purificatio

Forms

pūrificātiō f (genitive pūrificātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pūrificō (“to purify”) + -tiō.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder has it in the plural: the laurel is used in purifications.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it in prose only once each in Pliny the Elder and in the preface to Martial's eighth book, and regularly from the Old Latin Bible and Tertullian on.^[5] In the Vulgate it is the ritual purification of a woman after childbirth.^[3] Cyprian uses it of a voice made illustrious by the purification of confession.^[4] In Medieval Latin it meant the spiritual justification of a sinner and a judicial clearing of oneself,^[6] the churching of a woman after childbirth, the Purification of the Virgin and its feast, Candlemas,^[6][7] and also the cleaning of things, the refining of metal and a process of alchemy.^[7] English purification came through Old French, first of the feast.^[8]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder says the laurel is used in purifications.^[3][9]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it in the preface to his eighth book.^[4][9]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it; from him on it is common in Christian writers.^[5][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of purification after childbirth.^[3][9]
• c. 1190 – The statutes of Lincoln cathedral use it for the churching of women.^[7]
• late 14th century – English borrows it, especially for the Feast of the Purification.^[8]
• 1409 – Durham forge accounts use it for the refining of iron.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Ritual purification, cleansing.^[2][3]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Purification after childbirth; spiritual justification of a sinner.^[3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Churching of a woman; the Purification of the Virgin, the feast of Candlemas.^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin, law) Clearing oneself before a court.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) Cleaning; the refining of metal;^[7] (alchemy) purification.^[7]

Related words

• pūrus
• English purification

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de