saint English · revision 5425

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1122|origins=la sancīre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /seɪnt/, weak /sənt/, /sɪnt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|seinte|alt=seinte, sainte]], [[bor|fro|saint|alt=saint, seinte|t=holy, pious]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|sānctus|t=holy, consecrated]], the past participle of [[m|la|sancīre|t=to consecrate]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) It displaced or altered Old English sanct, which was directly from Latin sanctus.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It is related to [[sacred]], [[sanctify]] and [[sanctuary]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As an adjective, “holy”, before the names of saints: about 1122 in the OED, the early 12th century in Etymonline; the abbreviation S. or St. is in Old English by 963.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By about 1200 it had become a noun, a canonized person,^(Etymonline) and a member of the elect of God in the 14th century.^(Hoad 1986) A moral or virtuous person, pure in heart and life, is by the late 13th century,^(Etymonline) and a person of great holiness from the 16th.^(Hoad 1986) The verb, to be or become a saint, is from before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle, and in 1375 it took on the sense “to make a saint”.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Sainthood'' is from 1550 and ''saintly'' from 1660.^(Barnhart 1988) The names of many diseases, such as ''St Vitus's dance'', honour saints thought to ward them off.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 963 – the abbreviation St.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1122 – before a name.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – noun, a canonized person.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 13th century – a virtuous person.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1375 – verb, to canonize.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1660 – ''saintly''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person officially recognized by a church, after death, as very holy and worthy of [[veneration]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A very good, kind or patient person.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A person who has died and gone to heaven.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To declare someone a saint; to [[canonize]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[saintdom]]

+ * [[saintlike]]

+ * [[saintless]]

+ * [[sainthood]]

+ * [[saintly]]

+ * [[saintship]]

+ * [[patron saint]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Santa]]

+ * [[sacred]]

+ * [[sanctify]]

+ * [[sanctity]]

+ * [[sanctuary]]

+ * [[sanction]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}