paganism

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English paganisme,^[2][3] borrowed from Late Latin pāgānismus (“heathenism, a non-Christian religion”),^{[4][2][3][5][6]} which the OED finds in Augustine in the late 4th century.^[4] The Latin noun is formed from pāgānus (“pagan”) and -ismus.^[4][3][7] The Latin pāgānus meant a villager or civilian, from pāgus (“rural district, the country”),^[8][9][10] from Proto-Indo-European *pag- (“to fasten”).^[8][9] The French word paganisme is recorded only from 1546.^[4] Klein notes that paynim is a doublet of the word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pre-Christian or non-Christian religion; heathenism: about 1425, in John Lydgate's Troy Book, where a woman leads her life after the rites and religion of paganism.^[4][2] In the same poem the word was also used as an adjective, pagan, until about 1450.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word began as the name for the religion of non-Christians; between 1605 and about 1650 it also named the non-Christian world as a whole.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "heathenism", quoting Hooker.^[11] In the 19th century it widened: from 1844 to the character or moral condition thought typical of pre-Christian peoples, a want of sophistication,^[4] from 1854 to nature-worship and to beliefs drawn from ancient myths, now especially modern neopaganism,^[4][3] and since 1882 to a single pagan belief, practice or feature.^[4] Other words for the same idea came and went: paganity from the 1540s and pagandom from 1739.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – a non-Christian or pre-Christian religion; also as an adjective, pagan.^[4][2]
• 1605 – the non-Christian world (obsolete by about 1650).^[4]
• 1844 – the character or condition thought typical of pagan peoples.^[4]
• 1854 – nature-worship, or beliefs drawn from ancient religions.^[4]
• 1882 – a single pagan belief, practice or feature.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Pagan beliefs or practices; heathenism: Missionaries complained of the paganism that survived in the hill villages.^[3][6][4]
2. A particular pagan religion.^[3][4]
3. The beliefs and practices of modern neopagans; neopaganism.^[3][4]
4. The quality or state of being pagan, in outlook or character.^[3][6][4]

Word family

• paganist
• paganistic
• neopaganism

Related words

• pagan
• paynim

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.