Re: Origin of term "Holocaust"
Tom Holloway (xuegx@csv.warwick.ac.uk)
Thu, 29 May 1997 20:04:36 +0100
> "Holocoust" and what it means. I assumed it was a Jewish term but was at a loss
> of what it means and how the term came to be used in reference to the Jewish
> loss of lives.
The Oxford Etymological Dictionary gives....
'Whole burnt offering; complete sacrifice; complete
destruction.' From the Greek 'holo' (whole) 'kaustos'
(burnt) and late latin 'holocaustum'. The word
'caustic' has the same derivation.
Hendrickson (Word and Phrase Origins) says that it has
been used for 3 Centuries to denote massacre by fire.
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