sacrilege

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsækɹɪlɪd͡ʒ/ (UK); /ˈsækɹəlɪd͡ʒ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sacrilege, sacrylage,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French sacrilege,^[2][3][5][4] from Latin sacrilegium (“temple robbery, theft of sacred things”),^[2][3][5][4] from sacrilegus (“temple robber”),^[2][3][5][4] from sacrum (“sacred object”), neuter of sacer (“sacred”) (see sacred), and legere (“to gather, take, steal”),^{[2][3][5][4][6]} from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to collect, gather”).^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The crime or sin of stealing or misusing what is consecrated to God (before 1300 in the OED; about 1303 in Barnhart; about 1300 in Etymonline).^[7][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the second element has nothing to do with religion, despite the apparent likeness.^[5] In church use the word was extended to any outrage on sacred persons, places or things.^[7][8] The figurative sense, the profanation of anything held sacred, dates from 1390,^[7] and today it may describe irreverence toward anything regarded as worthy of great respect, as in Collins's example of playing Mozart on a kazoo.^[9] In 19th-century popular use it named robbery from a church (1820).^[7] Sacrilegious is recorded from about 1449.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1300 – theft of sacred things.^[7]
• c. 1303 – sacrylage.^[3]
• 1390 – profanation of anything held sacred.^[7]
• c. 1449 – sacrilegious.^[3]
• 1820 – robbery from a church.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The desecration, profanation, misuse or theft of something sacred.
2. Gross irreverence toward a person, place or thing held in great respect.

Word family

• sacrilegist
• sacrilegious
• sacrilegiously
• sacrilegiousness

Related words

• sacred
• sacrament
• desecration
• profane

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins