| Max Muller coined the word "Aryan" to denote a language group. Even in the runup to the US Civil War it was being used to denote race. He saw a pamphlet defending slavery using "Aryan" in this way and hit the roof. But the damage was done. "Semitic," also denoting a language group, degraded in the same way. "Anti-Semite" refers strictly to the Jews, it`s a word imported into English from the German as is. The writer`s point is well taken -- using "Semite" to denote a race takes us back to the days pre-WWII when false pseudo-scientific racial theories underlined political movements. If the Arabic language had not spread from the Arabian peninsula through force of arms and the status quo ante had come down through the centuries, people in this region would be speaking Greek, the same people as now speak Arabic. Would that have made them "Aryans?" |
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