The word JUWES

[P.C]

Hi all and please be gentle as its my first post

I was browsing Ebay for a fancy dress costume and came across a realistic mask and it stated that it was made by a company so I decided to check out their website and they make another mask named 'Juwe'.
The company is based in the Czech republic and I was wondering if that spelling of the word itself had its origins in that area.
The website is called Greyland Film if you want to have a look.

[lynn cates]

Czech list

Hello P.C. Welcome to the boards.

It was hypothesised that "Juwes" could be a mistake for "Juives" which is French for "female Jews"--if I recall properly. Correct should be "Juifs." But it is doubtful that a native speaker of French would make that blunder.

Could it be from where you note? Possibly, I'll have to Czech on that. (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[Bridewell]

Juwes & Old Jewry

Hi P.C. (& Lynn),

I'm currently reading Paul Harrison's book, 'Jack the Ripper - The Mystery Solved'. I'm aware, from another thread, that Harrison researched the wrong Barnett & I've spotted a couple of other errors as well. However, there is one point which he makes which I found interesting. He claims that contacts within the Metropolitan Police have told him of resentment within the Met at being blamed for everything that was wrong in East London and at being compared unfavourably with the City Force:

"The message was nothing more than a jibe at the City Police. The word 'Juwes' should have been spelt 'Jewes' and was meant to refer to the nickname used by the majority of the Metropolitan Officers when referring to their City opponents. The nickname derives from the Old Jewry police headquarters of the City Police.
If the story is correct, a fact in which I have no reason to doubt, then it explains Superintendent Arnold and Sir Charles Warren's rival actions in removing the message".

Not a theory I have encountered before. Plausible or not?

(Lights blue touchpaper and retires).

Regards, Bridewell.

[Bridewell]

It was hypothesised that "Juwes" could be a mistake for "Juives" which is French for "female Jews"--if I recall properly.

I think I'm right in saying that this originated with Robert D'Onston Stephenson.

Regards, Bridewell.

[lynn cates]

right

Hello Colin.

"I think I'm right in saying that this originated with Robert D'Onston Stephenson.'

Yes. If I recall properly, it was in a note from mid-October, 1888.

Cheers.
LC

[Bridewell]

The Source

Hello Colin.

"I think I'm right in saying that this originated with Robert D'Onston Stephenson.'

Yes. If I recall properly, it was in a note from mid-October, 1888.

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn,

This is from Chris George's dissertation:

On 16 October, two weeks after the "Double Event," D'Onston wrote to the City of London Police from "50, Currie Wards, The London Hospital E." He gave it as his opinion that the writer of the Goulston Street graffito was a Frenchman and that the word "Juwes" was actually "Juives"--French for "Jews"--and that the police missed the dot over the "i" while shining their lamps on the wording. (In admitting in a later article that "Juives" was actually the feminine form of the term, D'Onston stood by a statement he made in the letter that the French were "notoriously the worst linguists in the world.")

[Heinrich]

The simplest explanation is that "Juwes" is a misspelling of Jews.

[lynn cates]

thanks

Hello Colin. Thanks for the confirmation.

Cheers.
LC

[Captain Hook]

I was browsing Ebay for a fancy dress costume and came across a realistic mask and it stated that it was made by a company so I decided to check out their website and they make another mask named 'Juwe'.
The company is based in the Czech republic and I was wondering if that spelling of the word itself had its origins in that area.
The website is called Greyland Film if you want to have a look.

Hello P. C.,

Welcome to the Boards.

The word "Jew" translates into Czech as "Žid", which is obviously derived from Yiddish, which is in turn derived from Judisch. Nothing to do with "Juwes", I'm afraid. Personally, I subscribe to the theory that "Juwes" is simply a misspelling or at best a traditional alternative spelling of "Jews".

Cheers
Hook

[Michael W Richards]

I would think that one of the most probable answers to this question is that the person who wrote the message was a Gentile.

Considering it was placed at the entrance to Dwellings almost 100% occupied by Jews at the time, it seems the most probable to me.

Best regards,

Mike R

[Bridewell]

Juwes & Jews

What I find a little strange is that the word 'Jews', which was not an unusual one, especially in an area with a 40% Jewish population, was badly mis-spelt in a sentence in which there were no other spelling mistakes.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Rubyretro]

What I find a little strange is that the word 'Jews', which was not an unusual one, especially in an area with a 40% Jewish population, was badly mis-spelt in a sentence in which there were no other spelling mistakes.

Regards, Bridewell.

Maybe it was simply a word that the writer wasn't used to writing ?

He probably wasn't Jewish himself.

I don't personally believe that the graffiti was written by Jack, and so I don't see anything mysterious or sinister in it.

[Bridewell]

Juwes

Maybe it was simply a word that the writer wasn't used to writing ?

He probably wasn't Jewish himself.

I don't personally believe that the graffiti was written by Jack, and so I don't see anything mysterious or sinister in it.

I don't take issue with that at all and I agree that, on the balance of probabilities, the graffito was nothing to do with the killer.

Any thoughts on Paul Harrison's belief that 'Jewes' was the nickname given by the Met rank and file to their City counterparts? I can't find a reference to it anywhere else, so I suspect that it may have been a wind-up.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Autolycus]

What's in a name?

Hi All

I was always fascinated by a previous unrelated thread. I think it was Chris Scott who found a contemporary, or near contemporary reference to a family called the "Jewers". I seem to recall that one of them had some sort of criminal record. See - I've virtually solved it!

Regards

Autolycus

[HelenaWojtczak]

I've always thought that the idea that Juwes was a misspelling of Jews most improbable, since the word JEWS was written such a lot -- and in public places -- that I can't imagine anyone who could spell the rest of the sentence would mis-spell that word.