purification

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English purificacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman purificaciun, purificacioun and purification,^[4][5] from Old French purificacion,^[3][2] and directly borrowed from Latin pūrificātiō (“a purifying”),^[4][2][6][7] a noun of action from pūrificō (“to make pure”),^[3][7][8] which is formed from pūrus (“pure”) and faciō (“to make”).^[3] The Anglo-Norman noun, recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century, already meant purification from sin, the churching of a woman after childbirth and Candlemas, the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.^[5] In Latin the noun meant ritual cleansing from Pliny on, and in the Vulgate the cleansing of a woman after childbirth under Jewish law.^[4] It is the noun of purify, and related to pure.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ritual cleansing according to Jewish law: about 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, glossing Latin purificatione as "the purificacioun, or clensing".^[4][2] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, originally especially of the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was religious: ritual purification under Jewish law, the cleansing of a woman after childbirth, especially that of the Virgin Mary, the feast of the Purification on 2 February, also called Candlemas, and the churching of a woman.^[2][4] The spiritual sense, the cleansing of the soul from sin or guilt, is recorded from before 1560,^[4] and the general sense of freeing something from dirt or impurities from 1597 (in Etymonline, the 1590s).^[4][3] Johnson (1755) gave first "the act of making pure; act of cleansing from extraneous mixture", with a quotation from Boyle on saltpetre, and second "the act of cleansing from guilt".^[9] From 1753 the word was also used of ridding something of undesirable or alien elements,^[4] and since 1768, in the Roman Catholic Church, of the cleansing of the chalice and paten during or after the Eucharist.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – ritual cleansing according to Jewish law.^[4][2]
• 1389 – the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.^[4]
• before 1560 – the cleansing of the soul from sin or guilt.^[4]
• 1597 – the removal of dirt or impurities.^[4][3]
• 1753 – the ridding of something of undesirable elements.^[4]
• 1768 – the cleansing of the chalice after the Eucharist.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of making something pure by removing dirt, impurities or contaminants: the purification of drinking water.^[8][10][4]
2. Ceremonial or ritual cleansing from defilement.^[8][4]
3. The cleansing of the soul from sin or guilt.^[8][4]
4. the Purification: the purification of the Virgin Mary after the birth of Jesus, or its feast on 2 February, Candlemas.^[4][2]
5. The ridding of something of undesirable or foreign elements.^[4]
6. (Roman Catholic Church) The cleansing of the chalice and paten during or after the Eucharist.^[4]

Word family

• nonpurification
• repurification

Related words

• purificatory
• purify
• pure
• purity

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin