However Jews were associated with being a semitic people, on the basis of the Hebrew language, not least by the anti-Semites. And the person who coined the term ‘anti-Semitism’ was Wilhelm Marr, a German anti-Semite.

But really this is irrelevant, except for the pedantic. Words acquire their own meaning and usage over time. Anti-semitism has come to mean anti-Jewish racism. Anti-arab racism is called just that, and though I dislike the term immensely, Islamaphobia now tends to mean anti-Muslim racism (though it is also conflated with hatred of the religion itself).

So you just have to accept that Marr got it wrong. Jews weren’t semites in Europe. They had no connection with Europe and Jews who prayed in Hebrew, like me and many others, never understood more than a few words of it, just like Catholics praying in Latin!

However the term has stuck and if someone is an anti-semite it means they believe in discrimination against or hate Jews.

Tony

Two definitions from the Merriam-Webster dictionary…
Main Entry: Sem•ite
Pronunciation: ’se-”mIt, esp British ’sE-”mIt
Function: noun
Etymology: French sémite, from Semitic Shem, from Late Latin, from Greek SEm, from Hebrew ShEm
Date: 1848
1 a : a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia, including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs
b : a descendant of these peoples

Main Entry: an•ti-Sem•i•tism
Pronunciation: “an-ti-’se-m&-”ti-z&m, “an-”tI-
Function: noun
Date: 1882
: hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group

Question: If Semites include “Hebrews and Arabs,” why is anti-Semitism just “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews” instead of all Semites?