canonizo

Forms

canōnizō (present infinitive canōnizāre, perfect active canōnizāvī, supine canōnizātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

According to the TLL it is borrowed from Ancient Greek κανονίζω (kanonízō), the source Georges also gives.^[2][3] Wiktionary instead analyses it as from Latin canōn (“rule, canon”) + -izō, formed parallel to the Greek verb, which meant “to regulate”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest instance the TLL and Conte give is in the explanation of the Creed under the name of Ambrose (c. 340–397 AD), which says of the Apocalypse of John qui libellus canonizatur, “a little book that is received into the canon”.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the Latin version of Origen's commentary on Matthew it marks the canonical books against those outside the canon,^[2][6] and the Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum speaks of prophets who “are not canonized” for its readers.^[2]

Medieval writers widened it to the official approval of anything by church authority: the decrees of councils, a liturgical office, the rule of a religious order.^[7][8] It also meant to install someone canonically in an office, to receive someone into a chapter of canons, and in public law to make someone the lawful possessor of a thing.^[7] Its best-known sense, to declare someone a saint, is cited by Lewis and Short from a letter of Pope Alexander III,^[9] and is recorded by the MLW and Stelten.^[7][10] English canonize comes from it, partly through Old French.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 340–397 AD – The explanation of the Creed under Ambrose's name uses it of a book received into the canon.^[2][4][5]
• 5th–6th century AD – The Latin Origen on Matthew speaks of canonical and extra-canonical books.^[2][6][5]
• 1311 – An Oxford document calls a saying of Isidore a verbum canonizatum.^[8]
• 1330 – A plea roll says the order of the Hospital was founded and canonizatus.^[8]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as canonize.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To admit into the canon of Scripture.^[2][3][6][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) To approve or sanction officially by church authority.^[7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) To canonize, declare a saint.^{[9][7][1][10]}
4. (Medieval Latin) To install canonically in an office; to receive into a chapter of canons.^[7][1]
5. (Medieval Latin, law) To make someone the lawful possessor of something.^[7]

Related words

• canon
• English canonize

References

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