arische

Arische is a term with a complex and often contentious history, primarily associated with linguistic, anthropological, and later, racial theories. Originally, the term "Aryan" (from Sanskrit Arya) referred to speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, particularly those who migrated to India and Iran. In the 19th century, comparative linguists began to group languages into families, and the term "Aryan" was extended to encompass a hypothetical parent language from which Indo-European languages, including Indo-Iranian, were believed to have descended. This concept of an "Aryan race" or "Aryan people" as a distinct ethnic or biological group emerged from these linguistic studies, often with speculative and unscientific conclusions about their origin and characteristics.

In the early 20th century, the concept of an "Aryan race" was distorted and weaponized by Nazi ideology. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis adopted and perverted the term to denote a supposed master race of white, Nordic peoples, whom they falsely believed were superior to all others. This racial pseudoscience was used to justify the persecution and genocide of Jews, Roma, and other groups deemed "inferior" or "non-Aryan." Due to this association with Nazism and its horrific consequences, the term "Aryan" in a racial context is now widely discredited and considered a dangerous and offensive term. Modern scholarship rejects the notion of a distinct "Aryan race" and instead focuses on the historical and linguistic origins of Indo-European peoples and languages.