Where does “totalitarianism” come from?
Totalitarianism comes from totalitarian plus the suffix -ism, from Ancient Greek -ισμός and -μός, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -mós.
totalitarianism (English): A system of government in which the people have...
Definitions
- A system of government in which the people have...
Ancestry of “totalitarianism”, step by step
totalitarianism traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Italian totalitarismo
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | totalitarismo | totalitarianism |
| 2 | Italian | -ismo | -ism |
| 3 | Latin | -ismus | -ism |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | -ισμός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -μός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -mós | Creates action/result nouns from verb stems |
via English totalitarian
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | totalitarian | Of or relating to a system of government where... |
| 2 | Italian | totalitario | totalitarian; total, complete |