What's the entomology of "Nazi"?

Question

Once in a while I see bloggers blaming the Nazis on the Jews, saying stuff like "'AshkeNAZY' is proof enough..." Researching this mostly led me to some creepy anti-Semitic conspiracy theory sites, none of them appearing to have any credibility though...

(They also claim that line that Hitler is Jewish, but while it's interesting that his father was 'illegitimate' and there is a chance he was the product of an affair with a Jewish employer, that doesn't make him Jewish.)

Answer 1

k8kay has the correct answer. I'll just add one little piece that may help. In German "zi" and most instances of "ti" (like this one) both make the sound "tsee". Thus the first word of the party name SOUNDS like like "Nazi" [NAH-tsee]

For the pronuncation of "z" in German see:
http://www.utils.ex.ac.uk/german/pronounce/pronoz.html

Compare z and ti in this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography#Consonants

By the way, the word you want is "etymology". "Entomology" is the study of insects! (Or were you taking a swipe at Hitler and his cohorts?!)

Answer 2

German, short for Nationalsozialistische deutsche Arbeiter-Partei, National Socialist German Workers' Party

Many dictionaries, such as those listed at dictionary.com, include etymology or word origins in their entries.