Why is it called the "Holocaust"?

Answer 1

This should help you:
The Holocaust (from the Greek holókauston from olon "completely" and kauston "burnt"), also known as Ha-Shoah (Hebrew: השואה), Khurbn (Yiddish: חורבן or Halokaust, האלאקאוסט, is the term generally used to describe the killing of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the National Socialist regime in Germany led by Adolf Hitler.[1]

* pick this as best answer

Answer 2

Before (approx. 1978?) the term was a generic noun for, "any extremely large fire."

There was a TV mini-series about the genocide, sometime in the late seventies (1978?). It was called, "The Holocaust." It was eventually shown almost all around the World, and the term caught on.

Don't rush out to find the series! The violence was extremely downplayed for the TV mores of the time. The acting and dialogue were terrible. They even showed most of the people in concentration camps and slave labor camps wearing spotless and un-torn clothing!

Answer 3

"The Holocaust (from the Greek holókauston from olon "completely" and kauston "burnt"), also known as Ha-Shoah (Hebrew: השואה), Khurbn (Yiddish: חורבן or Halokaust, האלאקאוסט, is the term generally used to describe the killing of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the National Socialist regime in Germany led by Adolf Hitler.[1]"

"The term holocaust originally derived from the Greek word holókauston, meaning a "completely (holos) burnt (kaustos)" sacrificial offering to a god. Since the late 19th century, "holocaust" has primarily been used to refer to disasters or catastrophes. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was first used to describe Hitler's treatment of the Jews from as early as 1942, though it did not become a standard reference until the 1950s. By the late 1970s, however, the conventional meaning of the word became the Nazi genocide. The term is also used by many in a narrower sense, to refer specifically to the unprecedented destruction of European Jews in particular. Some historians credited Elie Wiesel with giving the term 'Holocaust' its present meaning. The biblical word Shoa (שואה), also spelled Shoah and Sho'ah, meaning "calamity" in Hebrew, became the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust as early as the early 1940s.[5] Shoa is preferred by many Jews and a growing number of others for a number of reasons, including the potentially theologically offensive nature of the original meaning of the word holocaust.

The word "genocide" was coined during the Holocaust. In 1944, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published Raphael Lemkin's most important work, entitled Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, in the United States. This book included an extensive legal analysis of German rule in countries occupied by Nazi Germany during the course of World War II, along with the definition of the term genocide.[6]"

Answer 4

Holocaust is a synonym for "disaster, catastrophe". It comes from the greek "olon" which means "complete" and "kauston" which means "burnt".

Answer 5

Without looking up the word in a dictionary, I'd say because it was a horrible, previously-unthinkable, politically-cataclysmic series of events which resulted in unprecedented human tragedy.

Answer 6

death, extermination and annihilation are synonyms of holocaust..........especially on the scale of millions....

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust

this will help