schism

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English scisme, also sisme and cisme,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French scisme (“a cleft, split”), also cisme,^[3][4][5] recorded from the 12th century,^[3] and directly borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin schisma, also scisma and Medieval Latin cisma,^[3][2] from Ancient Greek σχίσμα (skhísma, “rent, cleft, division”),^[4][6] from σχίζω (skhízō, “to split, cleave”),^[4][6][7] from Proto-Indo-European *skei- (“to cut, split”).^[3][8] Anglo-Norman scisme is recorded from 1171–74, for both a dispute and a split from the Church.^[9] The Latin word also gave Spanish cisma and Italian scisma.^[4] In the 16th century the English spelling, like the French, was reshaped after the Latin and Greek form;^[4][6] Barnhart dates schism to the 1550s, not fully established until the late 1600s.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A metaphorical rent or division, in the New Testament, where it renders the Greek word: about 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[4][5] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Greek word for a tear was applied figuratively in the New Testament to dissensions between factions in the Church,^[10][3] and the first English records translate that passage.^[4] Gower used it in 1390 for a breach of the Church's unity, in connection with the new sect of the Lollards,^[4][2] and by 1402 it could name the offence of promoting such a breach.^[4] Historically it often refers to the Great Schism of the Western Church (1378–1417),^[3] a sense recorded from about 1460.^[4] From about 1425, in Lydgate, it was also used of any state of disunion or hostility,^[4][3] and the Middle English word covered civil disturbance, strife and quarrels too.^[2] From 1555 it could mean the sect formed by a split.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave only the church sense.^[11] Sterne used it jokingly in 1767 for a rent in a garment, returning to the etymological sense.^[4] In English dialect a schism-shop was a Dissenting chapel (Yorkshire, Berkshire), and in East Anglia a schism was a frivolous excuse or a foolish fancy.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – a metaphorical rent or division, in the New Testament.^[4]
• 1390 – a breach of the unity of the Church.^[4]
• 1402 – the offence of promoting such a breach.^[4]
• c. 1425 – disunion, mutual hostility in general.^[4]
• c. 1460 – divided allegiance in the Western Church caused by a disputed papal election.^[4]
• 1555 – a sect formed by division within the Church.^[4]
• 1604 – verb, to separate schismatically (obsolete by 1645).^[4]
• 1767 – jocularly, a tear in a garment.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A division of a group into opposing factions: The vote caused a schism in the union.^[13][14][15]
2. A formal division within a Christian church, or a separation from it.^[15][13][4]
3. The offence of causing such a division.^[15][14][4]
4. A body or sect formed by such a division.^[15][13][4]
5. (obsolete, 1644) A schismatic opinion.^[15][4]

Word family

• schismless

Related words

• schismatic
• schismatize
• schisma
• schist
• schizophrenia
• shit
• shed
• schedule

Usage notes

The pronunciation is unsettled.^[3] Merriam-Webster gives /ˈsizəm/ first and says it is the usual form among clergy, with /ˈskizəm/ and also /ˈshizəm/.^[15] The OED's 1982 Supplement comments that the /sk/ pronunciation, though widely regarded as incorrect, was by then frequent in both Britain and North America.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 i j 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 v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster