I don't have to work from a translation. I am fluent in Hebrew.
So from Megillat Esther:
ה אִישׁ יְהוּדִי, הָיָה בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה; וּשְׁמוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי, בֶּן יָאִיר בֶּן-שִׁמְעִי בֶּן-קִישׁ--אִישׁ יְמִינִי.
So here when the word יְהוּדִ is used for Mordechai who at the end of the Pasuk is called אִישׁ יְמִינִי , from the tribe of Benjamin, what is the meaning of "Y'hudi" there?
At the time we are talking about, there was no such word as Jew. So a translation of it didn't exist. The word Y'hudi meant "Judean."
So here when the word יְהוּדִ is used for Mordechai who at the end of the Pasuk is called אִישׁ יְמִינִי , from the tribe of Benjamin, what is the meaning of "Y'hudi" there?
I suggest you don't go there because as far as the archaeological record is concerned, much if not all of the Book of Esther is apocryphal (frankly, I think the books of Maccabees are more solidly grounded in history than Esther, especially considering the number of differences in early versions). In all the tablets found the digs at Susa, there is no record of a "Jewish" Queen Esther. The Book of Esther is the one part of the cannon that has not been found at Qumran. So the use of the term in the verse is at least a translation and therefore contemporary to a later date than you imply.
So here when the word יְהוּדִ is used for Mordechai who at the end of the Pasuk is called אִישׁ יְמִינִי , from the tribe of Benjamin, what is the meaning of "Y'hudi" there?
I would say that it means that he was from the nation or region of Y'hudah. By that time the tribe of Binyamin had pretty much been adsorbed.
In the mean time, what does any of this have to do with the time of the Partiarchs?
I wish I were fluent in Hebrew!I’m making my Bat Mitzvah in June,and I’m having a difficult time w/some of the words!Doesn’t exactly roll off my tongue.