Etymologically
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sacrilege

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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

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