English
propaganda
Propaganda comes from Latin prōpāgō ‘propagate’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- ‘to attach, fix, fasten’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂ǵ-‘to attach, fix, fasten’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōpāgō‘propagate’
- New Latinc. 1500–1900prōpāgandaproperly ablative feminine gerundive of prōpāgō
- Englishearliest quotation 1951propaganda
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂ǵ-‘to attach, fix, fasten’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōpāgō‘propagate’
- New Latinc. 1500–1900prōpāgandaproperly ablative feminine gerundive of prōpāgō
- Englishearliest quotation 1951propaganda
Earliest quotation: 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids: “Meanwhile, with something like twenty-five million new mouths bawling…”
The story
Once the word had been detached from the phrase from which it originated, it could be reinterpreted as a neuter plural gerundive, meaning "things to be propagated"; compare agenda. Modern political sense dates from World War I, not originally pejorative.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- ‘to attach, fix, fasten’
travel, page, pole, compact, pale, peel, peasant, pagan, travail, pala, pectin, palisade, impinge, pagination, impactor, 30 more
Today it means
noun Agitation, publicity, public communication aimed at influencing an audience and furthering an agenda.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- / propaganda