Etymologically
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pagan

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpeɪɡən/[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English paygan, pagan,[2][3] from Late Latin paganus (“pagan”),[3][2][4][5][6] which in classical Latin meant “villager, rustic” and also “civilian”,[3][2][4][5][6] from pāgus “rural district”,[3][2][4][5][6] related to pangere “to fix, fasten”.[2][4][5][6] It is related to peasant and paynim.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who does not hold the Christian or Jewish faith; a heathen (c. 1375 in the OED, c. 1400 in Etymonline, probably before 1400 in Barnhart).[7][4][2]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense was long explained by old beliefs lingering in the countryside after the towns had become Christian.[2][4] Etymonline and Random House prefer another explanation: in Roman military slang pāgānus meant a civilian, and early Christians, who called themselves soldiers of Christ, used it for those who were not.[4][6] The adjective appears in the early 15th century (1422).[2][4] From 1841 the noun was used of a person with heathenish habits,[7][4] and from 1908 it was applied to modern nature-worshippers and pantheists.[7][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1375 – a heathen (OED).[7]
  • 1422 – adjective.[2]
  • 1433 – paganism.[2]
  • 1841 – a person of heathenish character.[7][4]
  • 1908 – a nature-worshipper.[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A follower of a polytheistic religion, such as that of ancient Rome; a heathen.
  2. A person who is not a Christian, Jew or Muslim.
  3. A person with little or no religion, especially one devoted to sensual pleasures; a hedonist.
  4. A follower of a modern nature-worshipping religion; a neopagan.

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to pagans or their religions.
  2. Having no religion; irreligious.

Word family

  • pagandom
  • paganish
  • paganism
  • paganize

Usage notes

When it refers to modern paganism, the word is now often capitalized, like the names of other religions.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e 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