crucifixion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English crucifixioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin crucifixiō,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} a noun of action from crucifīxus, the past participle of crucifīgō (“to fasten to a cross”).^[3][4][6] The Latin verb was originally written separately, as the dative of crux (“cross”) and fīgō (“to fasten, fix”),^[6][3] the latter from Proto-Indo-European *dheigw- (“to stick, fix”).^[3] The OED's entry, not revised since 1893, dates the English word only from the 17th century, from a modern Latin form of the 16th century, and notes that it was used occasionally in French from about 1600;^[8] the MED records it from about 1430.^[2] It is related to crucify and crucifix.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The crucifixion of Christ: about 1430, in Love's Mirror: "Now take hede diligently to the manere of crucifixioun".^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century, in the sense of the putting to death of Christ on Calvary.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was used of the death of Christ.^[2][3] The OED's first record of the Crucifixion is from 1649, in Jeremy Taylor, and of the general sense, the putting of anyone to death on a cross, from before 1729.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as the punishment of nailing to a cross.^[9] A figurative sense, torture or severe anguish, appears in Herrick in 1648 and fell out of use by 1711;^[8] the mortifying of passions, sins or the flesh followed, from 1838 in the OED,^[8] but from the early 18th century in the Shorter Oxford.^[4] From 1841 a Crucifixion was also a picture or other representation of the scene.^[8][4] Merriam-Webster records the sense of intense suffering or persecution.^[7] In Dorset, farmers spoke of a crucifixion of their land, a system of drains and cross-drains.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1430 – the crucifixion of Christ.^[2] The OED's first record of the Crucifixion is from 1649.^[8]
• 1648 – figurative, torture or severe anguish (obsolete by 1711).^[8]
• before 1729 – the putting of anyone to death on a cross.^[8]
• 1838 – the mortifying of passions or sins.^[8] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the early 18th century.^[4]
• 1841 – a picture or representation of the Crucifixion.^[8][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of putting someone to death by nailing or tying them to a cross, a method of execution widespread in the ancient world.^[11][7][8]
2. the Crucifixion: the crucifying of Jesus at Calvary.^[11][7][8]
3. A picture, carving or other representation of the Crucifixion: a painted Crucifixion hung above the altar.^[11][4][8]
4. Intense suffering, persecution or torment.^[7]
5. The mortification of passions, sins or the flesh.^[4][8]

Word family

• crucifixion thorn

Related words

• crucify
• crucifix
• crux
• cross
• fix

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins