Drop antisemitic descriptions from Spanish lexicon, urge Jewish groups

Two entries in official Spanish dictionary are rooted in centuries-old prejudice, say campaigners

More than 20 Jewish groups from Spanish-speaking countries and beyond have written to Spain’s leading linguistic authority asking it to remove antisemitic definitions from its dictionary that describe a judío (Jew) as “a greedy or money-lending person” and the related term judiada as a synonym for “dirty trick”.

In a letter to the 300-year-old Spanish Royal Academy (RAE), which chronicles and oversees the evolution of the Spanish language, the groups urge the institution to rethink the two entries in its official Dictionary of the Spanish Language on the grounds that they are outdated, “utterly antisemitic” and contrary to the Spanish constitution.

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