A publisher pulled its dictionary after an uproar over the definition of Jew as “miser.”
Minerva Publications said it would stop printing and circulating copies of the seventh edition of its Little English Dictionary after India’s Jewish community objected to its definition of Jew as “a Hebrew, a miser, one who charges a high rate of interest.” The dictionary was published last year.
The Indian Jewish federation wrote in a letter to Minerva, “The meaning assigned to the word ‘Jew’ in the Little English Dictionary published by you is not only false, but is malicious and grossly defamatory of Jews as a community and harmful to the reputation of Jews,” according to the Press Trust of India. “The entry showed total insensitivity to the feelings of the Jewish community and a ‘regressive attitude.'”
Minerva then apologized for the “hurt, harm to the reputation and bad feelings caused by our wholly inadvertent entry against the word Jew,” the Press Trust reported.
