Etymology
The full name of Adolf Hitler's party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party). The acronym Nazi was formed from the first syllable of NAtional and the second syllable of SoZIalist. Such acronyms, usually formed from the initial letters or syllables of successive parts of compound names, were popular in the Third Reich. Another such example was Gestapo for GEheime STAatsPOlizei (Secret State Police). The shortened "Nazi" originated from a derogatory term for a backward peasant. Opponents of the National Socialist Party used it in a dismissive manner.
Read more about this topic: Nazism
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)