holocaust English · revision 15246

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1250|origins=grc ὅλος, grc καίω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈhɒl.ə(ʊ)ˌkɔːst/ ''(UK)''; /ˈhɑl.əˌkɔst/, /ˈhoʊ.lə-/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|holocaust]], [[bor|fro|holocauste]] or directly [[la-lat|holocaustum]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[grc|ὁλόκαυστον|tr=holókauston|t=a thing wholly burnt]], the neuter of [[m|grc|ὁλόκαυστος|tr=holókaustos|t=burnt whole]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|grc|ὅλος|tr=hólos|t=whole]] and [[m|grc|καυστός|tr=kaustós|t=burnt]], from [[m|grc|καίω|tr=kaíō|t=to burn]] (see [[caustic]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==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.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) It was originally a Bible word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A sacrifice on a large scale is from 1497,^(OED 1989) and complete destruction, especially by fire, or a massacre, from 1671, in Milton's ''Samson Agonistes''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Total destruction has been central to the word since it first appeared.^(AHD) 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;^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) other names for it are ''Shoah'' and ''Churban''.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1250 – a burnt offering.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1497 – a large-scale sacrifice.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1671 – a massacre; complete destruction.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1942 – the Holocaust.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Great destruction or loss of life, especially by [[fire]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The Holocaust: the [[genocide]] of European Jews and others by the [[Nazi]] regime during the Second World War.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A massive [[slaughter]].^(AHD)

+ # A sacrificial offering wholly burnt on an [[altar]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==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,^(AHD) but the wider sense of massacre goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries.^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}