sacrosanctus Latin · revision 33947

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la sacer, la sanciō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [sa.kroːˈsaːŋk.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [sa.kroˈs̬aŋk.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sacrōsānctus''' (feminine sacrōsāncta, neuter sacrōsānctum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound of [[m|la|sacrō]], probably the ablative of [[m|la|sacer|t=sacred]] or of [[m|la|sacrum|t=religious rite]], and [[m|la|sānctus|t=consecrated]], the participle of [[m|la|sanciō|t=to make sacred]].^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary traces both elements to [[ine-pro|*seh₂k-|t=to make a pact; to make sacred]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who in the speech against Catiline asks someone whether he thinks his estates will be sacrosanct while all else is laid waste.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis & Short give its first sense as consecrated with religious ceremonies, and so declared inviolable.^(Lewis & Short 1879) 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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Tacitus and Pliny the Elder use it in the same sense.^(OLD 2012) 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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is sometimes written separately, and Pliny the Elder splits it, ''sacrōque sānctum''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) In medieval Latin the neuter plural ''sacrōsāncta'' means relics or other holy objects touched when an oath is taken.^(Niermeyer 1976) Stelten gives "sacred, most holy, inviolable" for Church Latin.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of estates thought sacrosanct.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the plebeian tribunes.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder splits the word.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of Rome as the sacrosanct city.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 1600 – [[m|en|sacrosanct]] appears in English.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Protected by a religious sanction, [[m|en|inviolable]], [[m|en|sacrosanct]] (especially of the plebeian tribunes).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Regarded as inviolable, most sacred, venerable.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin, neuter plural as noun)'' [[m|en|relic|alt=Relics]] or holy objects touched in swearing an oath.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sacer]]

+ * [[sānctus]]

+ * [[sanciō]]

+ * [[en|sacrosanct]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}