The Word Antisemitism Was Stolen

Example 48: The claim that the word antisemitism was stolen by Jews off the other people of Semitic origin:

We have seen above that antisemites have attempted to show that Jews are not a people, or do not have a genuine heritage of their own. This even extends to the words antisemitism, antisemite and antisemitic - it is often claimed that since there are other 'Semitic peoples' than Jews, then (illogically), the word antisemitism does not mean prejudice against or hatred of Jews. Bizarrely, this specious claim is used to minimise or deny the reality of antisemitism.

The German word antisemitisch was first used in 1860 by the Austrian Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider (1816–1907) in the phrase antisemitische Vorurteile (antisemitic prejudices). Steinschneider was describing false theories by Renan about how 'Semitic races' were inferior to 'Aryan races'". Such pseudoscientific race theories grew during the 19th century, but the term 'Semitic race' is now obselete, though there is still a language group of Semitic languages, which includes Arabic, Hebrew and Maltese among others.

In 1879 German antisemite Wilhelm Marr published a pamphlet where he used the term Semitismus interchangeable with the word Judentum to denote Jews and Jewishness. This was followed by his use of the word Antisemitismus to describe what he saw as a necessary overcoming the Jewish 'spirit' by the Germanic 'spirit'. Certainly from this time 'Antisemitism' has therefore clearly meant opposition to Jews, not to 'Semites' more generally (whether as Semitic 'races' or speakers of Semitic languages). Initially, as it was invented by Marr who approved of antisemitism, some Jewish people still today prefer the alternatives 'Jew-hate' or 'Jew-hatred'. However, these alternatives are unlikely to replace the usual term, which is so widespread we are stuck with it. (We should also point out that a further inaccuracy about 'Semitic' is that Jews comprise many different groups including black people, going beyond even the original outdated classification of 'Semitic' peoples)

To clarify that antisemitism does not mean racism against 'Semitic' peoples, many prefer to spell it as antisemitism rather than 'anti-Semitism' or even 'anti-semitism', and the same applies to antisemitic and antisemite: there is no such thing as 'Semitism' or (in modern theory) a 'Semite', and 'Semitic' applies only to a language group. We have adopted this usage here.

In the first two illustrations below (by the same person), it is suggested that Jews purposely excluded other Semites from the term 'antisemitism' although, as we have seen, Jews invented neither the term nor the common meaning. In the third illustration, the argument that 'antisemitism applies to all Semitic peoples' is introduced, irrelevantly, into a denial that socialists can be antisemitic.

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