paganisme

Forms

paganisme m (plural paganismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin pāgānismus (“heathendom, paganism”), a word of Saint Augustine, from Latin pāgānus (“peasant, pagan”).^[2][3][4][1] It replaced Old French paienime “pagan land, the country of the infidels” and “religion of the pagans”, an adaptation of the Latin word after païen, still recorded by Huguet in the 16th century.^[2][5][6] Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert give the old form as paienisme, mostly “land of the infidels”.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1546, as paganisme Romain, in Jean Maugin's translation of Palmerin d'Olive, meaning the religion of the ancient pagans.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word names the polytheistic religion of Greco-Roman antiquity, which the early Christians opposed.^[5][8] From 1570 it was extended to behaviour that turns from Christianity towards the ways of Greco-Latin civilization: a 1570 pamphlet by Estienne urged the ladies of France to leave “the habit of paganism” for that of the Christian woman.^[2][5] By metonymy it named all the pagan peoples (1605).^[5][4] Littré notes that in the Middle Ages the older word was used for Islam, from ignorance of Muslim monotheism.^[9] By extension it can mean Greco-Roman antiquity itself.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – Old French paienime “pagan land” appears in the Charroi de Nîmes.^[2][5]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses paienime for the religion of the pagans.^[2]
• 1546 – Paganisme is first recorded, in Maugin's Palmerin d'Olive.^[2][3]
• 1570 – Estienne uses it of a way of life opposed to Christianity.^[2]
• 1605 – It names the pagan peoples as a whole.^[5][4]
• 1694 – The Académie records the word.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The polytheistic religions of antiquity, especially those of the Greeks and Romans, as opposed to Christianity.^[2][8]
2. An attitude, moral or intellectual, inspired by the ancient pagan religions rather than by Christianity.^[2][5]
3. By extension, Greco-Roman antiquity.^[8]

Related words

• païen
• paganiser
• Latin pāgānus
• English paganism

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette