Etymograph

English

anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism comes from German Antisemitismus, and goes back to Semitismus ‘Semitism’.

  1. Germanc. 1650–presentSemitismus‘Semitism’
  2. German, derivedc. 1650–presentAntisemitismus
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1969anti-Semitism

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Germanc. 1650–presentSemitismus‘Semitism’
  2. German, derivedc. 1650–presentAntisemitismus
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1969anti-Semitism

Earliest quotation: 1969, 1919, О погромной травле евреев: “Антисемитизмом называется распространение вражды к евреям. Когда проклятая царская…”

Formed from anti- + Semitism

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- ‘forehead’

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts ‘forehead’

Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti ‘opposite’

Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ντῐ́ ‘over against, opposite’

English anti-

first attested The related term antisemitisch (“anti-semitic”) was first used in 1860, by Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider (as stated in the etymology)

The story

It is typically said that German political agitator Wilhelm Marr invented the term to replace Judenhaß (literally “Jew-hatred”) to make hatred of the Jews seem rational and sanctioned by scientific knowledge; Marr founded the Antisemitenliga ("Anti-Semites' League") in 1879, used the terms Semitismus and Antisemiten in his 1879 and 1880 pamphlets Der Sieg des Judenthums über das Germanenthum and Der Weg zum Siege des Germanenthums über das Judenthum, and used Antisemitismus at least as early as his 1885 pamphlet Lessing contra Sem. The related term antisemitisch (‘anti-semitic’) was first used in 1860, by Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider. The term is superficially/synchronically equivalent to anti- + Semitism (see Semite), for which reason it is rarely extended to cover prejudice against any Semitic people, or against adherents of any of the religions that originated among the Semitic peoples (the Abrahamic religions).

Every English word from German Semitismus

Today it means

noun Prejudice, discrimination, hostility or political or religious opposition directed against ethnic or religious Jews or against Judaism; antijudaism; judeophobia.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / German Semitismus / anti-Semitism

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