litany

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlɪtəni/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English letanie, later reshaped after the Latin,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French letanie, Medieval Latin letania,^[3][6] from Late Latin litanīa,^[2][3][6][7] from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (litaneía, “prayer, entreaty”),^[2][3][6][8] from λιτανεύειν (litaneúein, “to pray, entreat”), from λιτανός (litanós, “suppliant”),^[2][7][8] from λιτή (litḗ, “prayer, supplication”),^[2][3][6] a word of unknown origin.^[6][8] Old English had letanīa from Latin.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

An appointed form of public prayer, made up of a series of petitions with fixed responses (before 900 in the OED; probably before 1200 as letanie in Barnhart).^[11][9][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Book of Common Prayer the Litany is the general supplication in this form (c. 1420).^[11][9] From about 1400 the word was extended to similar forms of supplication in other worship, and to any continuous repetition or long enumeration.^[11] The generalized sense of a repeated series, as in a litany of complaints, became common in the early 19th century, probably from French litanie.^[3][6] The spelling litany appeared in 1679, influenced by the Latin and Greek forms;^[3] letanie had been usual until the 17th century.^[10]

Timeline

• before 900 – Old English letanīa.^[11][9]
• c. 1200 – Middle English letanie.^[3][6]
• c. 1400 – a long enumeration.^[11]
• 1679 – the spelling litany.^[3]
• before 1822 – a repetitive series.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A liturgical prayer made up of a series of petitions recited by a leader, each followed by a fixed response from the congregation.
2. A repetitive or incantatory recital or chant.
3. A long or tedious list or account, as in a litany of complaints.

Related words

• liturgy
• prayer
• supplication
• rogation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press