What Is the Meaning of the Word Holocaust?
The definition of the word "holocaust" requires more than root word knowledge or etymology. Understanding the entirety of the word also includes its historical and spiritual background. There are multiple meanings, but it is commonly used to describe the destruction of 6 million people by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in the 1930s and 1940s.
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Historical Context
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Original victim of "holocaust" The term "holocaust" originated in the Greek language. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, it meant, "sacrifice by fire." The word, however, was also used in the 13th century to mean "100% whole burned offering," according to Jewish Magazine. By the 1950s, Ellie Wiesel used the capitalized term to refer specifically to the attempt to destroy the Jewish population and others the Nazis deemed unwanted, such as the elderly, ill or homosexual.
Spiritual Context
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Andrew Mathis, Ph.D, and a volunteer for The Holocaust History Project, says the sacrifice spoken of by the Greek word "holokauston" was of an unblemished animal, usually a lamb, given out of respect and gratitude for provision given from the God of the Jewish, and eventually the Christian, faith.
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Misnomer
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The term actually is not the currently preferred one for this historical tragedy. Because "holocaust" includes ideas about the burning being a gift of sacrifice to a good god, many Jewish people find applying it to torture and genocide for selfish political gain and bigotry offensive. Instead, Shoah, meaning a ruin or destruction, is preferred in referring to the destruction of approximately 66 percent of all European Jews in what the Nazis called "The Final Solution."
Usage
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Currently, the word "Holocaust" is considered a proper noun. It is the name of a specific historical event. Therefore, you should always capitalize it, and only use it in reference to this historical event. For example, "My senior class studied The Holocaust as part of literature that captured man's inhumanity to man." It should never be used to refer to destruction in common life. For example, you would not want to write, "The family experienced a Holocaust when their house was lost in a fire." This diminishes the experience of those affected by the historical event, and is in poor taste.
Connotation
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"Holocaust" carries with it the emotion and impact on humanity evident in the tragedy of the dark psychology of World War II. Utterance of this one word is to bring up the entirety of that pain and loss. It can probably never be used more lightly again.
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References
- Photo Credit Fire image by Luke Haverkamp from Fotolia.com twin lambs image by hazel proudlove from Fotolia.com
