cult English · revision 8016

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1617|origins=la cultus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kʌlt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is borrowed through [[m|fr|culte]] and directly from Latin [[m|la|cultus|t=care, cultivation; worship, reverence]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) originally tended, cultivated, the past participle of [[m|la|colo|alt=colere|t=to till, cultivate, inhabit, worship]] (see [[colony]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Worship, reverential homage: 1617, now obsolete.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A particular system of religious worship is from 1679, in William Penn.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) The word was rare after the 17th century but was revived in the mid-19th, sometimes in the French form culte, for ancient or primitive systems of worship and their rites.^(Etymonline) Devotion to a particular person or thing is from 1711 in the OED and 1829 in Etymonline,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and Fitzedward Hall wrote in 1873 that the word could ill be spared now that religion had lost its original meaning.^(Etymonline) Hugh Rawson's ''Wicked Words'' (1993) defined a cult wryly as an organized group, religious or not, with whom you disagree.^(Etymonline) A religious group regarded as extremist or false, under an authoritarian leader, is the first sense in the AHD.^(AHD) Attributive use by writers on ritual and archaeology is from 1901.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1617 – worship.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1679 – a system of worship.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1711 – devotion to a person.^(OED 1989)

+ * mid-19th century – revived for ancient religions.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1901 – attributive use.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A religious group regarded as extreme or false, often under a powerful [[charismatic]] leader.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A system of religious [[worship]] and its rites.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Great devotion to a person, idea or thing, or the people who share it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cultic]]

+ * [[cultism]]

+ * [[cultist]]

+ * [[cultish]]

+ * [[cultishly]]

+ * [[cultishness]]

+ * [[cultlike]]

+ * [[anticult]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[culture]]

+ * [[cultivate]]

+ * [[colony]]

+ * [[occult]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}