Originally referring to the Indo-European language family and peoples, though the term was misused by Nazi Germany to describe a supposed 'master race'—a deeply harmful misrepresentation.
From Sanskrit 'arya' meaning 'noble' or 'excellent,' referring to Indo-Iranian peoples. Linguists adopted it to describe a language family in the 1800s. The Nazis twisted this legitimate linguistic term into a racist ideology.
This word shows how science can be weaponized: linguists created a neutral term for a language group, but the Nazis completely hijacked it to justify genocide. Today it's a cautionary tale about how words' meanings can be deliberately corrupted for evil purposes.
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