Etymologically
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haeresis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈhae̯.rɛ.sɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛː.re.s̬is][1]

Forms

haeresis f (genitive haeresis or haereseōs or haeresios); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek αἵρεσις (haíresis, “choice; sect”).[2][1][3] Tertullian and Jerome explain the name from the Greek for “choice”, and Isidore of Seville says it is so called because each person chooses what seems best to him.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro speaks of a new school and of the Menippean school.[6] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.[7]

Semantic evolution

It meant a philosophical school or sect, the pure Latin being secta: Cicero says that Cato belongs to the school that seeks no ornament of speech, and Vitruvius speaks of following Pythagoras' school.[2][8][6] Cicero also jokes about Vestorius' trade as his haeresis.[8]

From Tertullian on it was heretical religious doctrine, heresy, as Lactantius' many sects and heresies and Sidonius' Arian heresy.[8][9] Isidore of Seville applies it both to the philosophical schools and to those who left the Church for a perverse dogma.[5] The Theodosian Code uses it of a calling or trade.[8] Medieval Latin used it of heretical doctrine and sects, and of a fine for heresy.[10] English heresy came from Old French about 1200.[11]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a school of thought.[6][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a philosophical school.[8][7]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of heresy.[8][7]
  • c. 1200 – English heresy is recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A philosophical school, sect.[2][1]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) heresy; a heretical sect.[8][1]
  3. (Late Latin) A calling, trade.[8]

Word family

  • haereticus
  • haereseus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com