Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Dictionary Project (https://www.dictionaryproject.org/), is scapegoat. Pronounced / ˈskeɪpˌgoʊt /, scapegoat is a compound noun, as is evidenced by the fact that the second syllable has a secondary stress. A scapegoat is “a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place,” or “a goat let loose in the wilderness on Yom Kippur after the high priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on its head” according to the Book of Leviticus 16:8,10,26 (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scapegoat). It can also be used as a transitive verb meaning “to make a scapegoat of” (ibid.).

Merriam-Webster explains in more detail the second meaning: “On Yom Kippur, the ancient Hebrews would sacrifice one goat for God and lead another one, over whom all the sins of Israel had been confessed, into the wilderness to bear the sins of the people away. The ceremony is described in Leviticus, where it is said that one lot shall be cast for God and one for ‘Azazel.’ Modern scholars usually biblical translators thought ʽazāzēl referred to the goat itself, apparently confusing the word with the Hebrew phrase ʽēz ‘ōzēl, meaning ‘goat that departs.’ Thus, in a 16th century English translation, the word for Azazel/the goat was rendered as scapegoote—that is, ‘goat that escapes.’ The extended senses of scapegoat we use today evolved from this biblical use” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scapegoat).

Etymonline.com goes into even more detail, saying that the word appears in the English language in “1530, ‘goat sent into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement as a symbolic bearer of the sins of the people,’ coined by Tyndale from scape, a shortening of escape (see scape (v.)) + goat; the whole word translating Latin caper emissarius, itself a translation in Vulgate of Hebrew ‘azazel (Leviticus xvi.8, 10, 26), which was read as ‘ez ozel ‘goat that departs,’ but which others hold to be the proper name of a devil or demon in Jewish mythology (sometimes identified with Canaanite deity Aziz).

Jerome’s reading was followed by Martin Luther (der ledige Bock), Symmachus (tragos aperkhomenos), and others (compare French bouc émissaire), but the question of who, or what (or even where) is meant by ‘azazel is a vexed one. The Revised Version (1884) simply restores Azazel. But the old translation has its modern defenders” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=scapegoat). Der ledige Bock translates as “the single goat”; bouc émissaire translates as “scapegoat,” but émissaire translates as “emissary,” just like the emissaries of the Latin.

Etymonline.com continues, “The transferred meaning ‘one who is blamed or punished for the mistakes or sins of others’ is recorded by 1824; the verb is attested by 1884” (ibid.).

On this date, according to the On This Day website (https://www.onthisday.com/events/july/12), “Alfred Dreyfus is found innocent of treason in France.”

The Dreyfus Affair is pretty complicated, and for that reason I won’t get into it very much. But here are a few saliant facts. The French and the Deutsch had been fighting for quite a long time. At the turn of the last century, and in 1870, the Deutsch had annexed an area called Alscace from France. Alfred Dreyfus was an Alsatian in the French army; he was also of Jewish ancestry.

So here’s what happened: “The staff of the Military Intelligence Service (SR) worked around the clock to spy on the German Embassy in Paris. They had managed to get a French housekeeper named “Madame Bastian” hired to work in the building and spy on the Germans. In September 1894, she found a torn-up note which she handed over to her employers at the Military Intelligence Service. This note later became known as “the bordereau”. This piece of paper, torn into six large pieces, unsigned and undated, was addressed to the German military attaché stationed at the German Embassy, Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen. It stated that confidential French military documents regarding the newly developed ‘hydraulic brake of 120, and the way this gun has worked’ were about to be sent to a foreign power” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair). The brake was part of a design of a recoil system that was supposed to make the firing of cannon better, though this system really wasn’t very good.

Once the bordereau was discovered, the French then went looking for the person who had leaked this information. Soon the focus was on Alfred Dreyfus even though there was no evidence that Dreyfus was involved. One French army officer, not an expert in handwriting analysis, determined that the handwriting and verbal style of the bordereau was exactly like Dreyfus’s handwriting and verbal style. The military then manufactured some evidence to seal the deal. Dreyfus was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on Devil’s Island of the coast of French Guiana.

“In 1896, evidence came to light—primarily through the investigations of Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, head of counter-espionage—which identified the real culprit as a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. High-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, and a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after a trial lasting only two days. The Army laid additional charges against Dreyfus, based on forged documents” (ibid.).

In 1899, Dreyfus was returned to France and tried again. He was, once again, found guilty, and sentenced this time to 10 years. But he was pardoned and released (ibid.). Then, “1906, Dreyfus was exonerated. After being reinstated as a major in the French Army, he served during the whole of World War I, ending his service with the rank of lieutenant colonel” (ibid.).

The Dreyfus Affair is an example of injustice and probably antisemitism. However, it’s also a clear example of how law enforcement, when it finds its scapegoat, has trouble rethinking. And that’s what Dreyfus was, a scapegoat who was supposed to wander off and never be heard from again.

Today’s image is a photo of Alfred Dreyfus taken in 1894, the year he was first prosecuted (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Dreyfus_(1859-1935)_-_photo_originale.jpg).