from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Diaspora \Di*as"po*ra\, n. [Gr. ?. See {Diaspore}.]
Lit., "Dispersion." -- applied collectively: (a) To those
Jews who, after the Exile, were scattered through the Old
World, and afterwards to Jewish Christians living among
heathen. Cf. --James i. 1. (b) By extension, to Christians
isolated from their own communion, as among the Moravians to
those living, usually as missionaries, outside of the parent
congregation.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]