Aryan
UK[ˈɛːrɪən]US[ˈɛriən]
n
A member of the peoples speaking an Indo-European language who invaded northern India in the 2nd millennium BC.
n
(in Nazi ideology) a person of Caucasian race not of Jewish descent.
adj
Relating to or denoting peoples speaking Indo-European languages, especially those who invaded northern India in ancient times.
adj
(in Nazi ideology) relating to or denoting the Caucasian race not of Jewish descent.
Etymology
The term "Aryan" entered modern European languages in the 18th century through scholarly studies of ancient Indian and Iranian texts, where Sanskrit 'ā́rya-' and its Old Persian cognate denoted the self-identified "noble" or "civilized" peoples. In historical linguistics, it was mistakenly adopted in the 19th century as an ethnic label for all Indo-European speakers, based on the false premise that Sanskrit represented the primordial Indo-European tongue. This academic misuse was catastrophically co-opted and distorted by 20th-century racial ideologies, which severed the term from its original linguistic and cultural context, grafting onto it a fabricated and racist biological meaning that has since been wholly discredited.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword. It originates from the Sanskrit word 'ā́rya-', meaning "noble, of noble lineage, belonging to the civilized peoples." It was adopted into European languages via Latin 'Arianus' and Old Persian 'ariya-'.
Examples
The ancient texts describe the migration of the Aryan peoples into the Indian subcontinent.
The regime's propaganda promoted a distorted, pseudoscientific concept of the Aryan race.
Scholars of Indo-European studies now avoid the term "Aryan" for its heavily compromised historical and ideological baggage.