Red Hair of the Red Earth

This is the last item I have to upload, and concerns red hair in Jewish populations. It's from the Medical and Surgical Reporter - Volume 22, dated 1870. It references the writings of a certain Dr John Beddoe, a familiar name to anyone that's been following this blog over the last decade or so.

"A pamphlet has lately been written on the physical characteristics of the [Jewish] race by JOHN BEDDOE, B. A., M. D., President of the Anthropological Society, etc. A good deal of this pamphlet is occupied with the question as to whether the existence of light hair and eyes among the Jews is compatible with purity of race. It seems unquestionable that xanthous Jews exist into whom there has been no recent importation of Gentile blood: and the fact that these red-haired Jews are found in countries widely separated precludes the idea that any special local cause, such as climate, has wrought the change. Dr. Beddoe suggests three possible sources of early admixture, which he thinks may explain the xanthous element observed among living Jews. The Jews may have intermixed with inhabitants of Spain long before the Babylonian captivity, or with the Phoenicians; or, lastly, the known amalgamation of the Idumeans with the Jews may be the source whence the red hair, which probably characterised that people, has been derived."

It's interesting that red hair is related to the Phoenicians in this passage. Likewise the relation to the Idumeans. The Idumeans are contiguous with the Edomites, who were said to descend from Esau, the elder son of the biblical Isaac. Esau was said to have been born "red all over". The word Edom is likewise said to mean "red" in Hebrew. It's also worth noting the similar sounding name Adam, which is often equated with red earth.

According to the Wikipedia page for the word Adamah (meaning ground or earth):

Adam (אדם) literally means "red", and there is an etymological connection between adam and adamah, adamah designating "red clay" or "red ground" in a non-theological context.

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A few further notes from the Wikipedia page that may be worth noting:

The word adam has no feminine form in Hebrew, but if it did, it would be adamah.

There is [an] additional relationship between the words adam and adamah and the word dam (דם), meaning blood.