Etymology

Zionism

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Today it means: Jewish nationalism, the movement which supported first the establishment of a Jewish homeland and now supports the continuation of Israel as a Jewish state. Full definition →

German Zionismus ← English Zion ← Early New High German Zioninflu.
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The story

  1. Biblical Hebrewצִיּוֹן (ṣiyyôn)
  2. Koine GreekΣῑών (Sīṓn)
  3. LatinSīōn
  4. Old EnglishSyon
  5. Middle EnglishSion
  6. Early New High GermanZioninflu.
  7. EnglishZion
  8. GermanZionismus
  9. English todayZionism

From Zion + -ism, calqued in analogy to German Zionismus, coined by Nathan Birnbaum in 1890.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.