Normally Jonah Goldberg, an editor of the National Review Online, is not one of my favorite columnists. However, he recently wrote a column about genocide, which I had to agree with. In that column he said that "genocide" was coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1941. From the column: "The word 'genocide' was coined by a Polish Jew, Raphael Lemkin, who was responding to Winston Churchill's 1941 lament that 'we are in the presence of a crime without a name.' Lemkin, a champion of human rights who lost 49 relatives in the Holocaust, gave it a name a few years later."

Is that the case? The word "genocide" wasn't even coined until 1941? In fact, Etymology.com says it wasn't until 1944. I can't imagine there wasn't a need for that word before 1941.

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
..responding to Winston Churchill's 1941 lament

and this response is dated 1944 as the earliest citation given by OED2.

1944 R. LEMKIN Axis Rule in Occupied Europe ix. 79 By ‘genocide’ we mean the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group.

Though the practice has been around for centuries, it seemed to have lacked a name, even when it was an official policy. I suppose talking about the Armenian genocide which took place in the the Ottoman Empire is, technically, an anachronism. A newer term being used by the media is ethnic cleansing. That one seems to have been coined to get around offical terms used in treaties: kind of like the redefinition of or newly coined euphemisms for torture.

I find it interesting that, while of course genocide had taken place before, there hadn't been a term for it. While surely there are some concepts for which there aren't words, I wonder if there hadn't been a word for "genocide" before the 1940s because it's such a negative concept.

Tsuwm, for sure the date is 1944? If so, I look forward to letting Mr. Know-It-All, Jonah, know.

your own quote say that Lemkin "gave it a name a few years later", this being after Churchill's 1941 lament. my conclusion is that this *must have then been 1944 at the earliest.

it all fits -- I think Jonah just got the two dates confused.

there hadn't been a term for it

That's probably because folks didn't take about it, or if they did they used vague terms or euphemisms. In the minutes for the Wannsee Conference (1942), the term used was "the final solution of the Jewish question" (die Endlösung der Judenfrage). Today, the Turkish government refuses to admit that an Armenian genocide even occurred. Turkish citizens are often charge with violating Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which forbids "insulting Turkishness". I'm not sure what the Americans who took part in the ethnic cleansing of Native American peoples called their activities, if anything.

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'm not sure what the Americans who took part in the ethnic cleansing of Native American peoples called their activities, if anything

Manifest Destiny?

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all fits -- I think Jonah just got the two dates confused.

Oh, no it doesn't. Do you know Jonah? According to him, he is never wrong.

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Do you know Jonah? According to him, he is never wrong.

He seems to have a problem with numbers.

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Originally posted by tsuwm:
your own quote say that Lemkin "gave it a name a few years later", this being after Churchill's 1941 lament. my conclusion is that this *must have then been 1944 at the earliest.

it all fits -- I think Jonah just got the two dates confused.

Whwn I read the column, I don't see Jonah saying the word was coined in 1941. He cites the Churchill comment from 1941, then says the word was coined by Lemkin a few years later.
I really hate to say this, but I think the confusion in dates comes from kalleh's original post, which says "In that column he said that "genocide" was coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1941."

I was too polite to point out that possibility.

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Originally posted by tsuwm:
I was too polite to point out that possibility.

I'm too new to know when to be polite.
In my defence, I've also been editing a fair bit of copy recently and things like that tend to jump out at me.

We all make errors from time to time. It's not impolite to point them out. In fact, it's appreciated.

Agreed. Sorry to have made a mistake.