blaspheme

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English blasfemen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French blasfemer, modern blasphémer,^[5][4][3][6] from Late Latin blasphēmō (“to speak irreverently of; to revile”),^[4][5][7][8] from Ancient Greek βλασφημέω (blasphēméō, “to speak profanely, to slander”).^[5][7][6][8] The OED records the French verb from the 12th century, the Anglo-Norman Dictionary from about 1300 and Etymonline from the 14th,^[5][9][7] and the Latin one from Tertullian, late in the 2nd century.^[5] The Middle English Dictionary gives both Latin and Old French as the immediate source.^[2] Most dictionaries derive the Greek verb from βλάσφημος (blásphēmos, “evil-speaking”),^{[4][7][6][8][10]} while the revised OED derives the adjective from the verb, and the verb from a first element of uncertain origin and φήμη (phḗmē, “words, speech”).^[5] Klein also calls the first element uncertain;^[6] Barnhart takes it as probably meaning "false",^[3] and Ayto relates it to βλαπτικός (blaptikós, “hurtful”).^[11] The second element is related to fame,^[6] and the American Heritage Dictionary refers both to Proto-Indo-European *bhā-.^[4] A worn-down form of the Latin verb gave blame, so that this verb is a classical reintroduction of the same word.^[7][11][3] The noun blasphemy is recorded some 140 years earlier, probably before 1200.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To speak or act with contempt for God or holy things: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt: "Þet ha..zuereþ and blasfemeþ aye god and his halȝen".^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Ayto remarks on how little the word has changed in form and meaning since its Greek origins.^[11] The transitive use, with God or something sacred as object, follows before 1382 in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5] About 1405, in Chaucer's Summoner's Tale, the verb was extended to whatever is treated as sacrosanct,^[5] in Chaucer's only use of it.^[12] The sense "to slander" is recorded in Latin from the 6th century and in French from the 15th,^[5] and in English from before 1400, of speaking ill of a person or thing.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave both meanings, quoting Macbeth for the second: "does blaspheme his breed".^[13] The OED now calls this secular sense rare,^[5] though Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the American Heritage Dictionary still list it.^[14][4] Middle English also had nouns of this spelling, all obsolete: one from Late Latin blasphemus, a blasphemer, used until 1460, also as an adjective until 1450,^[5] and one from French blasphème, an insult or an act of blasphemy, used until 1583.^[5][9]

Timeline

• 1340 – intransitive, to speak or act with contempt for God or holy things.^[5][2][3]
• before 1382 – transitive, to treat God or something sacred irreverently.^[5]
• before 1382 – noun, a blasphemer (obsolete by 1460).^[5]
• before 1400 – to speak ill of a person or thing; to slander.^[5]
• c. 1405 – extended, to treat something held sacrosanct disrespectfully.^[5]
• c. 1566 – intransitive, to talk in a disparaging or slanderous way.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To speak of or address God or something sacred with irreverence or contempt: The hermit was accused of blaspheming the saints.^{[4][14][15][5]}
2. To utter blasphemy; to use profanities or curses.^[15][4][14]
3. (rare) To speak evil of a person or thing; to revile or slander.^[14][4][5]

Word family

• blasphemer
• unblasphemed

Related words

• blasphemous
• blasphemy
• blame
• fame

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins