English
Nazi
Nazi comes from German Nazi ‘a member or (ideological) supporter of the…’, and goes back to Nationalsozialist ‘National Socialist’.
- Germanc. 1650–presentNationalsozialist‘National Socialist’
- German, derivedc. 1650–presentNazi‘a member or (ideological) supporter of the Nazi Party, Nazism, or neo-Nazism’clipping of Nationalsozialist
- Englishearliest quotation 1941same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Germanc. 1650–presentNationalsozialist‘National Socialist’
- German, derivedc. 1650–presentNazi‘a member or (ideological) supporter of the Nazi Party, Nazism, or neo-Nazism’clipping of Nationalsozialist
- Englishearliest quotation 1941same form
Earliest quotation: 1941, FFF advertisement in The New York Times, Martin J. Manning: “In Hitler's Own Words: Shut up, Yank — learn…”
A compound of national ‘national’ + sozial ‘social’ + -ist + Sozialist ‘socialist / Socialist’
Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’
Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis ‘birth, production’
Proto-Italic *gnātiō ‘family’
Latin nātiō ‘birth’
New Latin nātionālis
German national ‘national’
Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- ‘to follow’
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy ‘follower in one's retinue’
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós
Proto-Italic *sokjos ‘companion’
Latin sokios
Latin socius ‘sharing, joining in, partaking, associated’
Latin sociālis ‘of or pertaining to companionship’
French social ‘social, related to society, community’
German sozial ‘social’
Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- ‘to follow’
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy ‘follower in one's retinue’
Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós
Proto-Italic *sokjos ‘companion’
Latin sokios
Latin socius ‘sharing, joining in, partaking, associated’
Latin sociālis ‘of or pertaining to companionship’
French social ‘social, related to society, community’
German sozial ‘social’
German Sozialist ‘socialist / Socialist’
The story
1930, from German Nazi, a clipping of Nationalsozialist (‘National Socialist’) (1924), earlier attestation (1903) as shortening of national-sozial), since in German the nati- in national /ˌnatsi̯oˈnaːl/ is approximately pronounced Nazi [ˈnäːtsi]; compare the parallel pejorative terms Sozi (‘socialist, social democrat’), Kozi (‘commie, commo, communist’). A homonymic term Nazi was in use before the rise of the NSDAP in Bavaria as a pet name for Ignaz and (by extension from that) a derogatory word for a backwards peasant, which may have influenced the use of that abbreviation by the Nazis' opponents and its avoidance by the Nazis themselves.
Every English word from German Nationalsozialist
Today it means
noun A member of the Nazi Party (the National Socialist German Workers' Party or NSDAP).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / German Nationalsozialist / Nazi