anti-semitism

The term is a modern compound, first coined in German (Antisemitismus) in the late 19th century by journalist Wilhelm Marr to give a pseudo-scientific, ideological name to hostility towards Jews. It combines the Greek prefix 'anti-' (against) with 'Semite', a term derived from the Biblical figure Shem, which was used in linguistic and ethnological studies to describe peoples speaking Semitic languages, including Arabs and Jews. In practice, 'antisemitism' has almost exclusively referred to prejudice against Jews, not all Semitic peoples, with the '-ism' suffix framing it as a systemic doctrine or condition. The construction thus creates a specialized term for a specific form of ethnic and religious hatred by grafting a classical prefix and suffix onto a Biblically-derived ethnic label.

Structure: anti (against) + semit (Semite) + ism (doctrine/condition) - anti: From Greek anti- meaning 'against, opposite'. - semit: From the proper name Semite, derived from Shem, a son of Noah in the Bible, via Late Latin Sem. - ism: A suffix forming nouns of action, state, condition, or doctrine, from Greek -ismos.