Jacobin

See also: jacobin

English

Etymology

From Middle English Jacobin, from Old French jacobin, from Latin Jācōbīnus, from Latin Jācōbus (“James, Jacob, etc.”) + -īnus (“-ine: forming adjectives”), from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (Ya'akóv), q.v. In reference to the Dominican Order, from the proximity of their 1218 chapel and chapter house in Paris to the city's Porte Saint-Jacques, whose road formed an extension of the Way of St. James running to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In reference to the Jacobin Club, from its 1789 founding at the former Dominican convent. In reference to the Syrian church, from Jacob bar Addai, bishop of Edessa during the mid-6th century.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒæk.ə.bɪn/, /ˈd͡ʒæk.ə.bən/, /ˈdʒeɪk.ə.bən/
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒak.ə.bɪn/

Noun

Jacobin (plural Jacobins)

1. (Christianity, dated) Synonym of Dominican, a member of the Dominican Order, particularly its French chapter.
2. (historical) A member of the Jacobin Club, a radical political club prominent during the French Revolution.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, pages 429–30:

     The Jacobins acted as a left-of-centre parliamentary pressure group, spending much of their time in coordinating the following day's business in the Assembly.

3. (historical, by extension) A sympathizer or supposed sympathizer with the French political club or its aims of democracy and social equality.
4. (by extension) A leftist radical in other contexts. [c. 1800]
5. (Christianity, archaic) Synonym of Jacobite, a member of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
6. Alternative letter-case form of jacobin, various birds.

Derived terms

• antijacobin, anti-Jacobin
• jacobin
• Jacobin cuckoo
• Jacobinic
• Jacobinical
• Jacobinically
• Jacobinism
• Jacobinization
• Jacobinize

Related terms

• Jacobean
• Jacobian
• Jacobic
• Jacobine
• Jacobite
• Jacobitic
• Jacobitical
• Jacobitish

Adjective

Jacobin (not comparable)

1. (historical) Of or related to the Jacobin Club in France.
2. (by extension) Of or related to the radical left in other contexts.
   • 2015, Matthew Quest, "George L. Mosse: Unconventional Historian", New Historian:

     […] Mosse argued the most fascist and totalitarian in particular but also radical Jacobin regimes, continued to have an investment in not merely disciplining human bodies but harnessing their sense of glory toward worshiping themselves […]

3. (Christianity, dated) Synonym of Dominican, of or related to the Dominican Order, particularly its French chapter.
4. (Christianity, archaic) Synonym of Jacobite, of or related to the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Synonyms

• (historical): Jacobinic, Jacobinical

References

• “Jacobin, n1.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “Jacobin, n2.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “jacobin, n3.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• Collins Shorter English Dictionary
• Napoleon - a biography by Frank McLynn Pages 209-10, 212, 213, 220,221,222,224,233,