Origin and history of terrorist

terrorist(n.)

1795, in reference to Jacobins during the French Revolution, from French terroriste; see terror + -ist, and compare terrorism.

Thus originally of state intimidation and government coercion by methods of terror. It was used in English by 1866 in reference to extremist revolutionaries in Russia who attempted to demoralize the Czarist government by terror, by 1921 in reference to Soviet government policies.

Other 19c. uses were in reference to labor unrest ("Sheffield outrages," 1867), insurrectionists in Spain (1869), Ireland (1875), and Hungary (1849). In 1849 it also was used of the reaction after the 1848 uprisings ("bourgeois terrorists reign in France"). It was used in politics of one who gets office by intimidation or compulsion of voters (1819).

In World War II it was common in newspaper coverage of Maquis tactics against Germans and collaborators ("Terrorist Activity Of French Patriots Grows" AP headline Feb. 28, 1944). In use by 1944 especially in reference to Jewish tactics against the British in Palestine:

"Every man, woman and child of the Jewish community must do his or her best to bring this terrorism to an end." [Winston Churchill, from statement in House of Commons, Nov. 17, 1944, in response to the assassination of Lord Moyne by Jewish terrorists]

The term now usually refers to a member of a clandestine or expatriate organization aiming to coerce an established government by acts of violence against it or its subjects. [OED, 1989]

In U.S. West Coast newspapers in 1945 it was frequently in reference to attacks on Japanese returning from internment camps.

Also sometimes in 19c., "an alarmist." The tendency of one party's terrorist to be another's guerrilla or freedom fighter was noted in reference to the British action in Cyprus (1956) and the war in Rhodesia (1973). Terrorizer is attested from 1892.

also from 1795

Entries linking to terrorist

terror(n.)

early 15c., terrour, "something that intimidates (as punishment), an object of fear, intimidation," from Old French terreur, terrour, terrer (14c.), and directly from Latin terrorem (nominative terror) "great fear, dread, alarm, panic; object of fear, cause of alarm; terrible news," from terrere "fill with fear, frighten" (see terrible).

It is attested from c. 1500 as "extreme fear or dread, fear so great as to overwhelm the mind." The meaning "quality of causing dread" is attested from 1520s. The sense of "a person fancied as a source of terror" (often with deliberate humorous exaggeration, as of a naughty child) is recorded from 1883.

Terror bombing is recorded by 1941, with reference to German air attack on Rotterdam. The Reign of Terror in French history (March 1793-July 1794) was the period when the nation was ruled by a faction whose leaders made policy of killing by execution anyone deemed an impediment to their measures; so called in English from 1801.

Old English words for "terror" included broga and egesa. Terror-stricken "terrified, appalled" is attested by 1812. Drayton (1598) has terror-breathing "inspiring terror."

terrorism(n.)

1795, in reference to France, "government intimidation during the Reign of Terror" (March 1793-July 1794), from French terrorisme, noted as a coinage of the Revolution, from Latin terror "great fear, dread, alarm, panic; object of fear, cause of alarm; terrible news" (see terrible).

If the basis of a popular government in peacetime is virtue, its basis in a time of revolution is virtue and terror — virtue, without which terror would be barbaric; and terror, without which virtue would be impotent. [Robespierre, speech in French National Convention, 1794]

The general sense of "systematic use of terror as a policy" is in English by 1798 (in reference to the Irish Rebellion of that year). Compare terrorist. Used early 20c. in newspaper coverage of labor union actions. At one time, a word for a certain kind of mass-destruction terrorism was dynamitism (1883); and during World War I frightfulness (translating German Schrecklichkeit) was used in Britain for "deliberate policy of terrorizing enemy non-combatants."

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Origin and history of terrorist

terrorist(n.)

Entries linking to terrorist

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