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The terms '''Hellenism''', '''Hellenist''', '''Hellenistic''', were originally used, from about the 16th century, to refer to Greek-speaking Jews, as opposed to Hebrew-speaking Jews.
The words later became used to denote the later Greek age, i.e. the period after Alexander the Great. J. G. Droysen (1883) used Hellenism to mean the civilization of the Greek-speaking world after Alexander, but his definition of the period ranged up to the time of Jesus, or up to the Arab invasions. Droysen also took the word to apply to other cultures as well as the Jews. [Droysen ''Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen'' 1883]
In Israel, "Hellenist" or "Hellenizer" is used as a derogatory term for secular Jewish people. Its etymology refers to the Jewish people who assimilated during Hellenistic rule, instead of maintaining Hebrew as their language and other customs.
'Hellenism' may refer to:

★ Hellenic polytheism, or Hellenismos

★ The Hellenistic period

★ The Hellenistic civilization

★ Hellenization

★ Hellenistic Greece, a period of Greek history

★ The Hellenistic armies

★ Any of various Schools of thought in the Hellenistic period and late antiquity

★ Hellenism (neoclassicism), a neoclassical movement often associated with the Romantic Period in England and Germany.

★ Hellenic neopaganism
'Hellenist' may mean a classical scholar specialising in Greek (as opposed to a Latinist). See for example .