secular English · revision 15179

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1290|origins=la saeculum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈsek.jə.lə/, US /ˈsek.jə.lɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|seculer]], [[bor|fro|seculer]] (modern [[fr|séculier]]), and directly [[la-lat|saeculāris|t=worldly, secular, pagan]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) in classical Latin “of an age, occurring once in an age”,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|saeculum|t=age, generation, lifetime]], which Christian Latin used for “the world” as opposed to the Church.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021)^(NODE 1998) Watkins, cited by Etymonline, takes it from a root meaning to bind (see [[sinew]]), the generations seen as links in the chain of life; an older theory connected it with words for seed (see [[sow]]).^(Etymonline) The Latin word is also the source of [[fr|siècle|t=century]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of clergy, living in the world rather than in a monastic order: about 1290 in the OED, about 1300 in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Belonging to the world and its affairs as distinguished from the Church is also from about 1290.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Literature, art and especially music that is not sacred is called secular from about 1450,^(OED 1989) and education in non-religious subjects from 1526.^(OED 1989) The present, visible world as opposed to the eternal one is from 1597.^(OED 1989) The sense “occurring once in an age” came directly from Latin in the 16th century,^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) and the uses in astronomy and economics, for slow long-term change (''secular acceleration'', ''secular trend''), are from the early 19th century.^(Cresswell 2021) As a noun, a secular cleric, it is from the 13th century.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1290 – of clergy; worldly.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1450 – not sacred (art, music).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1526 – of non-religious education.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590s – once in an age or century.^(Etymonline)

+ * early 19th century – secular trend.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Concerned with worldly rather than spiritual or sacred things; [[temporal]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Not related to religion or to a religious body.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of education, without religious teaching or services.^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of clergy, not bound by vows to a monastic order.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Occurring or appearing once in an age or century.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A member of the secular clergy.^(AHD)

+ # A [[layperson]].^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[secularly]]

+ * [[secularity]]

+ * [[presecular]]

+ * [[supersecular]]

+ * [[unsecular]]

+ * [[secularism]]

+ * [[secularize]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}