GC: n
S: UMN – https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/holocaust (last access: 22 December 2023); GtheH – https://googlingtheholocaust.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/holocaust-big-h-or-little-h/ (last access: 22 December 2023).
N: 1. mid-13c., “sacrifice by fire, burnt offering,” from Old French holocauste (12c.), or directly from Late Latin holocaustum, from Greek holokauston “a thing wholly burnt,” neuter of holokaustos “burned whole,” from holos “whole” (from PIE root *sol- “whole, well-kept”) + kaustos, verbal adjective of kaiein “to burn”.
2. I. holocaust. A sacrifice consumed by fire.
II. holocaust. A thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life especially through fire. Example: a nuclear holocaust.
III. holocaust. a. Usually the Holocaust: the mass slaughter of European civilians and especially Jews by the Nazis during World War II. Examples: Several members of her family died in the Holocaust. A Holocaust survivor. b. A mass slaughter of people; especially genocide. Example: A holocaust in Rwanda.
3. Holocaust, the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Germans called this “the final solution to the Jewish question.” Yiddish-speaking Jews and survivors in the years immediately following their liberation called the murder of the Jews the Ḥurban, the word used to describe the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 bce and the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 ce. Shoʾah (“Catastrophe”) is the term preferred by Israelis and the French, most especially after Claude Lanzmann’s masterful 1985 motion picture documentary of that title. It is also preferred by people who speak Hebrew and by those who want to be more particular about the Jewish experience or who are uncomfortable with the religious connotations of the word Holocaust. Less universal and more particular, Shoʾah emphasizes the annihilation of the Jews, not the totality of Nazi victims.
4. Always capitalize when referring to the murder of 6 million Jews and others during World War II. Lowercase in other uses.
The word holocaust is derived from the Greek words “holos” (whole) and “kaustos” (burned), and was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar. The lowercase term holocaust was used to describe the violent deaths of large groups of people beginning in the 18th century, according the Oxford English Dictionary, and was used by Winston Churchill and others to refer to the genocide of Armenians during World War I.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention HGS – Holocaust and Genocide Studies by Oxford Academic.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/word/holocaust(last access: 17 December 2023). 2. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/holocaust (last access: 22 December 2023). 3. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/event/Holocaust (last access: 22 December 2023). 4. DSG – https://www.diversitystyleguide.com/glossary/holocaust/ (last access: 21 December 2023). 5. ACAOUP – https://academic.oup.com/hgs (last access: 22 December 2023).
SYN:
S:
CR: concentration camp, genocide.
