CHAT: Anti-Semitism

I'm afraid this is terribly OT, but I figure this is the place I can ask with
the highest chance of someone actually knowing the answer.

In an online discussion, the origin of the word 'anti-semitism' came up. It's
clearly a poorly chosen term, since it doesn't denote hostility towards
Semites in general, but specifically towards Jews (who don't necessarily speak
any Semitic language!). Indeed, these days, the label is very commonly applied
to Semitic-speaking Arabs. Does anyone know when the word was coined, and
whether there's some comprehensible reason that this misleading formation was
chosen?

                                                Andreas

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