profanus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [prɔˈfaː.nʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [proˈfaː.nus]^[1]

Forms

profānus (feminine profāna, neuter profānum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from prō “before” and fānum “temple”, as what lies before, that is outside, the sacred precinct.^[2][3] The OLD refers to Varro for this explanation.^[4] The TLL notes that most scholars accept this, though the use of the prefix is odd.^[5] Fānum is *fasno-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁s-no- (“holy, consecrated place”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has a son say that nothing can be hidden from his father, “neither sacred nor profane”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It meant not consecrated, secular, as Cicero's object stripped of its sacred character and Tacitus' things profane and polluted by use.^[4][7][3] Of persons it meant uninitiated, as Catullus' orgies the profane wish in vain to hear, and in the formula procul este, profani.^[4]

It meant ritually unclean, as Ovid's ill-omened owl, and impious, sacrilegious, as the eyes of Pentheus watching the rites.^[4] In Christian Latin it meant heathen or unbelieving, and as a noun an unbeliever.^[8] English profane was borrowed through Old French in the mid-15th century.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus contrasts sacred and profane.^[4][8]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of the uninitiated.^[4][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the impious eyes of Pentheus.^[4][8]
• mid-15th century – English profane is borrowed.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not sacred, secular, profane.^[4][1]
2. Uninitiated; ignorant.^[4][1]
3. Ritually unclean, ill-omened.^[4]
4. Impious, sacrilegious.^[4][1]
5. (Christian Latin) Heathen, unbelieving.^[8]

Word family

• profānitās
• profānō

Related words

• fanum
• English profane

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com