Draft:Definition of antisemitism
Antisemitism[a] refers to the hate, prejudice, or fear of Jewish people. The exact nature of what counts as antisemitism is a hotly debated subject, and numerous conflicting definitions have been prescribed by scholars and political institutions, leading to confusion over what it ought to be used for.
Etymology
[edit]In English, antisemitism is a loanword from the German Antisemitismus, derived from the word Antisemit (lit. 'antisemite') which itself is composed of the prefix anti (from Greek: ἀντι, lit. 'against') and Semit (lit. 'Semite').[1][2] The word Semite (adjectival form Semitic) refers to the outdated racial theory that Jewish people are one of the descendants of the Biblical figure Shem (also spelled Sem), who was the son of Noah.[3][4] The word antisemitism was coined by German journalist Wilhelm Marr in 1879 to describe the hostile campaigns against Jewish people in his time.[5] Marr sought to differentiate his contemporary hostility predicated upon racial categories from the medieval hostility predicated upon religious discrimination, thus the neologism was originally intended to connote rationality, rather than superstition.[3]
By encyclopedias and dictionaries
[edit]Dictionaries
[edit]| Dictionary | Headword | Primary definition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary | anti-Semitism (or antisemitism) | "hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group" | [6] |
| Collins English Dictionary | anti-Semitism (or antisemitism) | "hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group" | [7] |
| Dictionary.com | antisemitism (or anti-Semitism) | "discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews." | [8] |
Encyclopedias
[edit]| Encyclopedia | Title | Primary definition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Britannica.com | anti-Semitism | "hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group" | [5] |
| Encyclopedia of the Holocaust | Antisemitism | "Hatred of Jews as a people or of 'the Jew' as a concept." | [9] |
| Holocaust Encyclopedia | Antisemitism | "prejudice and hostility toward Jews" | [10] |
By political organizations
[edit]Working definition
[edit]In 2016, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance adopted the following definition of antisemitism, known as the working definition of antisemitism:[11]
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
Jerusalem declaration
[edit]In response to the working definition, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute commissioned a group of scholars in 2020 to decide on a different definition of antisemitism in what became known as the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism:[12]
Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also called Jew-hatred
References
[edit]- ^ "anti-Semitism". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/1201494933. Retrieved 2024-11-16. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Harper, Douglas. "anti-Semitism". Online Etymological Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2024-11-16. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ a b Maizels 2022, p. 3.
- ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021-07-22). "Semitic". Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780198868750.001.0001/acref-9780198868750-e-5990. ISBN 978-0-19-886875-0. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ a b Berenbaum, Michael (2024-11-13). "anti-Semitism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 27646. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ "anti-Semitism". Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ "anti-Semitism". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ "antisemitism". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ Rozett, Robert; Spector, Shmuel, eds. (2000). "Antisemitism" (PDF). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Vol. 1. Yad Vashem. ISBN 0-8160-4333-7. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ "Antisemitism". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ "Working definition of antisemitism". International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Archived from the original on 2024-11-13. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ "The Jerusalem Declaration On Antisemitism". jerusalemdeclaration.org. Archived from the original on 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
Bibliography
[edit]- Halpern, Ben (1981). "What Is Antisemitism?". Modern Judaism. 1 (3): 251–262. ISSN 0276-1114.
Further reading
[edit]- Hitchcock, David (2024-10-10). "Defining Antisemitism". Topoi. doi:10.1007/s11245-024-10109-9. ISSN 1572-8749.
- Langmuir, Gavin I. (2012-02-13). "Toward a Definition of Antisemitism". The Persisting Question. De Gruyter. pp. 86–127. doi:10.1515/9783110858914.86. ISBN 978-3-11-085891-4. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- Maizels, Linda (2022-09-30). What is Antisemitism?: A Contemporary Introduction (1 ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003021827. ISBN 978-1-003-02182-7.
- Marcus, Kenneth L. (2015). The Definition of Anti-Semitism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-937564-6.
- Della Pergola, Sergio (2024). "How Best to Define Antisemitism? A Structural Approach". Antisemitism Studies. 8 (1): 4–42. doi:10.2979/ast.00002. ISSN 2474-1817.