sect English · revision 979

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɛkt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|secte]], [[bor|fro|secte]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) and directly [[der|la-lat|secta|t=religious group, sect]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) from [[la|secta|t=way, course; school of thought]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) probably from ''sectārī'' “to follow, pursue”, a frequentative of ''sequī'' “to follow”.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) Its meaning has been influenced by confusion with Latin ''secāre'' “to cut”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A class or kind of persons (c. 1384);^(OED 1989) a religious order or body (about 1350).^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English ''sect'' also meant a religious order and, applied to Christianity, Judaism or Islam, a religion as a whole.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The sense of a separately organized religious body, a denomination, appeared in the 1570s in a Protestant context, and seems to carry the notion of a party “cut off” from a main body.^(Etymonline) Shakespeare and Chaucer used it for “sex”, a use now archaic.^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1350 – a religious order or body.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1384 – a class or kind of persons.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1386 – a religion; a party within a religion.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1570s – a separately organized religious denomination.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1649 – ''sectarian''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A religious body, especially one that has broken away from a larger denomination and is regarded as extreme or [[heresy|alt=heretical]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A group forming a distinct unit within a larger group because of particular beliefs or practices.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A small group united by common interests or beliefs, or following a leader; a [[faction]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sectarian]]

+ * [[sequel]]

+ * [[sue]]

+ * [[schism]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}