Ietsism, Итсизм, Ітсизм, Iцызм

[Frank06]

Hi,

I was reading a book by the American author Stenger Quantum Gods, 2009, and there I came across the notion of "ietsisme",

"which translates from Dutch to English as somethingism"[end quote]. It refers to the belief of people that there most be something trancendental, but which is not called a deity, or god or God.

I got curious and had a look on Wikipedia, which, rather to my surprise, does mention "ietsism" in the English version. I was even more surprised to see that the word made it into Russian (Итсизм), Ukrainian (Ітсизм), Bellarussian (Іцызм).

The Dutch words "ietsisme" and "ietser" seem to have been coined round 1996/1997, but I am curious how it ended up in English and even more curious about how it arrived in the three Slavic languages mentioned.

Does anybody have any idea which Dutch exactly got translated, and whether the word traveled from Dutch to English and from English to one of the Slavonic languages, or from Dutch to English and from Dutch to Russian, Ukranian and/or Belarussian?

Thanks in advance.

Groetjes,

Frank

 

[sokol]

How weird!
(The Frisian version of course is easily explained, certainly was translated by some Dutch Frisian Wikipedian, or whatever those guys writing Wiki call themselves.)

I've never heard the term before, in any language (not even in English), but it isn't as if I've ever searched the net for terms of this kind.
The term probably is hardly known at all in either of the three East Slavic language communities but was just translated by some Russian or Belarusian or Ukrainian migrant living in the Netherlands.

Hopefully some native speakers of English or those three Slavic languages can shed light on whether the term is known there at all.

 

[Frank06]

Hi

I've never heard the term before, in any language (not even in English), but it isn't as if I've ever searched the net for terms of this kind.
The term probably is hardly known at all in either of the three East Slavic language communities but was just translated by some Russian or Belarusian or Ukrainian migrant living in the Netherlands.

There is a huge chance that this is indeed the case. After all, it's Wikipedia.
I also must admit that I didn't search any further for any of the Slavic languages mentioned, for the simple reason I don't know any of them (I guess I wouldn't even recognise the word "vodka" in Cyrillic).

Hopefully some native speakers of English or those three Slavic languages can shed light on whether the term is known there at all.

I already wrote the Dutch authors mentioned in the Wiki-article, since I really want to pinpoint the very first English text that has "ietsism".
Anything on the Slavic languages I consider as a bonus .

Take good care,

Frank

 

[sokol]

Well, Frank, I fear chances are rather low that I'll ever happen to see this word written in one of those (or any other) Slavic languages. Whatever, the word as such is now engraved in my brain, chances are low that I'll ever forget it.

 

[maximka]

Well, Frank, I fear chances are rather low that I'll ever happen to see this word written in one of those (or any other) Slavic languages.

It seems that the word became a bit more known among Russian-speakers since the last post here. Google now shows 2,690 results for a Russian version of the word "ietsism" - "итсизм".

I even found a big serious article about ietsism written in Russian:
ИТСИЗМ КАК ОСНОВНАЯ ФОРМА РЕЛИГИОЗНЫХ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЙ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ МОЛОДЁЖИ (Ietsism as Underlying Form of Modern Youth's Religion)