Cohen and Levy are middle eastern names I assume.

[k5125]

So why don't people think of them as such?

The average american would never guess that Cohen and Levy are middle eastern names. When they think middle eastern, they think of names only like Habib or Abdullah or Hussein.

Heck, some people would probably even think Gupta is more middle eastern than Cohen! lol

I don't get it.

[Melnorme]

Wha? That's a silly question, it's because people think 'Middle Eastern = Arabic'. Cohen and Levi are words in ancient Hebrew.

Similarly, I guess most people don't immediately think of 'Nebuchadnazzar' as a 'Middle Eastern' name either.

[k5125]

I think Nebuchadnazzar is a little different than Cohen because Cohen is so common nowadays. So many Jews have it. You would think people would know what language it is. Its not like digging up some ancient relic.

I bet you the average american wouldn't even think "Mizrahi" or "Azaria" are middle eastern names.

Although that does raise a good point. People probably wouldn't even equate syriac/aramaic names with middle eastern either, or persian for that matter.

[EternalSemitic]

hey melnorme since you're into this genetic stuff is it true that Levite jews possess nordic genes/traits?I've come across some nazis claiming levite jews are of aryan origin and it occurs to me they're somehow lighter than most of the jews[perhaps because they haven't mixed with other races and succeeded maintaining their racial purity?]

[Bar Amru]

What Melnorme said, because when ppl think of the middle east they think of Arabs only nd forget about the rest.

Cohen is a very ancient word, in Syriac we say Cahna and in Arabic it's Cahen so there's no reason to think it's not from the middle east.

Btw, we use the word "Gupta" in our modern Syriac language for cheese lol.

[NuSapiens]

The Ashkenazi Levite modal haplotype is a type of R1a, a lineage tenatively associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans. In any case, it is not Middle Eastern, but probably originated north of the Black Sea. The PIE people are traditionally identified with the Aryan invaders of India. Of course, a person (or even population) is not defined solely by their Y Chromosome. But in a sense, one could attribute this lineage present in Ashkenazi Levites to Aryan origins.

Another common mistake perpetuated in the USA is confusion about what "Semitic" means. In fact, Semitic refers to speakers of Afro-Semitic languages, which include Coptic, Hebrew, Arabic, and others. So both Palestinian Muslims and Jewish Israelis are anti-Semitic. And since Afro-Semitic languages are most common in the Middle East, the Hebrew-derived surnames "Cohen" and "Levy" are in a sense Middle Eastern.

[yigal]

Coptic is hamitic douchbag like Berber

[k5125]

NuSapiens said:

The Ashkenazi Levite modal haplotype is a type of R1a, a lineage tenatively associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans. In any case, it is not Middle Eastern, but probably originated north of the Black Sea. The PIE people are traditionally identified with the Aryan invaders of India. Of course, a person (or even population) is not defined solely by their Y Chromosome. But in a sense, one could attribute this lineage present in Ashkenazi Levites to Aryan origins.

Eugene Levy never struck me as Aryan.

I think Levys are just like every other kind of Jew though. Some levys are blond, some are more middle eastern looking.

[NuSapiens]

k5125 said:

Eugene Levy never struck me as Aryan.

I think Levys are just like every other kind of Jew though. Some levys are blond, some are more middle eastern looking.

As I mentioned, Y Chromosome is just a paternal lineage. It does not determine someone's overall racial/subracial character. The Y Chromosome has very few genes, in fact, so has little effect on phenotype.