This article examines the use of the words ḥasid and ḥasidah in a wide variety of medieval texts, primarily from Germany, in order to question current scholarly understandings of Ḥasidei Ashkenaz as a social entity. The article outlines the appearance and contexts in which the term can be found in poems, on tombstones, lists of dead, and in stories. The final section of the article investigates possible parallels for the word ḥasid/ah in vernaculars spoken by Jews. The result of this broad survey that seeks out not just men but also women, and that focuses on a variety of genres rather than primarily on Sefer Ḥasidim, is that the words ḥasid and ḥasidah did not indicate a particular group, circle, or movement. Rather these terms were used to describe honest, upstanding members of the community who were seen as fulfilling their religious and social duties.

本文考察了主要来自德国的各种中世纪文献中ḥasid和ḥasidah一词的用法，以质疑ḤasideiAshkenaz作为一种社会实体的当前学术理解。本文概述了在诗歌，墓碑，死者名单和故事中可以找到该词的外观和上下文。本文的最后一部分探讨了犹太人所说的白话中“ asid / ah ”一词的可能相似之处。寻求了多种流派，而不是主要依据的不只是男人，而且女性，而且重点这一广泛调查的结果之书的ḥasidim，是这样的词语ḥasid和ḥasidah没有表示特定的组，圈子或动作。而是使用这些术语来描述社区中诚实，正直的成员，他们被视为履行了自己的宗教和社会职责。