[Ads-l] More Solid Major Antedating of "Anti-Semitic"

Shapiro, Fred fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Thu Feb 12 03:25:32 UTC 2015


I have previously posted an 1851 citation for "anti-Semitic" (OED 1881), but it was not entirely clear what Thomas Carlyle meant by "anti-Semitic" in that citation.  Here is another big antedating that more certainly invalidates the generally accepted story about a coinage in German by Wilhelm Marr in 1879.

1854 _Cambridge Independent Press_ 18 Feb. 4 (British Newspapers 1600-1950)  Mr. DISRAELI cannot stand up in the Commons to accuse us of anti-semitic propensities and a desire to persecute his people.

Fred Shapiro


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