apostasy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English apostasie, also apostacie,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin apostasia (“defection”),^{[3][4][5][6][2]} and perhaps also borrowed from Old French apostasie,^[7][4] which is recorded in French from about 1250^[4] and in Anglo-Norman from the early 13th century.^[8] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἀποστασία (apostasía, “defection, revolt”), a later form of ἀπόστασις (apóstasis, “revolt, defection; literally a standing off”),^{[3][9][7][10]} from ἀφίστημι (aphístēmi, “to withdraw, revolt”),^[1][5][6] formed from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) and ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand, cause to stand”).^[1][5][6] The Greek verb shares its Indo-European root with stand.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The abandonment or renunciation of one's religious faith: about 1380, in Wyclif's De Ecclesia.^[7] Barnhart suggests about 1348, in Richard Rolle's Form of Living,^[4] which the Middle English Dictionary quotes from a manuscript of before 1450, listing apostasy among the deadly sins beside the breaking of vows.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word covered the renunciation, abandonment, violation or neglect of the Christian faith or one of its doctrines, often in phrases such as fallen in apostasie and walken in apostasie.^[2] A text of about 1450 distinguishes three kinds of apostasy: forsaking the faith, disobedience and irregularity.^[2] In the Roman Catholic Church it was used from 1532, in Thomas More, for leaving a religious order or renouncing religious vows without dispensation.^[7] The wider sense of abandoning one's principles, party or allegiance is recorded from 1578, in Lyly's Euphues,^[7] or the 1570s in Etymonline's dating.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "departure from what a man has professed", generally applied to religion, and quoted Milton's Paradise Lost.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – the abandonment of one's religious faith.^[7]
• 1532 – leaving a religious order or renouncing vows without dispensation.^[7]
• 1578 – the abandonment of one's principles or party.^[7][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The renunciation of one's religious faith: He was accused of apostasy after joining another church.^[12][5][7]
2. The abandonment of one's principles, party or cause; defection.^[12][5][7]
3. (Roman Catholic Church) The leaving of a religious order, or the renouncing of religious vows, without dispensation.^[7][13]

Related words

• apostate
• apostatise
• apostatize
• stand

Usage notes

It was also spelled apostacy.^[3][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press