Etymologically
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sacerdos

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [saˈkɛr.doːs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [saˈt͡ʃɛr.dos][1]

Forms

sacerdōs m or f (genitive sacerdōtis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sakro-dōt- (“who has sacred endowments”), a compound of sacer “sacred” and dōs “gift, dowry”, from Proto-Indo-European *-deh₃-t- (“gift”).[2][1] Older works, followed by the OLD, derive the second part from *dʰoh₁-t- “who performs the sacrifice”, but de Vaan rejects this on grounds of form.[2][3] Isidore explains it as “giving what is sacred”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus and the decree on the Bacchanalia.[2] Plautus speaks of Theotimus, priest of Diana of Ephesus.[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a priest, or as a feminine a priestess, usually of a named god or temple, as the priestesses of Ceres in Cicero.[3][6] Horace calls himself Mūsārum sacerdōs “priest of the Muses”, and Ulpian calls the jurists priests of justice.[3] It was also a Roman cognomen, as in the gens Licinia.[6]

In Christian Latin it meant a bishop or priest, then specifically a bishop, and later a priest who was not a bishop.[7] It was borrowed into Old English as sācerd.[5] sacerdōtālis gave English sacerdotal about 1400.[8] It survives in Italian sacerdote and Spanish sacerdote.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of a priest of Diana.[3][5]
  • 186 BC – the decree on the Bacchanalia uses it.[2]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace calls himself priest of the Muses.[3][5]
  • c. 1400 – English sacerdotal is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A priest, priestess.[3]
  2. (figurative) A priest (of the Muses, of justice).[3]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A bishop or priest.[7]

Word family

  • archisacerdos
  • cōnsacerdōs
  • sacerdōtālis
  • sacerdōtium
  • sacerdōtula

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com