consecrate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English consecraten,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin cōnsecrātus, the past participle of cōnsecrō (“to dedicate, devote as sacred, deify”),^[4][5][6][2] formed from com-, used as an intensive,^[3][5][7] and sacrō (“to make sacred, dedicate”), from sacer (“sacred”),^[4][5][3] whose root the American Heritage Dictionary gives as Proto-Indo-European *sak-.^[3] The vowel of the root changed from a to e in the Latin compound.^[8] The OED derives the English verb either from the earlier adjective consecrate, borrowed from the same participle, or from the participial stem of the Latin verb,^[4] and Barnhart allows for the influence of Old French consacrer.^[5] Compare French consacrer, in the 14th century also consecrer, with Spanish consagrar and Italian consacrare, the last from Late Latin *cōnsacrō.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Consecrated, as a past participle: about 1386, in Chaucer's Monk's Tale.^[4] The verb is first recorded in 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon, of hallowing a person in an office such as bishop or king.^[4][5] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century as to make sacred by rites,^[6] and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 14th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed close to its Latin sense at first, as the proper term for ordaining bishops and kings and for setting something apart for God.^[4][10] The OED's first record for dedicating a place or thing is from before 1464, in Capgrave, although the Middle English Dictionary has such uses from about 1425, in Lydgate.^[4][2] Tyndale (1533) used it for giving the bread and wine their sacramental character,^[4][10] and since 1569 it has also named the bishop's dedication of a church or churchyard.^[4] The transfer to devotion in general dates from 1555,^[4][6][10] and Shakespeare used it figuratively in 1600.^[4] In Landor's lines to Rose Aylmer a night of memories and sighs is consecrated to her.^[6] From before 1692 it could mean to make something an object of veneration, as French consacrer does.^[4][11] Two Latin uses did not last: to doom to destruction (1589–1652) and to deify (1605–1727).^[4][10] Johnson (1755) records the adjective, quoting Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors for "this body, consecrate to thee".^[12] The adjective is now archaic.^[11][10]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – past participle, consecrated.^[4]
• 1387 – to ordain and hallow someone as a bishop or king.^[4][5]
• before 1464 – to set apart as sacred, to dedicate.^[4]
• 1533 – to give bread and wine their sacramental character.^[4][10]
• 1555 – to devote to a purpose.^[4][6]
• 1569 – to dedicate a church or churchyard by episcopal rite.^[4]
• 1589 – to doom to destruction (until 1652).^[4]
• 1605 – to deify (until 1727).^[4]
• before 1692 – to make an object of veneration.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make or declare sacred; to set apart for a religious use: The bishop consecrated the new chapel.^[11][9][4]
2. To ordain someone to a religious office, especially that of bishop, or to install a monarch with religious rites.^[11][9][4]
3. (Christianity) To give bread and wine their sacramental character in the Eucharist.^[11][4][10]
4. To devote to a purpose: She consecrated her life to medicine.^[11][4][10]
5. To make something revered or hallowed: Long use had consecrated the ritual.^[11][4]
6. To doom to destruction (obsolete, 1589–1652).^[4][10]
7. To deify (obsolete, 1605–1727).^[4][10]

Adjective

1. Consecrated, hallowed (archaic).^[11][10][9]

Word family

• consecrative
• consecrator
• consecratory
• consecratedness
• unconsecrated
• deconsecrate
• reconsecrate

Related words

• consecration
• sacred
• sacrament
• sacrifice
• desecrate

References

1. ^ a b 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.