[cw genocide] really potentially dumb question that may have been asked before; are Arabic people not also semitic?

words mean what people use them as. antisemitic is used primarily to describe antijudaism

Technically true, but it’s not in any way a convincing argument

This is literally the type of argument I'd see in a boomer comic shared by a 60 year old deeply religious liberal gay Black man with bipolar disorder living in Tennessee. "Antisemitic" means "anti-Jewish". That is how the word is used by most people, so that is what the word means.

That aside, the Semitic languages also include several other languages, including a number of languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

What's the origin of the word "antisemitism" anyway? Did the word always mean "bigotry against Jews"?

I ask because this reminds me of the way that white people are sometimes called "Caucasian" even when they're not from the Caucasus mountains. Turns out that originated from a German eugenicist so I'm wondering if this word has a similarly sus history.

Yes but also no. Arabs are also Semitic peoples, but the word "antisemitic" was created specifically to refer to hatred of Jews (I think by a 19th century white nationalist). So racism against Arabs is anti-Semitic, but isn't antisemitism.

This is literally the type of argument I'd see in a boomer comic shared by a 60 year old deeply Christian liberal gay Black man with bipolar disorder living in Tennessee. "Antisemitic" means "anti-Jewish". That is how the word is used by most people, so that is what the word means.

That aside, the Semitic languages also include several other languages, including a number of languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea.