Where does “elitism” come from?
Elitism derives from elite, which comes from Ancient Greek -ισμός (a suffix forming abstract nouns), ultimately tracing to Latin eligere meaning "to choose" and its past participle electus.
elitism (English): The belief that a society or system should be run...
Definitions
- The belief that a society or system should be run...
Ancestry of “elitism”, step by step
elitism traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English élite
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | élite | Alternative spelling of elite |
| 2 | French | élite | elite |
| 3 | French | élit | third-person singular present indicative of... |
| 4 | Old French | eslit | chosen, elected |
| 5 | Old French | elire | — |
| 6 | Latin | eligere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 7 | Latin | eligo | I choose, I pluck or root out, extract; I pick... |
| 8 | Latin | e- | Alternative form of ex-; out of; out, utterly |
| 9 | Latin | ex- | out, away; throughout; thoroughly |
| 10 | Latin | e | The name of the letter "E"; out of, from |
| 11 | Latin | ex | A name of the letter "X"; out of, from |
| 12 | Latin | commūnicō | to impart, share |
| 13 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 14 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 15 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 18 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 19 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 20 | Russian | кит | whale; genitive plural of ки́та |
| 21 | Old Church Slavonic | китъ | whale |
| 22 | Ancient Greek | κῆτος | whale, sea monster; abyss |
via French élitisme
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | élitisme | elitism favouritism towards people seen as the best elements of a group; belief society should be run by an elite |
| 2 | French | -ïsme | -ism, variant of -isme following vowels |
| 3 | Latin | -isma | Alternative form of -ismus; -ism |
| 4 | Latin | -ismus | -ism |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -ισμός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | -μός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -mós | Creates action/result nouns from verb stems |