sodomy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sodomie,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French sodomie^{[4][2][5][6][3]} and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin sodomia,^[4][7][8] from Sodoma (“Sodom”),^[4][5][3] the name of Sodom, the city whose destruction is told in Genesis 18–19.^[8][5][9] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from about 1200,^[10][4] and the Medieval Latin one from the 9th century.^[4] The OED forms the Latin word from Sodoma with the suffix -ia, perhaps after sodomita (“sodomite”);^[4] the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Ayto derive it from the Late Latin phrase peccatum Sodomiticum (“sin of Sodom”).^{[7][11][12][2]} The Latin name is from Ancient Greek Σόδομα (Sódoma),^[6][3][1] which is ultimately of Hebrew origin.^[3][5] Compare Catalan sodomia, Spanish sodomía (both 14th century), Portuguese sodomia (15th century) and Italian sodomia (early 14th century).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sexual intercourse regarded as unnatural or immoral: about 1325, in a manuscript of the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester composed about 1300.^[4] Barnhart dates the form sodomye to probably about 1280,^[5] and Etymonline to about 1300.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The name comes from the conduct the Bible imputes to the men of Sodom.^[2][6][12] In Middle English the word covered sexual relations held to be unnatural, especially between men but also with animals,^[2] and Middle English also had synne Sodomyke in the early 14th century.^[2] The OED notes that it formerly covered any form of intercourse labelled unnatural, immoral or otherwise stigmatized, and later came to name particular acts.^[4] From 1395 it was also used figuratively of any conduct held to be immoral or shameful, often with a qualifying adjective;^[4] from 1593 it was also used for a single act.^[4][13] The shortened insult sod comes from the related sodomite.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – sexual intercourse regarded as unnatural or immoral.^[4][13]
• 1395 – figuratively, any conduct held to be immoral or shameful.^[4]
• 1593 – an act or instance of it.^[4][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. Anal or oral intercourse, especially between men.^[6][14][7]
2. Sexual intercourse with an animal; bestiality.^[6][7]
3. Any form of sexual intercourse once condemned as unnatural, especially in law.^[4][6]

Word family

• sodomitically
• sodomist
• sodomite

Related words

• Sodom
• sodomize
• sod

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins