Diaspora
Etymology
The term "diaspora" is derived from the Greek verb διασπείρω (diaspeirō), "I scatter", "I spread about" which in turn is composed of διά (dia), "between, through, across" and the verb σπείρω (speirō), "I sow, I scatter". In Ancient Greece the term διασπορά (diaspora) hence meant "scattering"[24].
Emigrants Leave Ireland depicting the emigration to America following the Great Famine in Ireland
There is confusion over the exact process of derivation from these Ancient Greek verbs to the concept of diaspora.
Many cite Thucydides (5th-century BC) as the first to use the word.[25][26][27]
However, sociologist Stéphane Dufoix remarks "not only is the noun diaspora quite absent from the Greek original [Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, II, 27)], but the original does not include the verb diaspeírô either.
The verb used is the verb speírô conjugated in the passive aorist."[28] The passage in Thucydides reads:
καὶ οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ἐνταῦθα ᾤκησαν, οἱ δ᾽ ἐσπάρησαν [esparēsan] κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην Ἑλλάδα, translated to mean 'Those of the Aeginetans who did not settle here were scattered over the rest of Hellas.'[29]
Dufoix further notes, "Of all the occurrences of diaspora in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG), which draws upon almost the entire written corpus in the Greek language . . . none refer to colonisation."[30]
Dufoix surmises that the confusion may stem from a comment by Jewish historian Simon Dubnow, who wrote an entry on diaspora for the influential Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences.[31]
His entry, published in 1931, includes the following remark: "In a sense Magna Graecia constituted a Greek diaspora in the ancient Roman Empire."[32][a]
"Magna Graecia" refers to ancient Greek colonies established along the Italian coast, which lost their independence following the Second Punic War and their integration into the Roman Empire.
The first recorded use of the word "diaspora" is found in the Septuagint, first in:
- Deuteronomy 28:25, in the phrase ἔσῃ ἐν διασπορᾷ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς βασιλείαις τῆς γῆς, esē en diaspora en pasais tais basileiais tēs gēs, translated to mean 'thou shalt be a dispersion in all kingdoms of the earth'
and secondly in:
- Psalms 146(147).2, in the phrase οἰκοδομῶν Ἰερουσαλὴμ ὁ Kύριος καὶ τὰς διασπορὰς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπισυνάξει, oikodomōn Ierousalēm ho Kyrios kai tas diasporas tou Israēl episynaxē, translated to mean 'The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel'.
When the Bible was translated into Greek, the word diaspora was applied in reference to the Kingdom of Samaria which was exiled from Israel by the Assyrians between 740 and 722 BC,[34] as well as Jews, Benjaminites, and Levites who were exiled from the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians in 587 BC, and Jews who were exiled from Roman Judea by the Roman Empire in 70 AD.[35]
It subsequently came to be used in reference to the historical movements and settlement patterns of the Jews.[36]
In English, capitalized, and without modifiers, the term can refer specifically to the Jewish diaspora.[37]
The wider application of diaspora evolved from the Assyrian two-way mass deportation policy of conquered populations to deny future territorial claims on their part.[38]