Dehellenize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Strips a people, culture, or institution of Greek language, thought, and customs that had been absorbed into it
2. Purges Hellenistic or Greek cultural influence from a society, religion, or body of ideas
3. Removes the influence of Greek civilization and its ways of thinking from a people or cultural practice

Etymology: Dehellenize is formed from "Hellenize" with the reversing prefix "de-", so its sense is literally "to remove Greek influence from." The base verb, "hellenize," comes from Greek "Hellēnizein," meaning "to speak Greek" or "to adopt Greek language and culture," itself built on "Hellēn," the Greeks' name for themselves. English took "hellenize" in the 19th century, and the derived "dehellenize" is a later formation, first recorded in the 20th century. The word has a clear political and religious history in the sense of stripping Hellenic culture from a place. Its most common use describes efforts to purge Greek influence from Jewish practice or from territories under Greek-speaking rule, and historians sometimes apply it to the ancient and modern debates over Greek and other influences on Christianity and Judaism.

Antonyms: hellenize