Should the word “Gentile” be capitalized?

Question

I've read some texts and versions of the Bible using the capitalized form of Gentile and others using just a lowercase version. I couldn't find any standards on its usage.

Answer 1

When used as an adjective meaning ‘of or pertaining to any or all of the nations other than the Jewish’, the OED states that ‘it is now usually written with capital initial’. Similarly, it says of the noun meaning ‘one of any nation other than the Jewish’, it is ‘usually with capital G’.

Answer 2

A gentile is a non-Jew. The word does not refer to a specific nation/tribe/people; it's a generic. As such it should be lowercase, just like "foreigner" or "nation" would be.

Answer 3

Quoted from wikipedia :

The term Gentile (from Latin gentilis, by the French "gentil", female: "gentille", meaning of or belonging to a clan or tribe) refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible.

Latin and subsequently English translators selectively used the term gentiles when the context for the base term "peoples" or "nations", Hebrew, גוי (goy) and נכרי (nokhri) in the Hebrew Bible and the Greek word ἔθνη (éthnē) in the New Testament, indicated non-Israelite peoples or nations. The term gentiles is derived from Latin, used for contextual translation, and not an original Hebrew or Greek word from the Bible.

Following Christianization of the Roman Empire, the general implication of the word gentile became "non-Jew".

In short when we are referring to the "non-Jew" people, like a quality, it is lower-cased. When we are speaking about group of people - non-Israelite peoples, it is capitalized.

Answer 4

When it means "a person who is not Jewish," it is written Gentile. When, for example, it means "not belonging to one's own religious community," it is written gentile.

Answer 5

I don't buy this. Gentile, like Semite, is a proper noun. I note that Semite is always capitalized, yet Gentile should not always be according to some. I think this should be a consistent use and be capitalized when used as a proper noun, and not, when used as an adjective. I find also that every Bible translation that I looked up (KJV, NKJV, NIV, NAB, ESV, NLT) all follow the same principle in which the word, Gentile, as a proper noun is capitalized.

If you are going to capitalize proper nouns, and capitalize other proper nouns associated with the use of the proper noun of "Gentile," like "Semite," and "Jew," then you need to be consistent with all such usage. I think that the Bible translators recognized this.