sacrosanctus

Forms

sacrōsānctus (feminine sacrōsāncta, neuter sacrōsānctum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of sacrō, probably the ablative of sacer (“sacred”) or of sacrum (“religious rite”), and sānctus (“consecrated”), the participle of sanciō (“to make sacred”).^[2][3][1] Wiktionary traces both elements to Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“to make a pact; to make sacred”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[4] who in the speech against Catiline asks someone whether he thinks his estates will be sacrosanct while all else is laid waste.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short give its first sense as consecrated with religious ceremonies, and so declared inviolable.^[5] It is above all the word for magistrates protected by a religious sanction: Livy reports that the plebs were granted magistrates of their own who were to be sacrosanct, and calls the tribunes' power sacrosanct, created to defend liberty.^[2][5] Tacitus and Pliny the Elder use it in the same sense.^[2] After Augustus it also means sacred or venerable in general: Pliny the Younger says that Corellia's memory is sacred to him, and Apuleius calls Rome the sacrosanct city.^[2][5] It is sometimes written separately, and Pliny the Elder splits it, sacrōque sānctum.^[5][2] In medieval Latin the neuter plural sacrōsāncta means relics or other holy objects touched when an oath is taken.^[6] Stelten gives "sacred, most holy, inviolable" for Church Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of estates thought sacrosanct.^[5][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the plebeian tribunes.^[2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder splits the word.^[2]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of Rome as the sacrosanct city.^[2]
• c. 1600 – sacrosanct appears in English.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Protected by a religious sanction, inviolable, sacrosanct (especially of the plebeian tribunes).^[2][5][1]
2. Regarded as inviolable, most sacred, venerable.^[2][5][1][7]
3. (Medieval Latin, neuter plural as noun) Relics or holy objects touched in swearing an oath.^[6]

Related words

• sacer
• sānctus
• sanciō
• English sacrosanct

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson