# terrorists - since when? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-since-when/84396 "2001-09-28T22:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-since-when/84396/1 "2001-09-28T22:27:43Z")
I realize the there has always been “terrorists”, but when did the term enter the lexicon? Who were the first people to be called “terrorists” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-since-when/84396/2 "2001-09-28T22:44:11Z")
Interestingly, Merriam-Webster’s gives the first use as 1795 - perhaps there might be an association with the “Reign of Terror” in revolutionary France. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-since-when/84396/3 "2001-09-28T23:41:11Z")
The Shorter OED confirms this opinion, saying: **Terrorist**. _1795_ **1.** As a political term: **a.** Applied to the Jacobins and their agents and partisans in the French Revolution. **b.** Anyone who attempts to further his views by a system of coercive intimidation; _spec._ applied to members of one of the extreme revolutionary societies in Russia 1866. **2.** An alarmist, a scaremonger 1803. Definition no. 2 is interesting. I hadn’t heard that one before.