The Spanish Royal Academy, a Madrid-based language-standardisation institution, has yet to comply with a September 2024 order by an Argentinean judge to drop a definition of "Jewish" as "miserly or usurious". The definition has a long history, associated with stereotypes of Jews and moneylending, and has been reinforced by literary figures such as Shakespeare's Shylock and centuries of anti-Jewish prejudice. Jewish groups argue that preserving the definition perpetuates an antisemitic trope.
The Royal Spanish Academy has defended its dictionary as a record of how words are used, including pejorative meanings. The academy claims that dictionaries document language rather than invent it, and that deleting a definition would not necessarily prevent people from using the expression. Ariel Siedler, a member of the Latin American Jewish Congress (CJL), stated that adding the definition seems negative and aims to avoid reinforcing discrimination.
The 2024 order came a month after CJL and Argentina's Jewish political umbrella organisation, the Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas, filed a criminal complaint against Santiago Muñoz Machado, the academy's director, and other officials. The complaint accused them of "inciting hatred against the Jewish community through the discriminatory definition of the term 'Jew'". Muñoz Machado stated that he would examine the ruling out of respect for the Argentinean courts and the CJL's parent body, the World Jewish Congress.
The academy's online Dictionary of the Spanish Language lists five meanings for "judío" (Jew/Jewish). The first definitions are "Hebrew", a person "who professes Judaism", a "native of Judea, a country of ancient Asia", and "belonging or relating to Judea or the Jews". The fifth describes it as a person who is "miserly or usurious". In 2021, the CJL first complained to the academy, which began to add that this usage is "offensive or discriminatory" according to Iedra, a website that tracks Spanish language usage.
English-language dictionaries routinely include antisemitic meanings of "Jew" while also noting that such usage is offensive. Defenders of the Spanish academy's dictionary argue that the work's educational role should prevail, and that the dictionary serves to explain and understand. Arturo Pérez-Reverte, an academy member and Spanish novelist, stated that the dictionary is not the normative police of the language, but the notary that draws up a record of how the language was used and how it is used now.
There is a precedent for the academy removing an offensive definition. Spanish lawyer Borja Luján Lago in 2023 got the academy to modify the entry for the word "lawyer", which included the definitions "talkative" and "chatty". Panama's Jewish community, hearing of his success, tapped Luján Lago to persuade the academy to remove the offensive "Jewish" definition. More than 20 Jewish groups in the United States and Latin America signed onto the effort.
The Royal Spanish Academy is the leading authority on the Spanish language, coordinating linguistic standards with 22 other academies, mostly in Latin America. Approximately 636 million people worldwide are Spanish speakers, according to the Instituto Cervantes' 2025 report. The countries with the largest Spanish-speaking populations include Mexico (138 million), the United States (65.5 million), Colombia (53.1 million), Spain (48.9 million), and Argentina (47.5 million).
Key points
- The Spanish Royal Academy has yet to comply with a judge's order to remove a definition of "Jewish" as "miserly or usurious" from its dictionary.
- Jewish groups argue that preserving the definition perpetuates an antisemitic trope.
- The academy claims that dictionaries document language rather than invent it, and that deleting a definition would not necessarily prevent people from using the expression.
