Do you know someone who is very concerned about the political, economic or religious situation in the country? Worried enough that he can't resist the temptation to tell you about his anxiety? A person who watches the next news release with burning eyes, so that later for a week he can tell all his friends about what he saw? If you know such a person, then know that you have an alarmist in front of you. The meaning of the word, its origin and history are discussed below.
Who are alarmists?
Unfortunately, following a simple logic, we must admit that in the modern world a person is not only a herald of technological progress, but also its victim. The geopolitical situation on the planet, constant wars, interethnic conflicts, the threat of nuclear war - all these topics invariably occupy the front pages of newspapers, are discussed daily intelevision news, fill information portals and social networks.
Some people treat such information quite calmly, while others take everything to heart, for a long time they cannot forget what they saw and switch to something more positive and, no less important, more vital. A person who tends to be overly concerned about external events is sometimes called an alarmist. This word has an interesting and unusual history.
The origin of the word "alarmist"
When a new word came into the Russian language (and it happened, apparently, several centuries ago), it took a long time to gain popularity among the original Russian words expressing the same concept.
Dal's dictionary, published in the middle of the 19th century, indicates the French origin of the word "alarmist". Translated from French, the noun “alarme” means “alarm, commotion”, and the verb having the same form is translated as “alarm, frighten, declare an alarm, give an emergency signal.”
In English, the word “alarm” has even more meanings than in French: it means both abstract nouns “danger”, “alarm”, “confusion”, and quite specific objects: an alarm clock, a bell, an alarm device. This word has similar meanings in German. The cry “Alarm aus!” in German means "Hang up!".
Thus, an alarmist is someone who sounds the alarm, who is nervous himself and makes others nervous.
Interpretation of the word
In modern literature, it is sometimes indicated that the word "alarmist" is of English origin. We can only partly agree with this. It is important to understand that in Russian this lexeme has several meanings.
It is likely that initially this word served only to refer to an alarmist - and in this sense the word "alarmist" came to us from the French language. At the beginning of the twentieth century. the word has developed another meaning - "a person who is engaged in the spread of disturbing and false rumors." That is, an alarmist is not only someone who is very worried about any events, but also disseminates deliberately false information in order to intimidate others.
Currently, the noun "alarmist" is used not only in colloquial speech. The lexeme has entered the language of science, and is also actively found in journalism.
Journalists and environmentalists often call an alarmist a representative of a public organization or party who advocates the preservation of the environment, a fundamental change in the social system, the adoption of laws that curb population growth or prohibit the use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture.
An alarmist is someone who constantly reminds that human civilization is not perfect, that the modern world is in a state of deep crisis that affects all spheres of life and social relations.
Synonyms for "alarmist"
Oddly enough, but in modern Russian there are practically no original words expressingconcepts embedded in the word "alarmist". It is not so easy to find a synonym for this lexeme among other words of Slavic origin. The closest “cousin” of the alarmist is the word alarmist, but this lexeme, as you might guess, has a foreign etymology. Doesn't this mean that Russian people are by nature not very ardent alarmists? This is probably not the point after all.
In Dahl's dictionary we find as many as six synonyms of the specified word, and all of them are of Russian origin: restless, skimmer, alarm, spy, nabatchik, restless. So two hundred years ago they called people prone to excessive worries and nervousness.
In modern explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language, all of the listed synonyms are not present, and a slotted spoon is now called an item of kitchen utensils - a type of ladle, which is a perforated spoon, most often used to remove foam during cooking.
Interpretation of the word "alarmism" in modern Russian
Just a few years ago, another lexeme with the root "alarm" appeared in our language, calling the process - alarmism. What it is, you can understand when referring to scientific vocabulary.
In psychology, alarmism is understood as naming an anxiety state caused by external factors. This concept is not strictly a medical term, rather, this word refers to one of the aspects of the depressive syndrome.
In economics, alarmism is a system of views, based on which the whole world is on the path to imminent extinction due to the fact that the population is growing, resourcesexhausted, and the ecology invariably deteriorates.
Should I talk to an alarmist?
Increased anxiety is characteristic of people with any level of education, from any social environment and with any social status. However, uncontrolled emotional excitability most often affects introverts and people with a mobile vulnerable psyche.
Consciously or not, every alarmist is an energy vampire who, of course, sincerely worries about this or that event, but, sharing his thoughts and feelings with you, in his soul wishes that his anxiety would be transferred to you in full.
Seeing that the story about the end of the world has caused the desired reaction, the alarmist will strive to maintain constant contact with you, but at the same time, communication with such a person will always begin with something neural, only later moving on to discussing the crisis of the system and world apocalypse. If you feel that after a date with such a person your mood has deteriorated and unconscious anxiety has appeared, you should think about continuing such communication.
