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Words

Where the words in these arguments came from, who coined them and who argues over them.

5 events, 1 flagged blank, 0 open questions in Use & spelling. Add an event

Words events by lane from 1781 to 20271781–18591860–18811882–2014Use & spellingBlank: The word from 1882 to 2014A Nazi race official tells Rashid Ali the word is aimed at Jews alone, 17 October 1942IHRA asks for “antisemitism” without a hyphen, April 2015A call to say “Jew hatred” instead, July 2020The AP Stylebook drops the hyphen, April 2021A US executive order spells it “Anti-Semitism”, 29 January 20251800182518501875190019251950197520002025
  1. 1882to 2014
    Thin record: The word from 1882 to 2014

    How the word spread into other languages and politics, its use under Nazi rule, and the arguments over it after 1945 are barely recorded here. The 1942 letter to Rashid Ali is the only event so far.

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  2. 17 October 1942
    A Nazi race official tells Rashid Ali the word is aimed at Jews alone

    Bernard Lewis quotes a letter of 17 October 1942 from Walter Gross, director of the Nazi Party’s Race Policy Office, to the Iraqi politician Rashid Ali, who had asked whether “anti-Semitism” was also directed against Arabs. Gross wrote that it was aimed only at Jews and that the word was incorrect for that reason. Lewis writes that a committee then proposed saying “anti-Jewish” instead of “anti-Semitic” in Hitler’s speeches and Mein Kampf, and that Hitler refused.

    Use & spelling1 source1 independent root
  3. 1942–2015
    Nothing recorded for 72 years. Add what happened
  4. April 2015date uncertain
    IHRA asks for “antisemitism” without a hyphen

    The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial took up the spelling in April 2015 and recommended the unhyphenated form, arguing that a hyphen suggests there is such a thing as “Semitism”.

    Use & spelling1 source1 independent root
  5. July 2020date uncertain
    A call to say “Jew hatred” instead

    Stephen D. Smith, executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation, argued that the term should be retired and replaced with “Jew hatred”.

    Use & spelling2 sources2 independent roots
  6. April 2021date uncertain
    The AP Stylebook drops the hyphen

    The Associated Press changed its stylebook from “anti-Semitism” to “antisemitism”, with no hyphen and no capital S. Most of the news industry followed.

    Use & spelling3 sources3 independent roots
  7. 29 January 2025
    A US executive order spells it “Anti-Semitism”

    President Trump signed Executive Order 14188, Additional Measures To Combat Anti-Semitism, on 29 January 2025. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported the hyphenated spelling as a break with the recent consensus.

    Use & spelling2 sources2 independent roots