different between yokel vs philistine

English

Etymology

1812, possibly from dialectal German Jokel, diminutive of Jakob; alternatively, from dialectal English yokel (“woodpecker”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?j??.k?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?jo?.k?l/
• Rhymes: -??k?l

Noun

yokel (plural yokels)

1. (derogatory) A person from or living in the countryside, viewed as being unsophisticated and/or naive.

   Synonyms: boor, bumpkin, country bumpkin, joskin, hillbilly, hick, peasant, provincial, rube, rustic, yahoo

   • 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, London: Richard Bentley, Volume 2, Chapter 30, p. 81,^[1]

     “ […] my opinion at once is […] that this [robbery] wasn’t done by a yokel?eh, Duff?”

     “Certainly not,” replied Duff.

     “And, translating the word yokel, for the benefit of the ladies, I apprehend your meaning to be that this attempt was not made by a countryman?” said Mr. Losberne with a smile.

   • 1895, Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage, New York: Appleton, Chapter 8, p. 88,^[2]

     He eyed the story-teller with unspeakable wonder. His mouth was agape in yokel fashion.

   • 1985, Peter De Vries, The Prick of Noon, Penguin, Chapter 6, p. 119,^[3]

     I went to New York and bought myself a secondhand stretch limousine twenty-eight feet long, calculated to reduce the most blasé country-club sophisticates to bug-eyed yokels.

   • 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, London: Phoenix, 1994, Chapter 8.6, p. 560,^[4]

     ‘You may think that because you live in Brahmpur you have seen the world?or more of the world than we poor yokels see. But some of us yokels have also seen the world?and not just the world of Brahmpur, but of Bombay. […] ’

Derived terms

• yokelry

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Kolye, Lokey, koley, kyloe

English

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).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f?l?sta?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f?l??sta?n/, /-l?-/, /-stin/, /f??l?stin/
• Hyphenation: phi?list?ine

Noun

philistine (plural philistines)

1. (derogatory) A person who is ignorant or uneducated; specifically, a person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture, and who has pedestrian tastes.

   Synonym: heathen

Alternative forms

• Philistine

Derived terms

• philistinely
• philistinic
• philistinish
• philistinism

Translations

Adjective

philistine (comparative more philistine, superlative most philistine)

1. (derogatory) Ignorant or uneducated; specifically, lacking appreciation for or antagonistic towards art or culture, and having pedestrian tastes.

   Synonyms: heathen, (rare) philistinic, philistinish

Alternative forms

• Philistine

Translations

References

Further reading

• Philistinism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Adjective

philistine

1. feminine singular of philistin