bigot

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɪɡət/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French bigot,^[2][3] a French word of unknown origin.^[4][2] In Old French it was a term of abuse for the Normans.^[5][4][3] One theory traces it to a Germanic oath “by God”,^[5][4] and RHWU suggests Old English bī God (“by God”),^[3] but the American Heritage Dictionary calls the tale of Rollo of Normandy saying bi got almost certainly apocryphal.^[5] Other proposals, from Visigothus or Spanish bigote (“mustache”), lack support.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A religious hypocrite, or a superstitious adherent of religion.^[4][6][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In French the word, or a homonym, was later used of the Beguines, and from the 15th century meant an excessively devoted or hypocritical person.^[5] In English it shifted to someone stubbornly attached to a religious creed,^[6] and from the 1680s to people holding other kinds of opinions intolerantly.^[4][6] The modern sense stresses intolerance towards members of other groups.^[5][7][1]

Timeline

• 1598 – first recorded, “a superstitious hypocrite”;^[5][6][2] Etymonline gives the 1590s.^[4]
• 1645 – bigoted.^[2]
• 1660 – the first date in Merriam-Webster.^[7]
• 1661 – someone obstinately wedded to a creed.^[6]
• before 1674 – bigotry.^[2]
• 1687 – of opinions other than religious ones.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who is intolerantly devoted to their own opinions and prejudices, especially one who treats members of another group with hatred.
2. A person who is excessively, hypocritically or superstitiously pious.

Word family

• bigoted
• bigotedly
• bigotry

References

1. [1] [2] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. [1] [2] [3] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. [1] [2] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster