for "Jew," "Israel," and other terms in the ancient world. Ancient usage indicates that Ioudaios changed from being primarily an ethno-geographic ("Judean") to a primarily religio-cultural ("Jew") term. This change prepared for the sometimes positive, but predominantly negative, Christian use of the term as a boundary marker. Christian appropriation of "Israel" was different; here the positive uses outweigh the negative. By contrast the positive or neutral sense of "Hebrew(s)" was shared by Jewish and Christian sources alike.