"Holocaust" ought not be used to refer to the mass murder by the Nazi's

I will now post my responses. ResponseDefinition of holocaust:  hol·o·caust [hol-uh-kawst, hoh-luh-] noun1. a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire.2. a sacrifice completely consumed by fire; burnt offering.3. ( usually initial capital letter ) the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II (usually preceded by the ).4. any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life. Origin: 1200–50; Middle English [1] My opponent wants to argue that the word holocaust is primarily Jewish in origin and therefore somehow disrespects the other parties that were involved in this horrific atrocity when this is simply not the case. The primary definition of holocaust, as dating back to 13th century Middle English, is a great or complete devastation especially by fire. The reason this definition is used is because the bodies of the victims in the Nazi purging were burned in furnaces. Thus the definition of holocaust, a great devastation by fire, is an accurate one to describe the event that took place. The reason why the Jews and the Jewish culture is the one most focused on (not solely focused on) when discussing the holocaust is because the Jews were a) targeted most directly and primarily by the Nazi regime and b) were almost completely wiped out. The "complete" aspect of the definition of holocaust applies more directly to the Jews than to any other group as the Jews were almost indeed completely wiped out. This does not belittle the loss of life by other groups but the Jews were most publicly opposed. If you want to take it's traditional definition of a burnt offering we can use that too. The people deemed unfit by the Nazis were sacrificed on their alter of progress and purging. They were sacrificed to the gods of Nazism. That fits too. However, nowhere in the traditional English definition of holocaust does it refer directly and only to Jews. The definition of The Holocaust does not exclude the deaths and suffering of other groups of people who were not Jews. In fact, it is widely recognized and falls under the heading of holocaust to include other groups the Nazis did not favor. "During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived 'racial inferiority': Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals. " [2]The Holocaust is just a name put to this event in history so that we may reference the mass Nazi killings of anyone of "racial inferiority", not just Jews. Similarly, the Colombian Exchange, the exchange of culture, foods, disease etc that occurred in the 15th century is referred to and can be associated with mass deaths but we do not claim that Columbus ferried all the stuff over himself. It is a name given as a point of reference. 1. The word holocaust is not primarily Jewish in use or origin and only became synonymous with the death of Jews because the Jews were the group most publicly and vehemently pursued by the Nazis. 2. The title of "The Holocaust" does not exclude people who were not Jews. It's not like the gypsies and Christians were killed in a different event. It's all the holocaust, it's all terrible and no one is disrespected or left out.3. Given the definition of something consumed by fire, whether you interpret that as an offering, the fires of fascism or something else you can't ignore the fact that millions of lives were indeed consumed by fire. This was a mass genocide which ended for most in the furnace therefore making the word holocaust both haunting and relevant. 4. The title of holocaust is widely accepted. There is no debate or disagreement or malcontent about the title. It is widely accepted and it is widely known that the holocaust included more than just Jews.5. The title of holocaust does not by definition rule out the other groups targeted and lost in the genocide. Therefore, the name is relevant, appropriate and should stand as is. Thank you. [1] . http://dictionary.reference.com...[2] . http://www.ushmm.org...