MDDM18: German
Peter Fellows-MCCully
pfm at anam.com
Wed Jan 30 08:24:43 CST 2002
I seemed to remember some Religious etymology for the
word Enthusiast and sure enough:
Main Entry: en.thu.si.asm
Pronunciation: in-'thu-zE-"a-z&m, en-, also -'thyu-
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek enthousiasmos, from enthousiazein to be inspired, irregular
from entheos inspired, from en- + theos god
Date: 1603
1 a : belief in special revelations of the Holy Spirit b : religious
fanaticism
2 a : strong excitement of feeling : ARDOR b : something inspiring zeal or
fervor
Coupled with the fact that the phrase used is "German Enthusiasts" (caps)
meaning 1 above, may be relevant.
pfm
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