sacerdote

Forms

sacerdote m or f by sense (plural sacerdotes, feminine sacerdotisa, feminine plural sacerdotisas)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write sacerdot, saçerdote, saçerdot and sacerdoth.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sacerdōs (“priest”), a learned word first recorded in a charter of 1209 and in Berceo.^[3][4][5] Wiktionary and Gómez de Silva take the Spanish form from the Latin accusative.^[1][6] The same Latin word gave Portuguese sacerdote, Catalan sacerdot, Italian sacerdote and Romanian sacerdot.^[1][7]

The Latin noun is a compound of sacer (“sacred”).^[8][9] Corominas, the OLD and Gómez de Silva follow the older view that the second part is the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, to do”), so that the priest is the one who performs the sacred acts.^[3][4][8][6] De Vaan finds the morphology of that compound odd and prefers the explanation of Strunk and Nussbaum, from *deh₃- (“to give”): Proto-Italic *sakro-dōt- (“who has sacred endowments”), with the second part the same as dōs (“dowry, gift”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is a charter of 1209 from Oelschläger's list;^[3][4] Berceo uses the word soon after, together with sacerdotal.^[3][4] In the Partidas Alfonso X explains that the Latin name of the priests is sacerdotes, que quier tanto dezir cuemmo cabdiellos sagrados “which is as much as to say sacred leaders”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija gave Latin sacerdos and flamen as its equivalents.^[11] Covarrubias in 1611 equated it with the priest who says Mass, and saw the priests of the Hebrews, who sacrificed oxen and lambs, as a figure of the Christian ones.^[12] Autoridades gave the general sense of a man consecrated to performing and offering sacrifices, and a second one for the Christian priest ordained to celebrate Mass, with the phrase sumo sacerdote.^[13]

Today the word names the minister of any religion; the feminine is sacerdotisa, from Late Latin sacerdotissa.^[5] Moliner notes that sacerdote is also put in apposition when a woman holds the office: una mujer sacerdote.^[14] Classical Nahuatl took the word over as sacerdote.^[1]

Timeline

• 1174 – DEMel lists a record in the cartulary of Huerta.^[2]
• 1209 – the first record in the DCECH and the BDELC, a charter.^[3][4]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses sacerdote and the derivative sacerdotal.^[3][4]
• 1260 – the earliest text in the Old Spanish Textual Archive is the Fuero Juzgo.^[15]
• 1256–1265 – the Partidas explain the name.^[10]
• c. 1440 – sacerdocio in Alfonso de la Torre.^[3][4]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin sacerdos and flamen.^[11]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the word as the priest who says Mass.^[12]
• 1739 – Autoridades separates the general and the Christian senses.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A priest: a minister of a religion or cult.^[5][1]
2. A person dedicated to performing and offering sacrifices.^[5]
3. (Catholicism) A man who has been ordained to celebrate Mass: Lo ordenaron sacerdote a los veinticinco años.^[14][13]

Related words

• sacerdotal
• sacerdocio
• sacerdotisa
• sagrado
• sacro
• Latin sacerdos

Usage notes

Sumo sacerdote is the chief of the priests among the Hebrews, the high priest.^[5] The feminine sacerdotisa is used for priestesses of ancient and non-Christian religions; for a woman priest Moliner records mujer sacerdote.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sacerdote
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 127
4. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sagrado
5. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. sacerdote
6. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 625
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2977
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. sacerdote
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 412
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1275
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 10
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sacerdote
15. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. sacerdote