Baath

See also: Bååth

English

Alternative forms

• Ba'th, Baʻth (stricter transliterations)
• Ba'ath, Bath (nonstandard, proscribed)

Etymology

From Arabic بَعْث‎ (baʿṯ, “resurrection”), part of the party's official name, حِزْب البَعْث العَرَبِيّ الاِشْتِرَاكِيّ‎ (ḥizb al-baʿṯ al-ʿarabiyy al-ištirākiyy, literally “the party of the Arab socialist resurrection”). The sequence ــَعْـ (aʿ) is often rendered as ⟨aa⟩ in English; compare Baalbek for بَعْلَبَكّ‎ (baʿlabakk), the Kaaba for الكَعْبَة‎ (al-kaʿba), Saad (name) for سَعْد‎ (saʿd), or zaatar for زَعْتَر‎ (zaʿtar).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɑːθ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːθ
• Homophone: bath (Received Pronunciation)

Proper noun

the Baath

1. The Arab Socialist Baath Party, a secular Arab socialist political party present in several countries in the Middle East, most prominently Iraq and Syria.
   • 1959, Swiss Review of World Affairs‎^[1], page 23:

     Today it is they that proclaim the slogan of "federation"—which is opposed to the Baath's postulates.

   • 1978, Ware, Lewis B., A Handbook of the Arab-Israeli Crisis‎^[2], page 96:

     Nasser had a country without a party, but the Baath was still a party without a country.

   • 1980, Dawisha, Adeed I., Syria and the Lebanese crisis‎^[3], page 46:

     For the Party to succeed in achieving these aims, Aflaq insisted that the Baath had to be nationalist, populist, socialist and revolutionary.

   • 1995, Viorst, Milton, Sandcastles‎^[4], page 23:

     The Baath was small but well organized and bold, and could not be intimidated.

   • 2012, Habeeb, William Mark, The Middle East in Turmoil‎^[5], page 185:

     The Baath is an avowedly secular party that has pursued socialist economic policies and at one time was aligned with the "godless" Soviet Union.

   • 2016, Mansour, Imad, Statecraft in the Middle East‎^[6], page 125:

     The 1973 War was an opportunity for decision makers to demonstrate that their work under the Baath was substantively different than their predecessors, [...]

   • 2018, Abouzeid, Rania, No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria‎^[7]:

     The Baath was the party of the downtrodden, stacked with minorities and the rural poor of all sects, including Sunni.

   • 2021, Solomon, Christopher, In Search of Greater Syria‎^[8], page 5:

     It was on this platform that the Baath would bring glory, honor, and enlightenment back to the Arab World in the wake of European colonialism.

Derived terms

• Baathism
• Baathist
• de-Baathification

Related terms

• Baathi

Translations

the Arab Socialist Baath Party

• Arabic: حِزْب البَعْث‎ m (ḥizb al-baʿṯ), حِزْب البَعْث العَرَبِيّ الاِشْتِرَاكِيّ‎ m (ḥizb al-baʿṯ al-ʿarabiyy al-ištirākiyy)
• Bengali: হেজবে বাছ (hezbe bas), আরবী সমাজতান্ত্রিক হেজবে বাছ (arôbī śômajtantrik hezbe bas)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Partiya Be's

• Persian: حزب بعث‎ (hezb-e ba's)
• Tajik: Ҳизби Баъс (Hizbi Baʾs)
• Uzbek: Baʼs partiyasi

Anagrams

• abaht