1818: ghetto Dec 7, 2019

The word 'ghetto' is certainly a charged one to several groups of people, but it is not certain where the it came from. It is definitely Italian originally, perhaps from the word 'getto' meaning 'foundry' because of where the first ghetto was established in Venice in 1516 to segregate the Jewish population. The other accepted idea is that it comes from 'borghetto' which is simply a diminutive form of 'borgo' (borough) i.e. meaning 'little borough'.

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