Aryanist
/ˈɛə.ri.ə.nɪst/noun
A person who advocates Aryanism, especially racial theories claiming a mythical Aryan superiority.
Did you know?The original Sanskrit and Avestan words behind *Aryan* meant “noble” or “honorable,” but 19th-century scholars and racists twisted that ancient identity into a pseudo-scientific racial fantasy.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-Iranian
PII
*árya-
“member of one’s own group; noble, honorable”
Ancient Sanskrit
Sanskrit
ā́rya
“noble, respectable; later also an ethnic/self-designation”
Ancient Avestan
Avestan
airiia-
“Aryan; belonging to the people of the Iranians and Indo-Aryans”
19th Century
English
Aryan
“a term used in comparative linguistics, later misused as a racial category”
Late 19th Century
English
Aryanist
“an advocate of Aryanism or Aryan racial theories”