All seems Infected that th' Infected spy,As all looks yellow to the Jaundic'd Eye. 
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711), Part II, line 358.
A man must be excessively stupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes there is no virtue but on his own side.
Joseph Addison, The Spectator 243, (1711-12-08).
All men feel something of an honorable bigotry for the objects which have long continued to please them.
William Wordsworth, Preface to the Lyrical Ballads|Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, Second Edition (1800).
Knowing that religion does not furnish grosser bigots than law, I expect little from old judges.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Cooper (1810).
Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education & free discussion are the antidotes of both.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams (August 1, 1816).
Show me the man who would go to heaven alone if he could, and in that man I will show you one who will never be admitted into heaven.
Owen Feltham, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers: A Cyclopædia of Quotations (1895) p. 535.
A man may die by a fever as well as by consumption, and religion is as effectually destroyed by bigotry as by indifference.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, June 20, 1831; reported in the Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1909), p. 386.
A
bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs. The predominant usage in modern English refers to persons hostile to those of differing sex, race, ethnicity, religion or spirituality, nationality, language, inter-regional
prejudicePrejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
, gender and sexual orientation, age, homelessness, various medical disorders particularly behavioral disorders and addictive disorders. Forms of bigotry may have a related
ideologyAn ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
or
world viewA comprehensive world view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point-of-view, including natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and...
s.
Etymology
The origin of the word
bigot and
bigoterie (bigotry) in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
dates back to at least 1598, via
Middle FrenchMiddle French is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from 1340 to 1611. It is a period of transition during which:...
, and started with the sense of "religious
hypocriteHypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....
". The exact origin of the word is unknown, but it may have come from the
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
bei and
Gott, or the English
by God.
William CamdenWilliam Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
wrote that the
NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
were first called bigots, when their Duke
RolloRollo , baptised Robert and so sometimes numbered Robert I to distinguish him from his descendants, was a Norse nobleman of Norwegian or Danish descent and founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy...
, who when receiving Gisla, daughter of
King CharlesCharles III , called the Simple or the Straightforward , was the undisputed King of France from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919/23...
, in marriage, and with her the investiture of the dukedom, refused to kiss the king's foot in token of subjection - unless the king would hold it out for that specific purpose. When being urged to do it by those present, Rollo answered hastily "No, by God", whereupon the King, turning about, called him
bigot, which then passed from him to his people. This is quite probably fictional, as Gisla is unknown in Frankish sources. It is true, however, that the French used the term
bigot to abuse the Normans.
The twelfth century Anglo-Norman author
WaceWace was a Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy , ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.-Life:...
claimed that
bigot was an insult which the French used against the Normans, but it is unclear whether or not this is how it entered the English language.
According to
Egon FriedellEgon Friedell born Egon Friedmann, 21 January 1878, in Vienna, died 16 March 1938, in Vienna, was a prominent Austrian philosopher, historian, journalist, actor, cabaret performer and theatre critic.- Early life :...
, "bigot" is of the same root as "
VisigothThe Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
". In
Vulgar LatinVulgar Latin is any of the nonstandard forms of Latin from which the Romance languages developed. Because of its nonstandard nature, it had no official orthography. All written works used Classical Latin, with very few exceptions...
, the initial
v transformed into
b (a phenomenon today encountered in Iberian languages, such as
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
;
visi had truncated into
bi in Vulgar Latin (a phenomenon common in French and Portuguese).
The French used to call the English
les goddamsDuring the Hundred Years' War and many other conflicts between England and France in the Middle Ages, the French came to call the English les goddamns or les goddams after their frequent expletives...
after their favorite curse,
Clément JanequinClément Janequin was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers of popular chansons of the entire Renaissance, and along with Claudin de Sermisy, was hugely influential in the development of the Parisian chanson, especially the programmatic type...
's "La Guerre" which is about the
Battle of MarignanoThe Battle of Marignano was fought during the phase of the Italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai, between France and the Old Swiss Confederacy. It took place on September 13 and 15, 1515, near the town today called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan...
, similarly uses the
Swiss GermanSwiss German is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are grouped together with Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg...
curse 'bigot', i.e. "by god!", in a context about the Protestant Swiss.