When was the term "The Sith" first used?

I just now re-watched the classic trilogy. I didn't hear the word "The Sith" mentioned anywhere.

When were the Sith first given their official name? I know they were used for The Phantom Menace. Was "the Sith" first invented for Episode I, or was the name and idea already out before then? What is the history of "The Sith"? (the actual word in our real life world, not the actual history of the Sith inside the world of Star Wars).

 

In the actual Trilogy that WAS the first time it was used as far as I know.

 

I heard from somewhere that the origin of the word "sith" Actually had something to do with some ROTJ posters. I may be wrong though.

 

The word is used in the novelization for ANH, so the term has been around the entire time.

 

That all depends on when the ANH novelization came out. I wasn't around then, so I wouldn't know.

Did it come out as a companian to the movie? Or years later?

Now if it was in the original SCRIPT, that would be proof.

 

The word "Sith" was never spoken in the OT, but "Dark Lord of the Sith" was mentioned around the time of ANH in merchandise like trading cards.

EDIT: interesting find:

"Sith" is a variant of the Gaelic word "sidhe" (both pronounced "she"). The Sidhe are the fairy folk in Irish/Scottish mythology. The word also means "peace" or "harmony".

 

Well obviously "sith" didn't come from Gaelic if it means "fairy folk" and "harmony"

two things the sith are definitly not.

 

You gonna argue with the Irish and the Scots about their own words?

You can use the word without using its sense or meaning. "Endor" is in the Bible, but it definitely has nothing to do with spear-wielding teddy bears.

 

Well, technically, the Sith have been around from the beginning...at least in the first drafts...
And as to the Gaelic thing: could be, for all I know (very little.) In the early drafts, they were called the Sith Knights. Perhaps Lucas thought they would be egotistical, bigoted, warriors who thought of themselves as noble, and the only way for peace to endure was for them to rule. I mean, several foul organizations have operated under noble names such as the Soviets or Nazis...or he just thought 'Sith' sounded cool. Who knows?

 

I'm not saying its not a Gaelic word, what I mean't was that GL probably did not choose the word because of it's Scot/Irish origns

I think he choose the word because like all the other Si sounding words, they sound evil.

 

"sith" was never mentioned in ANH itself but Lucas came up with the name way back in the first outline in 1975. It appears in all the press material of ANH (Darth Vader is known as a "dark lord of the sith", although what a sith was wasnt dealt with until the novelisation i believe, or possibly even later in the EU).

 

The first time it was used in the Star Wars universe was thousands of years before Episode I. The Dark Jedi stumbled across a civilization called the Sith and took it over (they took the name as well).

The first time it was said in the movies was TPM, I believe.

 

There was a reference, in some obscure scifi movie in 1977 to Darth...Father or something? Anyway, people were curious what the signifigance was behind the name "Darth" and I think Lucas told us in a lot of the merchandise and marketing materials that Darth is a contraction for "Dark Lord of the Sith."

If I had to guess where it came from, I betcha Lucas had the idea of the Sith in mind around the same time he came up with the idea that Darth was a title rather than a first name.

It wasn't actually mentioned in a film until TPM, but neither was the name Boba Fett used until RotJ.

 

"sith" was never mentioned in ANH itself but Lucas came up with the name way back in the first outline in 1975. It appears in all the press material of ANH

Okay. Enough people have said similar things that I accept this as true. Thanks. And we all know the first movie the word "Sith" was used in was Episode 1. So I want to revise my question:

What was the first (time of release) official media-type merchandise to contain the word "Sith"?

This includes any Expanded Universe stuff, or whatever. Comic books, Novels, Animated Cartoons, etc. But it doesn't include things you couldn't buy in stores. And it doesn't include toys or things like that. Only merchandise that depicts a story in some fashion.

And for whatever anyone suggests, could you please give approximately what year a given product was released? If an ANH novelization was indeed the first appearance of the word "Sith", about what year was it created in? Doesn't have to be exact, but roughly.

 

Approximately 1977 or 1978. I have the novel, but it's in storage right now, so I can't be more specific.

 

1977.

the novel, for instance, plus trading cards, magazines, etc.

Its too bad, the sith are talked about in every draft of ANH except for the final one. And darth was not a title--it was Darth Vader's first name.

 

Yeah, Ep. I was the first time I heard the term "the Sith" used.

 

I'm pretty sure it is in the screenplay for the first movie.