Why Is It Called a Jeremiad?

The word is named after the biblical prophet Jeremiah, and comes from biblical works attributed to him, the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations. The Book of Jeremiah prophesies the coming downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, and asserts that this is because its rulers have broken the covenant with the Lord.

What does jeremiad mean?

: a prolonged lamentation or complaint also : a cautionary or angry harangue the warnings became jeremiads against the folly of overemphasis on science and technology at the expense of man's subjective and emotional life — Ada Louise Huxtable.

What were jeremiads named after?

The "jeremiad" is named after the biblical lamentations of Jeremiah ("I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?" (chapter 2, verse 21). Of course, we don't seek to understand the jeremiad strictly for its religious significance.