sanctum

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sānctum (“a holy place”),^[2][3][4][5] the neuter of sānctus (“holy, sacred”),^[2][6][7][5] from sanciō (“to consecrate”).^[8] It was taken from the phrase Late Latin sānctum sānctōrum (“holy of holies”),^[4][3] probably as a shortening of it,^[9] which joins the neuter nominative singular and the neuter genitive plural of sānctus.^[2] That phrase is a Hebraism: it renders the Septuagint's Ancient Greek τὸ ἅγιον τῶν ἁγίων (tò hágion tôn hagíōn), itself a translation of the Hebrew name for the Holy of Holies.^[2][5][9] The OED notes that the Vulgate, following the Septuagint, several times uses the plural Latin sancta sanctōrum in the same sense.^[2] Sānctus is also the source of saint.^[3][4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The "holy place" of the Jewish tabernacle and temple: 1577, in a translation of Bullinger's Fifty Godly Sermons.^[2][5][4] Etymonline gives the 1570s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The full phrase sanctum sanctorum had come into English earlier, from about 1425 in the OED and about 1400 in Etymonline, for the Holy of Holies of the Jewish temple;^[2][3] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1558.^[5] Both the phrase and the single word were then applied to sacred places or shrines in other temples and churches.^[2][10] From the early 18th century the phrase was used jokingly of a person's private room or retreat, from 1707 in E. Ward's Wooden World Dissected (1706 in Etymonline),^[2][3] and sanctum alone took on the same sense in 1819, in T. Hope's Anastasius;^[2][4] Weekley notes that the figurative sense is of the 19th century.^[9] Merriam-Webster gives an editor's study as a typical use.^[5] The phrase inner sanctum is recorded from 1843 for a private place to which only a few are admitted, and since 1861 also for the inner shrine of a temple.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – sanctum sanctorum, the Holy of Holies of the Jewish temple.^[2]
• 1577 – sanctum, the holy place of the Jewish tabernacle and temple; a shrine in other temples.^[2][5][4]
• 1707 – sanctum sanctorum, a person's private retreat.^[2]
• 1819 – sanctum, a private room or study where one is free from intrusion.^[2][4]
• 1843 – inner sanctum, a private place open only to a select few.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sacred or holy place, especially a shrine in a temple or church.^[11][5][10]
2. A private room, study or place of retreat where one is free from intrusion: Nobody was allowed into the professor's sanctum.^[11][5][10]
3. Something held sacred; an object of religious regard.^[5]

Word family

• inner sanctum

Related words

• sanctum sanctorum
• saint
• sanctify
• sanctity
• sanctuary

Usage notes

The plural is sanctums, or less often sancta.^[5][11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins