Today’s word of the day, thanks to the Dictionary Project, is gratuitous. The email gives four definitions for this adjective: 1. “given freely, without recompense; given or received without requiring service in return; unearned”; 2. “free; given or received without cost”; 3. “unjustified; without reason or cause; unwarranted”; 4. “(Law) given or made with nothing of value received in return.” Three of these definitions look very similar, but the third definition looks almost out of place. But that is the first definition at Dictionary.com: “being without apparent reason, cause, or justification” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/gratuitous).

The timing of these differences in definition is interesting: the word entered the language in the “1650s, ‘freely bestowed,’ from Latin gratuitus ‘done without pay, spontaneous, voluntary,’ from gratus‘pleasing, agreeable,’ from gratia ‘favor’ (from suffixed form of PIE root *gwere- (2) ‘to favor’). Earlier was gratuital (1590s). The sense of ‘uncalled for, done without good reason’ is recorded by 1690s (https://www.etymonline.com/word/gratuitous#etymonline_v_11930). Apparently the more negative meaning of the word came after the less negative.

It may that the meaning underwent the linguistic process called pejoration, “the downgrading or depreciation of a word’s meaning, as when a word with a positive sense develops a negative one” (https://www.thoughtco.com/pejoration-word-meanings-1691601). It is the opposite of the linguistic change we looked at recently called amelioration. Another example of pejoration is the word silly, which in Old English meant “happy, fortunate” but now means “foolish, frivolous.”

On this date in 1510, Emperor Maximillian I authorized the town of Colmar in the Alsace region to expel its Jewish citizens. Jews had begun settling in Colmar in the 13^th century. But in 1348, during the period of the Black Plague, many Jews were massacred in Colmar because the Christians blamed them for the plague (humans had not yet developed the germ theory of disease, which was first proposed in the 1500s but not accepted among scientists until 1838). Maximillian (reigned 1486-1519) had a vacillating policy towards Jews. He authorized expulsions of Jews 13 times between the beginning of his reign and 1510, mostly for financial reasons.

In Europe in the Middle Ages, Christians were not allowed to lend money to other Christians at interest. Who would want to risk losing their money without some potential reward? So Christians didn’t really want to lend money. But the Jews could lend money at interest, and they did, and the Christian nobility borrowed from them (oftentimes to pay for the almost constant warfare that they practiced). But occasionally the nobility would get desperate about how much they owed, and they would simply create a pogrom. Maximillian actually received funds from localities whom he allowed to expel their Jews. But after this last one, in 1510, Maximillian figured out that he could tax the Jews, and the pogroms stopped, at least in Germany.

On this date in 1775, Marshall Lubomirski sent his troops in the New Jerusalem settlement, just outside Warsaw, and destroyed the homes of the Jews who lived there, as well as confiscating their property. Jews had begun to settle in Warsaw, Poland, in the 14^th century, though there were times when they were banned from the city. In there early 16^th century, they lived in private settlements called jurydykas outside the city limits (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/warsaw-poland#google_vignette).

Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia says about Lubomirski: “The great crown marshal Lubomirski issued special certificates at a cost of one silver groschen each, and every Jew wishing to stay in Warsaw was compelled to procure one of them under penalty of imprisonment, although they were good for five days only. The income from these tickets reached the sum of 200,000 Polish gulden annually. Large Jewish colonies were formed in the outskirts of the city on lands owned by members of the Polish nobility. The most noted of these settlements was “New Jerusalem,” situated beyond the present Jerusalem gate. Notwithstanding a resolution of the city council which permitted Jews to reside in New Jerusalem, Marshal Lubomirski successively combated the legality of this right of settlement. On Jan. 22, 1775, the marshal’s guard invaded New Jerusalem, confiscated the merchandise found there, and demolished all the Jewish houses. The merchandise thus seized, which was valued at hundreds of thousands of gulden, was stored in the arsenal and was later sold at public auction, the proceeds being returned to the Jews.”

Around this date in 1941, the mass killing of Jews in Romania began. Under Ion Antonescu, a Marshall in the Romanian army and the prime minister under the military dictatorship, Romania started an alliance with Nazi Germany in 1940. But a group rebelled against Antonescu’s rule in an event called the Legionnaire’s Rebellion. The group began is program with propaganda claiming that Antonescu was married to a Jew and was friendly toward the Jews, even though his government was allied to the Nazis. The Iron Guard disagreed with Antonescu not about whether to confiscate property from the Jews living in Romania, but how to go about doing it.

During the rebellion, members of the Iron Guard began to kill Jews. But Antonescu soon quashed the rebellion. However, he did continued the Iron Guard policy of killing Jews. Ultimately, more than half the Jews who were living in Romania in 1940 had been murdered by 1945. Of course, after WWII, the Soviet Union took control of Romania, and 90% of the remaining Jews had emigrated to Israel.

January 22 is obviously not a good date in the history of Jews in Europe, but the same might be said of most of the dates on the calendar. Given the treatment of Jews through the ages, I personally don’t see how the creation of a state where Jews don’t face discrimination is gratuitous.

The image today is a photo of Colmar in the Alsace region of France (https://www.viator.com/tours/Strasbourg/Alsace-Day-Trip-from-Strasbourg-Colmar-Eguisheim-Riquewihr-High-Koenigsbourg-Castle-and-Alsace-Wine-Tasting/d5502-2016ALSACEHIGHLIGHTS). It looks like a lovely little town. But lovely little European towns often have a bit of ugliness in their past. Still, I would love to visit Colmar.