aspheterism

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromᾰ̓-
2. English todayaspheterism

From Ancient Greek ᾰ̓- (ă-, the alpha privative, a suffix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + σφέτερος (sphéteros, “theirs, their own”) (from σφεῖς (spheîs, “they; themselves”) + -τερος (-teros, suffix forming adjectives expressing some notion of contrast)) + -ism, influenced by σφετερισμός (spheterismós, “usurpation”). The word was coined by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) in a 1794 letter to fellow poet Robert Southey (1774–1843).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1794 The view that all property should be in common ownership and that no individual should benefit from private possession.