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anathema

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word anathema

anathema1 votive offering

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
348/49–c. 413 AD, Prudentius
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek ἀνάθημα
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ἀνάθημα

Forms

anathēma n (genitive anathēmatis); third declension[1][2][3]

Etymology

The offering is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀνάθημα (anáthēma, “votive offering”),[2][1][4][5] from ἀνατίθημι (anatíthēmi, “to set up, dedicate”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) and τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”).[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest examples are in Prudentius, in the Hamartigenia and the Psychomachia, and in the Vulgate, meaning an offering, a gift offered to a god or to God.[1][4][7][5]

Semantic evolution

The Vulgate of Judith 16:23 uses it figuratively in the phrase in anathema oblīviōnis, which Georges takes as “for an everlasting memorial”.[1][2][3] The TLL also finds it in the Latin version of Josephus' Against Apion.[7]

Timeline

  • 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of an offering.[1][7][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Judith 16:23.[1][2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An offering, a votive gift.[2][1][4][3]

anathema2 curse

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 160–220 AD, Tertullian
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek ἀνάθεμα
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ἀνάθεμα
Etymology tree of anathema2
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek ἀνάθεμα
Latin anathema
From the same root · anathema2
English anathema ← ἀνάθεμα

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aˈna.tʰɛ.ma][6]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈnaː.te.ma][6]

Forms

anathema n (genitive anathematis); third declension[6] Lucifer of Cagliari has a feminine anathema, genitive anathemae.[7][1][5]

Etymology

The curse is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀνάθεμα (anáthema, “thing devoted; accursed thing”),[6][2][1][4] a later form of the Greek word for a votive offering, used in Christian Greek in a bad sense.[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example is in Tertullian's Scorpiace, in the sense of a curse.[7][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the Vulgate it is a thing or a living being devoted to destruction, hence something accursed: a place is named Horma, “that is, anathema”, in Numbers 21:3, and in Deuteronomy one who brings an idol into the house becomes anathema like it.[2] In 1 Corinthians, nēmō … dīcit anathema Iēsū, “no one says ‘Jesus be cursed’”, it is the curse itself.[7] In Augustine it is the curse of excommunication,[2][7] while Tertullian and later writers use it, by metonymy, also for the person cursed or excommunicated;[4][3] Augustine also writes anathema dīcere “to pronounce anathema”.[7]

Medieval Latin used it for a solemn curse, for excommunication and interdict, for a threat of excommunication, for a bull of excommunication and for an accursed person,[9][10] and spelled it in many ways, with ⟨ena-⟩, ⟨ane-⟩, ⟨-te-⟩, ⟨-tha-⟩ and others.[9] English took it over in the 1520s as “an accursed thing”; the sense “formula of excommunication” is from the 1610s.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a curse.[7][5]
  • 355–361 AD – Lucifer of Cagliari uses a feminine anathema.[7][5]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the curse of excommunication.[2][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of things and people devoted to destruction.[2][5]
  • 1520s – Borrowed into English as anathema “an accursed thing”.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A curse, solemn imprecation.[7][1][10]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Excommunication.[2][1][10][9]
  3. Something devoted to destruction, an accursed thing.[2][11]
  4. A person cursed or excommunicated.[2][4][3][10]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A threat of excommunication; a bull of excommunication.[9]

Usage notes

An ancient grammatical note says that the word naturally has a long next-to-last syllable but the accent on the one before it.[7] Roger Bacon writes that in the Greek manner the ⟨e⟩ is short, although usage makes it long.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  11. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Anathema.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/anathema. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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