scapegoat

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈskeɪpˌɡəʊt/ (UK); /ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

Coined by William Tyndale in 1530^[2][3][4][5] from scape, a shortened form of escape, + goat.^[6][4][2][7] It renders Hebrew ʿăzāzēl (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26),^[6][4][5][2] by way of Latin caper emissarius in the Vulgate,^[2] reading it as ʿēz ʾōzēl “goat that departs”.^[4][5][2] Many hold that ʿăzāzēl was actually the name of a demon,^[6][5][4][2] sometimes identified with the Canaanite deity Aziz.^[4][2] Compare French bouc émissaire.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), the one of two goats chosen by lot to be sent alive into the wilderness, symbolically carrying the sins of the people.^[3][4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1824 the word was applied to anyone blamed or punished for the sins or mistakes of others,^[3][4] and Merriam-Webster also records the sense of someone who is the object of irrational hostility.^[5] The verb, first recorded in 1943, began as a technical term in psychology.^[4][3][5] Meanwhile the reading behind the word was disputed, and the Revised Version of the Bible (1884) simply restored the name Azazel.^[2]

Timeline

• 1530 – the goat of the Day of Atonement ritual.^[3][2][4][5]
• 1765 – jocular nonce-words on the same pattern with other animals in place of the goat.^[3]
• 1824 – a person blamed or punished for the sins of others.^[3][4]
• 1884 – the Revised Version restores Azazel.^[2]
• 1943 – verb, “to make a scapegoat of”.^[3][4][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person or group made to take the blame for others or to suffer in their place.
2. Someone who is the object of irrational hostility.
3. (chiefly biblical) The goat sent into the wilderness on Yom Kippur after the high priest had symbolically laid the people's sins on its head.

Verb

1. To make a scapegoat of; to blame or punish unfairly.

Word family

• scapegoatism

Related words

• escape
• scape
• goat

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House