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Glite Dictionary
Pan-Germanism

Pan-Germanism

9.9
A political movement to unite all people who speak German into one country
  • noun
  • /pæn ˈɡɜrmənɪzəm/
translation icon : pan-germanismo
  • Advocates of Pan-Germanism believed that all people speaking German or related Germanic languages should come together.

Examples

  • Pan-Germanism aimed to unite all German-speaking communities across Europe into a single political entity.

  • This exchange of political acquiescence for ethnic cultural autonomy was called into question at the turn of the century when Pan-Germanism and fear of "the German peril" struck Brazil.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The rise of Pan-Germanism in the late 19th century intensified discussions about national identity in German-speaking regions.

Surface Forms

Pan-Germanism singular
Pan-Germanisms plural

Morphology

Pan-Germanism = Pan-German (semi-transparent) = pan + German + ism

Formally analyzable as pan- (all) + German + -ism (ideology); the meaning is clear to learners who know the prefix 'pan-', but that prefix may be unfamiliar to lower-level learners.

Etymology

Pan-Germanism comes from the Greek part pan- meaning 'all', the word German for the people and language of Germany, and the ending -ism meaning a 'belief' or 'movement'. So, Pan-Germanism is a political movement that wanted to bring together all people who speak German.