Uses of the terms antisemite and antisemitism have become so common that one might suppose them to be of ancient origin. In fact, a German journalist named Wilhelm Marr is credited with inventing and popularizing them in the late 1870s. Marr's often-reprinted political tract, "The Victory of Judaism over Germandom," warned that "the Jewish spirit and Jewish consciousness have overpowered the world." He called for resistance against "this foreign power" before it was too late. Marr thought that before long "there will be absolutely no public office, even the highest one, which the Jews will not have usurped." For Marr, it was a badge of honor to be called an antisemite.

Marr and others employed the word antisemitism in the largely secular anti-Jewish political campaigns that became widespread in Europe around the turn of the century. The word derived from an 18th-century analysis of languages that differentiated between those with so-called "Aryan" roots and those with so-called "Semitic" ones. This distinction led, in turn, to the assumption--a false one--that there were corresponding racial groups. Within this framework, Jews became "Semites," and that designation paved the way for Marr's new vocabulary. He could have used the conventional German term Judenhass to refer to his hatred of Jews, but that way of speaking carried religious connotations that Marr wanted to de-emphasize in favor of racial ones. Apparently more "scientific," Marr's Antisemitismus caught on. Eventually, it became a way of speaking about all the forms of hostility toward Jews throughout history.