consecration

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English consecracioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin cōnsecrātiō (“consecration”),^[5][2][3][4] perhaps also borrowed from Old French consecration, recorded in French from the 13th century and in Anglo-Norman from 1214.^[6][5][7][8] The Latin noun is formed from cōnsecrō (“to make holy, devote”),^[3][5] from com- and sacrō (“to make or declare sacred”),^[3][9] from sacer (“sacred”).^[9][3] Old English had used eallhalgung as a loan translation of the Latin word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Setting apart as dedicated to God, dedication with religious rites: 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible (Exodus 29:22),^[5] which Barnhart dates "before 1382".^[10] The Middle English Dictionary's senses are the ritual dedication of a place of worship or of oil, and the ordination of a bishop.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The religious core came first: dedication to God (1382), the ordination of a bishop (before 1387, in Trevisa) and the hallowing of the bread and wine of the Eucharist (1395, in Purvey).^[5] Caxton used it in 1490 for deification in Roman history,^[5] and since 1576 it has been the formal dedication of a church or burial ground by a bishop.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined a rite of devoting things or persons to God, and added a loose sense, "the act of declaring one holy by canonization".^[11] Secular extensions came later: devotion to a cherished purpose from 1782, in Cowper,^[5] making something sacred in feeling from 1807, in Wordsworth,^[5] and sanction by law or custom from 1861, in Maine, after modern French.^[5]

Timeline

• 1382 – setting apart as dedicated to God, dedication with religious rites.^[5]
• before 1387 – ordination to a sacred office, especially of a bishop.^[5]
• 1395 – giving the bread and wine of the Eucharist their sacramental character.^[5]
• 1490 – deification, in Roman history.^[5]
• c. 1548 – with a plural, a consecrated thing.^[5]
• 1576 – the formal dedication of a church, churchyard or burial ground by a bishop.^[5]
• 1700 – dedication to destruction (obsolete).^[5]
• 1782 – devotion to a cherished purpose or pursuit.^[5]
• 1807 – the making of something sacred, hallowing, in Wordsworth.^[5]
• 1861 – sanction by law, custom or usage.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or ceremony of making a person, place or thing sacred; solemn dedication to God or to a religious use: the consecration of the new chapel.^[4][5][6]
2. The ordination of a person to a high sacred office, especially that of bishop.^[4][5][6]
3. In Christian use, the blessing of the bread and wine of the Eucharist; in the Roman Catholic Mass, the part of the service in which this takes place.^[12][5][3]
4. Dedication to a high purpose or cherished pursuit.^[4][5][6]
5. In Roman history, apotheosis or deification of an emperor or hero.^[4][5][6]

Word family

• deconsecration
• nonconsecration
• reconsecration
• unconsecration

Related words

• consecrate
• sacred
• desecrate

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: 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.
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins