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anathema

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anathema1 votive offering

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

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