philistine

Synonyms

heathen philistinic philistinish Philistee Philistian Palestine philister anti-intellectual lowbrow

Etymology

The noun is derived from Philistine, influenced by philister, Philister (“(historical) in German universities: person not associated with the university; person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture”), from German Philister (“person from ancient Philistia; (figurative, dated) person not associated with a university; (figurative) person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture”), from Late Latin Philistaeus, Philisteus (compare Philistinus and see further at Philistine) + German -er (suffix forming nouns indicating an inhabitant of a place, or a person originating from a place).
The figurative senses of the German word are often said to have derived from a 1693 sermon by the ecclesiastical superintendent Georg Heinrich Götze (1667–1728) on the passage “Philister über dir, Simson!” (“The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”; Judges 16:9, 12, 14, and 20) at the funeral of a student from the University of Jena in Jena, Thuringia, Germany, who had died as the result of a town and gown dispute (that is, one between the townspeople and university students), but the Oxford English Dictionary notes that the word was already used in Jena in these senses in 1687.
The adjective is derived from the noun.
The words philister and philistine were introduced into English by the British author Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) and greatly popularized by the English poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), particularly in essays first published in The Cornhill Magazine between 1867 and 1868 which were collected into a book entitled Culture and Anarchy (1869).

The noun is derived from Middle English Philistyne, Philisten [and other forms], from Old English Filistina (genitive plural), from Old French Philistin (modern French Philistin) and Late Latin Philistinus, from Koine Greek Φυλιστῖνοι (Phulistînoi), a variant of Φυλιστιίμ (Phulistiím), Φυλιστιείμ (Phulistieím) (compare Koine Greek Παλαιστῖνοι (Palaistînoi)), from Hebrew פְּלִשְׁתִּים (p'lishtím, plural noun), from פְּלִשְׁתִּי (p'lishtí, “Philistine”, adjective), from פְּלֶשֶׁת (p'léshet, “Philistia”). An Anatolian origin should be considered, compare Hittite 𒁄𒄭𒅖 (pal-ḫi-iš /⁠palḫis⁠/, “wide, broad”), nominalized as lowland, plain + 𒊭𒀀𒆠𒄑𒍣 (ša-a-ki-ez-zi /⁠šākizzi⁠/, “seeks out”), nominalized as explorer, colonist, which would yield something like palḫis-sak or palḫis-sku.
In light of the Philistines’ likely Aegean origins, several scholars have proposed Greek etymologies for the ethnonym:
* Thomas Schneider proposes that it is derived from an archaic Greek term πλωϝιστοι (plōwistoi, “sailors,seafarers”) (cf. Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀫𐀹𐀵 (po-ro-wi-to /⁠plōwistos⁠/)).
* Jan Driessen connects the Philistines with the people of the settlement of Pyla, yielding the term Πυλαϝαστοι (Pulawastoi, “inhabitants of Pyla”). Furthermore, Driessen suggests a link between the Philistine migration to the Levant and the abandonment of Pyla which occurred within the timespan described in the Medinet Habu reliefs.
The English word is cognate with Akkadian 𒆳𒉿𒇺𒋫 (ᴷᵁᴿpi-lis-ta, “Pilistu”), 𒆳𒉺𒆷𒊍𒌓 (ᴷᵁᴿpa-la-as-tu₂ /⁠Palastu⁠/), 𒆳𒉿𒇺𒋫𒀀𒀀 (ᴷᵁᴿpi-liš-ta-a-a /⁠Pilištayu⁠/, “(people) of the Pilištu lands”), and is a doublet of Palestine.
The archaic noun plural form Philistim is from Middle English Philistiim [and other forms], from Late Latin Philisthiim, from Koine Greek Φυλιστιίμ (Phulistiím), Φυλιστιείμ (Phulistieím); see further above.
The adjective is derived from the noun. For the etymology of the "ignorant person" sense, see philistine.