holocaust

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈhɒl.ə(ʊ)ˌkɔːst/ (UK); /ˈhɑl.əˌkɔst/, /ˈhoʊ.lə-/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English holocaust, borrowed from Old French holocauste or directly Late Latin holocaustum,^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston, “a thing wholly burnt”), the neuter of ὁλόκαυστος (holókaustos, “burnt whole”),^[2][3] from ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”), from καίω (kaíō, “to burn”) (see caustic).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sacrifice wholly consumed by fire, a burnt offering: about 1250, in the Story of Genesis and Exodus, in Barnhart and the OED.^[3][5] It was originally a Bible word.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A sacrifice on a large scale is from 1497,^[5] and complete destruction, especially by fire, or a massacre, from 1671, in Milton's Samson Agonistes.^[3][5][2] Total destruction has been central to the word since it first appeared.^[6] As the name for the mass murder of European Jews by the Nazis, the Holocaust is in the OED from 1942, in Etymonline first recorded in 1957;^[5][2] other names for it are Shoah and Churban.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – a burnt offering.^[3][5]
• 1497 – a large-scale sacrifice.^[5]
• 1671 – a massacre; complete destruction.^[3][5]
• 1942 – the Holocaust.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Great destruction or loss of life, especially by fire.
2. The Holocaust: the genocide of European Jews and others by the Nazi regime during the Second World War.
3. A massive slaughter.
4. A sacrificial offering wholly burnt on an altar.

Word family

• holocaustal
• holocaustic

Related words

• caustic
• holo-
• holistic
• cauterize
• catholic

Usage notes

Some writers object to its use for anything other than the Nazi genocide or catastrophic destruction by fire,^[6] but the wider sense of massacre goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries.^[8][5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press