circumcision

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English circumcisioun,^[2][3] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman circumcisiun, also circumcisioun and circoncision,^[4][5] and partly directly borrowed from Late Latin circumcīsiō,^[4][6][7] recorded from the late 2nd century in Tertullian and in the Vulgate.^[4] The Latin noun is formed from circumcīsus, the past participle of Latin circumcīdō (“to cut around”),^[8][9][4] from circum (“around”) and caedō (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *kae-id- (“to strike”).^[8] The English verb circumcise has the same Latin source.^[8][9] In Old English the Latin word was translated by native formations such as Northumbrian ymbcyrf.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The removal of the foreskin, or the occasion of it: before 1225, in a manuscript of homilies at Lambeth.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to the late 12th century,^[8] and Merriam-Webster to the 12th century.^[3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the second half of the 12th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The religious uses came early, through the Bible: the Wycliffite Bible (about 1384) used circumcision for the Jewish people and for spiritual purification, the cutting away of sin from the heart,^[4][3] uses that the Latin word already had in the Vulgate.^[4] The Middle English Dictionary notes that the rite was compared in significance to baptism among Christians.^[2] From 1426 it named the Christian feast of the Circumcision of Christ on 1 January,^[4][10] while from 1606 it was applied to procedures cutting the genitals of girls or women.^[4][3] The literal sense of cutting around something is recorded from 1581 and is now rare.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the rite or act of cutting off the foreskin", quoting Milton.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1225 – the cutting off of the foreskin.^[4]
• c. 1384 – the Jewish people; spiritual purification, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[4]
• before 1425 – the condition of being circumcised.^[4]
• 1426 – the feast of the Circumcision, 1 January.^[4]
• 1581 – a cutting around something (now rare).^[4]
• 1606 – genital cutting of girls or women.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The surgical removal of the foreskin, performed for medical reasons or as a religious rite, especially in Judaism and Islam.^[10][3][4]
2. The removal of part or all of the external genitals of a girl or woman; female genital mutilation.^[10][3][4]
3. Spiritual purification; the removal of sin from the heart.^[3][4]
4. Circumcision: a Christian feast on 1 January commemorating the circumcision of Jesus.^[10][4]
5. (in biblical use) The Jewish people, as those who are circumcised.^[4][2]

Word family

• uncircumcision
• female circumcision

Related words

• circumcise
• incision
• concise
• excise

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.