this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
911 points (91.1% liked)

Memes

45189 readers
1872 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Due to the root word Semite, the term is prone to being invoked as a misnomer by those who interpret it as referring to racist hatred directed at all "Semitic people" (i.e., those who speak Semitic languages, such as Arabs, Assyrians, and Arameans). This usage is erroneous; the compound word antisemitismus (lit. 'antisemitism') was first used in print in Germany in 1879[17] as a "scientific-sounding term" for Judenhass (lit. 'Jew-hatred'),[18][19][20][21][22] and it has since been used to refer to anti-Jewish sentiment alone.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Germans with poor latin doesn't change the meaning of words. Just like claiming something is "erroneous" doesn't make it so.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The meaning is "anti-Judaism" though. You're the one wanting to define it differently. Be my guest, but it's just good to know what the term means when people use it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

"Anti-" is a Greek prefix and semitic is a French loanword ("sémitique") with a Hebrew root (שם - "shém" meaning name).