Etymologically
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blasphemo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [bɫasˈpʰeː.moː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [blasˈfɛː.mo][1]

Forms

blasphēmō (present infinitive blasphēmāre, perfect active blasphēmāvī, supine blasphēmātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βλασφημέω (blasphēméō, “to speak ill of, slander”),[1][2][3][4] a verb that Etymonline derives from βλάσφημος (blásphēmos, “evil-speaking”).[5]

Spoken Latin wore it down: the TLL lists Old Italian biastimare, French blâmer and Spanish lastimar among its outcomes.[3] Etymonline traces English blame through Old French blasmer and a Vulgar Latin *blastemō to this verb, and blaspheme through Old French blasfemer.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It belongs to the Bible and to Church writers who quote it.[3][6] Tertullian has blasphēmāre nōmen Dominī, to blaspheme the name of the Lord,[2][7] and in the Vulgate Leviticus tells of a man cum blasphēmāsset nōmen Deī, “when he had blasphemed the name of God”.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense was to speak impiously of God and sacred things,[2][5] but it also meant to revile or reproach a person, as in the Vulgate's First Chronicles,[2][5] and Christian writers used it of teaching heresy.[4] Medieval writers extended it to cursing, to treating someone badly and to calling something harmful.[4]

The reproach sense lived on in French blâmer and English blame, recorded from about 1200;[5] English took blaspheme itself from Old French in the mid-14th century.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of blaspheming the name of the Lord.[2][7][9]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of God's name and of reviling.[2][3][9]
  • c. 1200 – English blame “find fault with” is borrowed from Old French blasmer.[5]
  • mid-14th century – English blaspheme is borrowed from Old French blasfemer.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To blaspheme, to speak impiously of God or sacred things.[2][10][6]
  2. (Late Latin) To revile, reproach, slander.[2][1][4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) To curse; to treat badly; to call harmful.[4]

Word family

  • blasphēmābilis
  • blasphēmātiō
  • English blaspheme
  • English blame

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson