credo

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin credo (“creed”), probably reinforced or reborrowed later from Anglo-Norman credo and Old French credo, recorded from the late 12th century.^[2] The Medieval Latin noun is a use of Latin crēdō (“I believe”),^[2][3][4] the first person singular present indicative of the verb, and the first word of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.^[2][3][5][6] Etymonline traces the verb to a compound Proto-Indo-European *kerd-dhe- (“to believe”), literally "to put one's heart", from Proto-Indo-European *kerd- (“heart”),^[7][3] also the source of Old Irish cretim, Irish creidim and Welsh credu "I believe".^[7] The same Latin noun appears in Spanish credo, Portuguese credo, Italian credo, Middle Dutch crēdo and Middle High German crēdō.^[2] Creed is the same word in its older, native form, and a doublet.^[7][5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Apostles' or Nicene Creed: the OED's first record is early Old English, in Bald's Leechbook,^[2] and Merriam-Webster dates the word to before the 12th century.^[9] Early Middle English homilies say that everyone learned pater noster and credo, and explain that the psalm the apostles wrote "wes ihaten Credo efter þan formeste word", was called Credo after its first word.^[8] Barnhart, who begins with the Ancrene Riwle, dates it probably before 1200.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The name of the text comes from its opening word, as with other prayers and hymns,^[6] and the OED notes that the first three or four words, credo in Deum, were also used for the Creed itself in Old and Middle English.^[2] From about 1500 an utterance of the Creed served as a measure of time, an idiom apparently following Middle French and other Romance usage.^[2] The general sense, a formula of belief or a statement of the principles that guide a person, is first recorded in the OED about 1518,^[2] which is earlier than the 1580s of Etymonline and the 1587 of Barnhart.^[7][5] The Creed set to music is now the Church sense most often meant.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1100 – the Apostles' or Nicene Creed.^[2][9]
• c. 1500 – an utterance of the Creed, as a measure of time.^[2]
• c. 1518 – a creed or formula of belief in general.^[2] Barnhart dates this sense to 1587.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A statement of a person's beliefs or the principles that guide them; a strongly held conviction: “Waste nothing” was her lifelong credo.^[11][9][2]
2. Often capitalised: the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed.^[11][9][2]
3. Often capitalised: a musical setting of the Creed.^[11][9][10]

Related words

• creed
• credit
• credence
• credulous
• heart

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b 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)
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins