'Propaganda:' History of a Word

Abstract

C HANGES IN THE MEANING attached to a word may be associated with ideological and cultural changes. The history of the word propaganda is a striking example. This paper sketches a portion of that history. Until the sixteenth century, propaganda (with related forms) was a Latin term used only in a biological frame of reference, referring to the reproduction of plants and animals. Pope Gregory XIII (S572-85) established a commission of three cardinals de propaganda fide, to spread Catholic doctrines in nonChristian lands. In I62t, Gregory XV established a more formal organization, the sacred congregation de propaganda fide. And in i627, Urban VIII set up a collegium de propaganda to train missionaries.1 The Latin word, as William Fletcher puts it, signifies 'which ought to be propagated and modifies much as our may modify bus, in a sight-seeing bus. '2 The grammatical analogy may not be strictly accurate, but is indicative of the context in which the word was used. The first use of the word propaganda.in English apparently occurred in 17 18.3 It was then used in the religious frame of reference which has been described. Perhaps it is significant, as at least one writer has suggested, that the English word was associated from the first with doctrines based on faith rather than on reason.4