The story
- Biblical Hebrew · derived fromאֱדוֹם
- Koine Greek · derived fromἘδώμ
- Late Latin · borrowed fromEdōm
- English todayEdom
From Late Latin Edōm from Koine Greek Ἐδώμ (Edṓm) from Biblical Hebrew אֱדוֹם (ʾĔḏōm). The medieval Jewish use of Edom to refer to Christians referred to their view of Christianity as a heresy that originated from Judaism, comparing Christians to Esau as a relative who was hostile to Jacob (who represented the Jewish people). It originated from Jewish writings that compared the Roman authorities to Edom for their persecution of Jewish people, which was later applied to Christianity when the latter became the state religion of the Roman Empire.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.