According to the Online Etymology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi) and confirmed in The Telegraph (UK) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8843158/Why-Hitler-hated-being-called-a-Nazi-and-whats-really-in-humble-pie-origins-of-words-and-phrases-revealed.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8843158/Why-Hitler-hated-being-called-a-Nazi-and-whats-really-in-humble-pie-origins-of-words-and-phrases-revealed.html)
Quote1930, noun and adjective, from Ger. Nazi, abbreviation of German pronunciation of Nationalsozialist (based on earlier Ger. sozi, popular abbreviation of "socialist"), from Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei "National Socialist German Workers' Party," led by Hitler from 1920.
The 24th edition of Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (2002) says the word Nazi was favored in southern Germany (supposedly from c.1924) among opponents of National Socialism because the nickname Nazi (from the masc. proper name Ignatz, German form of Ignatius) was used colloquially to mean "a foolish person, clumsy or awkward person." Ignatz was a popular name in Catholic Austria, and according to one source in World War I Nazi was a generic name in the German Empire for the soldiers of Austria-Hungary.
While the etymology makes sense to such a degree that I cannot dispute its correctness, I do dispute such a singular origin. It is well known that the Jewish press were the first to label Adolf and Friends as "Nazi" and that in itself is a contraction of their own personal racial label, Ashkenazi.
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews)
QuoteAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim, are an ethnic group who trace their origins to the Levant in South Western Asia, and settled along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north probably during the early Middle Ages.
The name Ashkenazi derives from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz, the first son of Gomer, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10).
Most Jewish communities with extended histories in Europe are Ashkenazim, with the exception of those associated with the Mediterranean region. The majority of the Jews who migrated from Europe to other continents in the past two centuries are Ashkenazim, Eastern Ashkenazim in particular.
It shouldn't need to be said that every Jewish newspaper editor of the 20's and 30's would have loved that tongue-in-cheek title that gave the National Socialists a distinctly Jewish feel, but it does. I mean, these days, nobody seems to believe that a rabid Jewish dog would bite the hand that feeds it, much less those
blameless victims of the Holohoax baiting a rising and militant Germany.
Consider that if I had not previously said anything about Judaism, Jews or Israel, this statement alone would be enough to have me declared to be an anti-Semite. History isn't everything the JOG tell us it is. Don't be sucked in by propaganda from more than half a century ago, do your own research and you may just find the truth.
@Cailen.