Word origins: appeasement

From "Nordlinger's Impromptus" on National Review Online (see link below).

“Appeasement is a bad word, and always has been — or at least since Neville Chamberlain stood under that umbrella. But would you like to see a different use of that word? In Albania — in its wild north — there is the problem of blood feuds, with families gunning for families, year in, year out. An organization is working to stop this: and it's called the National Committee for Appeasement.”

“Striking.”

Appeasement. From a French word (with Latin roots) meaning “added or increased peace.” The original meaning of “appease” was “to bring to state of peace or contentment.”

It is only later, during the run-up to World War II, that “appease” gained more recent, and negative, meaning, “to yield or concede to the belligerent demands of a (nation, group, person, etc.) in a conciliatory effort.