canonize

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English canonizen,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin canonizō (“to admit to the list of saints”),^[4][3][2][5] with Old French canonisier as a second source according to Etymonline and the Middle English Dictionary.^[6][3] In Late Latin the verb meant to admit as authoritative.^[7][5] It is formed from Late Latin canon (“church rule; catalogue of saints”),^[6][2] in classical Latin a measuring line or rule,^[6] from Ancient Greek κανών (kanṓn, “straight rod or bar; rule, standard”).^[6][4] Etymonline reports a possible origin in κάννα (kánna, “reed”), and that Beekes favours a Pre-Greek one.^[6] English canon has the same source.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To place someone in the canon or calendar of saints: in Wyclif's De Ecclesia, about 1380 in the OED,^[4] which the Middle English Dictionary dates to about 1384.^[3] Etymonline has the late 14th century and Merriam-Webster Unabridged the 14th.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Beside the saints, the approved writings appear almost at once: the later Wycliffite Bible of 1382 has it for admitting a book to the canon of Scripture.^[4] In 1393 Gower has it for giving a thing the sanction of the church, which widened to any authoritative approval, and also for installing someone in a church office, a use that died out by about 1425.^[4][3] From the 16th century it was also used loosely outside the church: to make a god of someone, from 1553 until 1794,^[4] and figuratively to treat someone as a saint, from 1579.^[4] Johnson (1755) gives only the saintly sense, explaining the word from a canon or rule for observing festivals, and quotes Bacon on a king seeking to have Henry VI canonized.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – to place in the canon of saints.^[4]
• 1382 – to admit into the canon of Scripture, or of authoritative writings.^[4]
• 1393 – to install in a church office (obsolete by 1425).^[4][3]
• 1393 – to sanction by the authority of the church; to give authoritative approval to.^[4]
• 1553 – to deify (obsolete or archaic by 1794).^[4]
• 1579 – figuratively, to treat as a saint or glorified person.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To declare a dead person a saint: The pope canonized the missionary a century after her death.^[10][2][4]
2. To include a book in the canon of Scripture.^[10][2][4]
3. To include a work in a literary canon.^[10][4]
4. To approve as agreeing with canon law, or to sanction by church authority.^[10][5][2]
5. To regard as above reproach, or as firmly established; to give authoritative approval to: The textbooks canonized his theory within a decade.^[5][2][4]
6. To treat as sacred; to glorify: The town has canonized its founder.^[10][7][4]
7. (archaic) To make a god of; to deify.^[2][7][4]
8. (obsolete, 1393–1425) To install in a church office.^[4][3]

Word family

• canonization
• canonizer
• uncanonize

Related words

• canon
• canoness
• canonic
• canonical
• canonicity
• canonist
• canonry
• canonship
• noncanonical
• uncanonical

Usage notes

It is also spelled canonise, especially in British English.^[8][7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt