English
Bolshevism
Bolshevism comes from Russian большинство ‘majority, most’, and goes back to бо́льше.
- Russianmodernбо́льше
- Russian, derivedmodernбольшинствоbolʹšinstvo‘majority, most’
- Russian, derivedmodernбольшеви́змbolʹševízm
- Englishearliest quotation 1919Bolshevism
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Russianmodernбо́льше
- Russian, derivedmodernбольшинствоbolʹšinstvo‘majority, most’
- Russian, derivedmodernбольшеви́змbolʹševízm
- Englishearliest quotation 1919Bolshevism
Earliest quotation: 1919, Joseph Alfred Arner Burnquist: “We of this generation owe it to the countless…”
The story
Borrowed from Russian большеви́зм (bolʹševízm, “Bolshevism”), from большинство (bolʹšinstvo, “majority, most”) (referring to the fact that the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party won on the majority of the important issues at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903) + -и́зм (-ízm, “-ism”, suffix forming the names of systems, schools of thought or theories based on the names of their subjects or objects). большинство is derived from большо́й (bolʹšój, “great, large”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bel-) + -ство (-stvo, suffix forming a neuter noun, usually an abstract noun denoting a relation, social status, scientific discipline, quality or state) (from Proto-Slavic *-ьstvo (suffix forming nouns denoting a condition or state)).
Every English word from Russian бо́льше
Today it means
noun The strategy used by the Bolsheviks in attempting to gain power in Russia.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Russian бо́льше / Bolshevism