herrenvolk

See also: Herrenvolk

English

Alternative forms

• Herrenvolk

Etymology

From German Herrenvolk, from Herr (“lord, master, gentleman”) +‎ -en- +‎ Volk (“folk, people”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹənfəʊk/, /ˈhɛɹənfɒlk/, enPR: hĕrʹən-fōk, hĕrʹən-fŏlk
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹənfoʊk/, /ˈhɛɹənfɔlk/, enPR: hĕrʹən-fōk, hĕrʹən-fôlk
• Hyphenation: her‧ren‧volk

Noun

herrenvolk (plural herrenvolks or herrenvolker)

1. A master race, especially with reference to Nazi ideology. [from 20th c.]
   • 1995 [1954], Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial, page 59:

     In their position halfway between the blacks and the white Herrenvolk, they are bound to be unstable, they are petty bourgeois to the core, all of them.

   • 2003, George M. Fredrickson, The Historical Construction of Race and Citizenship in the United States‎^[1], page 14:

     The political system that was emerging has been aptly described as a 'Herrenvolk democracy', a formally democratic political system in which voting and office holding is limited to members of a dominant ethno-racial group.

Derived terms

• herrenvolkism

Translations

master race — see master race