response 1 of 89:

Oct 12 21:51 UTC 2003

Ok, I can handle being wrong.  Thanks for updating my etymological 
library.

response 3 of 89:

Oct 12 22:24 UTC 2003

We can start by looking up dictionary definitions.

The American Heritage Dictionary (4th Ed. (c) 2000)

|  One who discriminates against or who is hostile toward or prejudiced
|  against Jews.

Princeton University's WordNet (1.6, (c) 1997)

|  n: someone who hates and would persecute Jews [syn: Jew-baiter]

Merriam-Webster on-line:

|  n: hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious,
|  ethnic or racial group. (1882)

There is some controversy over the exact date of origin of the word.
I suppose 1882 could be correct, though I've seen it dated to 1879 elsewhere.


Seems as if a new book has just been published on this topic, too:

http://www.saur.de/index.cfm?content=service/02_press/frameset03.htm&menu=s
ervice2

The Berlin Anti-Semitism Dispute of 1879, caused by the historian Heinrich
von Treitschke, polarized the entire society of its time. The dispute dealt
above all with the recent legal emancipation of German Jews and with the
question of whether Jews were part of the German cultural nation. The dispute
was important for the development of anti-Semitism. In many of its aspects
and arguments it is still current. With the title Der Berliner
Antisemitismusstreit 1879-1881 (The Berlin Dispute on anti-Semitism
1879-1881), the Zentrum fr Antisemitismusforschung in Berlin publishes a
comprehensive source edition, which makes all important texts on this topic
both published and unpublished  accessible for the first time. 


http://cghs.dade.k12.fl.us/holocaust/chronology.htm

Anti-Semitism is the political, social, and economic agitation and activities
directed against Jews. The term is now used to denote anti-Judaic acts or
sentiments based on any grounds, including religious ones. The adjective
Semitic originally was applied to all descendants of Shem, the eldest son of
the biblical patriarch Noah; in later usage it refers to a group of peoples
of southwestern Asia, including both Jews and Arabs. The word anti-Semitism
was coined in 1879 to denote hostility only towards Jews. This hostility is
supposedly justified by a theory, first developed in Germany, that peoples
of the so-called Aryan stock are superior in physique and character to all
those of Semitic stock. This racial superiority was used to justify the civil
and religious persecution of Jews during Hitler's Holocaust.

1879 - Wilhelm Marr introduces the term anti-Semite into politics while
founding the first anti-Semitic party.


http://www.remember.org/guide/History.root.modern.html

In 1878, the Social Democratic Party was outlawed, and democratic efforts were
stifled. In the 1890s, political democracy was blocked by the rising power
of German industrialists and diverted by imperialist expansion. This period
also coincided with a new cycle of anti-Semitism, with Jews being blamed for
manipulating peasants and small businessmen into resisting the traditional
social and economic order. Jews were blamed for the severe economic depression
of 1873. In the same year, Wilhelm Marr, a journalist who coined the term
"anti-Semitism," wrote a pamphlet, "The Victory of Jewry over Germandom." It
was very successful, going through twelve editions in six years. Using ideas
of race and Vilkisch nationalism, Marr argued that Jews had become the "first
major power in the West" in the 19th century. He accused the Jews of being
liberals, a people without roots who had Judaized Germans "beyond salvation."
In 1879, he founded the League for Anti-Semitism. 

See also:
http://astro.temple.edu/~hfreiden/Antisemitism/whatis.htm
http://www.yahoodi.com/peace/antisemitism.html
http://www.jewishbookmall.com/books_on_anti-semitism.htm

response 5 of 89:

Oct 13 06:18 UTC 2003

Arabs consider themselves sons of Shem too.
It makes them semites.

response 7 of 89:

Oct 13 07:22 UTC 2003

  So do we..

response 9 of 89:

Oct 13 16:30 UTC 2003

Clees, can you demonstrate for us that the "sons of Shem" were known
as "Semites"?  (That is, prior to 1879.)

response 11 of 89:

Oct 13 20:58 UTC 2003

That's not how the vocal ones talk.

response 13 of 89:

Oct 13 21:56 UTC 2003

Re #11: What impression would you get about the U.S. if you listened to
nothing but the nightly news and AM talk radio?

response 17 of 89:

Oct 14 15:32 UTC 2003

> The arab cares about his car, lots of food and generally a good life.

That reminds me somewhat about Jimmy Carter's cabinet member Earl Butz's
"Tight, loose, and warm" comments in 197x.

response 19 of 89:

Oct 14 16:14 UTC 2003

Re #17, I told you, you have to come here and live to understand what I 
mean. I think you will find that there is not so much hatred here as 
the media reports.

response 21 of 89:

Oct 14 16:43 UTC 2003

My bad - the 70's are all a blur now.  :-)  At least Jimmy had his brother!