Category: Civilization, History, and Anthropology

ETYMOLOGY OF RACE, RACIST, RACISM
(“People of a common ancestor”)
Simple version. The concept and origin is ancient. Aristotle uses it.

The meaning of RACE developed via the sense of “tribe, nation, or people regarded as of common stock” to “an ethnical stock, one of the great divisions of mankind having in common certain physical peculiarities” by 1774.

The Modern Usage originates in the Fascist-and-Counter-Fascist propaganda of the 30’s. But appears largely in the 1950s as it was popularized by the Race Marxists.

OUR DEFINITION (BEHAVIORAL ECON)
–“Racism consists in assessing the cost of a group stereotype attribute against an individual of that group AFTER that individual has paid the cost to demonstrate their personal positive deviation away from that specific group stereotype attribute to you.” –Luke Weinhagen

RACE
race (n.2)
[people of common descent] 1560s, “people descended from a common ancestor, class of persons allied by common ancestry,” from French race, earlier razza “race, breed, lineage, family” (16c.), possibly from Italian razza, which is of unknown origin (cognate with Spanish raza, Portuguese raça). Etymologists say it has no connection with Latin radix “root,” though they admit this might have influenced the “tribe, nation” sense, and race was a 15c. form of radix in Middle English (via Old French räiz, räis). Klein suggests the words derive from Arabic ra’s “head, beginning, origin” (compare Hebrew rosh).

Original senses in English included “wines with characteristic flavor” (1520), “group of people with common occupation” (c. 1500), and “generation” (1540s).

RACISM
racism (n.)
by 1928, in common use from 1935, originally in a European context, “racial supremacy as a doctrine, the theory that human characteristics and abilities are determined by race;” see racist, and compare the various senses in race (n.2) and racialism. Applied to American social systems from late 1930s.

RACIST
racist (n.)
1932 (as an adjective from 1938), from race (n.2) + -ist. Racism (q.v.) is in use by 1928, originally in the context of fascist theories, and common from 1936. These words replaced earlier racialism (1882) and racialist (1910), both often used early 20c. in a British or South African context. There are isolated uses of racism from c. 1900.

Earlier, race hatred (1852 of the Balkans, 1858 of British India, 1861 of white and black in America), race prejudice (1867 of English in India, 1869 of white and black in America, 1870 of the English toward Irish) were used, and, especially in 19c. U.S. political contexts, negrophobia. Anglo-Saxonism as “belief in the superiority of the English race” had been used (disparagingly) from 1860. Anti-Negro (adj.) is attested in British and American English from 1819.