iconoclast

Pronunciation

• IPA: /aɪˈkɒn.əˌklæst/ (UK); /aɪˈkɑn.əˌklæst/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French iconoclaste^[2][3][4] and from Medieval Latin iconoclastes,^[2][3][5][6] from Medieval Greek eikonoklástēs “image breaker”,^{[4][2][3][5][6]} from Ancient Greek εἰκών (eikṓn, “image”)^[4][2][3] and -klastēs “breaker”, from Ancient Greek κλάω (kláō, “to break”).^[4][2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A breaker or destroyer of religious images (1596, in the Scottish form Jconoclastæ; 1641 in Barnhart's main entry).^[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first referred to those in the Eastern Church of the 8th and 9th centuries who opposed the veneration of icons and destroyed them as idols.^[7][2][3][4] It was later applied to 16th- and 17th-century Protestants in the Netherlands who destroyed images in churches.^[2][3][4] In 1842 it gained its figurative sense, a person who attacks cherished beliefs or venerated institutions.^[7][2][3] Iconoclasm is recorded from 1797.^[2]

Timeline

• 1596 – a destroyer of religious images.^[7][2]
• 1685 – as an adjective.^[7]
• 1797 – iconoclasm.^[2]
• 1842 – one who attacks cherished beliefs.^[7][2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who attacks traditional or popular beliefs and institutions.
2. A person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration.

Word family

• iconoclastic
• iconoclastically

Related words

• clastic
• icon
• iconoclasm
• idol

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press