superstition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English supersticion,^[2][3][4] also supersticioun,^[5] borrowed from Middle French supersticion, superstition,^[6][7][3] and directly borrowed from Latin superstitiō (“irrational religious awe, excessive fear of the gods”),^[6][5][7] from superstes (“standing over; surviving”),^[6][2][7] from superstō (“to stand on or over; to survive”),^[5][7][8] formed from super (“above”) and stō (“to stand”),^[5][9] from Proto-Indo-European *sta- (“to stand”), the root of stand.^[5][2][9] The Middle French word is recorded from before 1359 for unorthodox or heretical religious belief,^[6] and the Anglo-Norman from the early 14th century.^[10] The Latin word is the source also of Spanish superstición, Portuguese superstição and Italian superstizione.^[6] In Old English the Latin word was glossed Old English æfgælþ.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An action marked by superfluity or excess: about 1230, in a passage of the Ancrene Riwle that has no equivalent in the earlier Cleopatra manuscript or in the Anglo-Norman version.^[6] Barnhart, dating the word probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle, gives it the sense of a false or irrational religious belief or practice.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Why the Latin word meant what it did is unclear.^[6][5] Cicero thought that superstitious people were so called because they prayed that their children might survive (superstites essent), but the OED takes this as a folk etymology; in late antiquity, as in Isidore, such practices were explained as superfluous.^[6] The OED also cites the suggestion that superstes was used of a soldier standing over a fallen enemy, so that superstitiō first meant superiority and then prophecy and sorcery.^[6] Etymonline reports De Vaan's view that the sense is "cause to remain in existence" and Buck's that it meant standing stunned in awe,^[5] and Ayto likewise thinks of someone standing over something in awe or fear.^[9] Weekley found none of the theories convincing.^[11] In English the early sense of excess soon gave way to religious ones:^[12][6] irrational belief based on fear or ignorance (from about 1384, in the Wycliffite Bible), a false or pagan religion (about 1425) and a single irrational rite or practice.^[6] Belief in supernatural influences on luck appears in 1609, in Shakespeare's Pericles,^[6][12] and the weakened sense of any irrational or mistaken notion, not tied to religion, in 1771;^[6] Etymonline dates this sense by 1794.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave the word first as "unnecessary fear or scruples in religion".^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – an act of superfluity or excess (obsolete).^[6]
• c. 1384 – irrational religious belief based on fear or ignorance, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[6]
• c. 1425 – a religion considered false or pagan.^[6]
• before 1450 – a single irrational religious belief or practice.^[6]
• 1523 – a ceremony of a pagan or idolatrous character, in Skelton.^[6]
• 1609 – a belief in supernatural influences on luck, in Shakespeare's Pericles.^[6]
• 1755 – excessive scrupulousness (obsolete), in Johnson.^[6][13]
• 1771 – any irrational or mistaken notion.^[6] Etymonline dates it by 1794.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Belief or practice that comes from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false idea of cause and effect.^[3][14]
2. A particular belief or practice of this kind, especially one about good or bad luck: the superstition that a broken mirror brings seven years of bad luck.^[6][14][3]
3. Any irrational or unfounded belief or notion.^[14][6]
4. A religious belief or system regarded as false, irrational or pagan.^[6][15]

Related words

• superstitious
• stand
• station

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press