sacrilege
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Circa 1300, original sense “stealing something sacred”. From Middle English sacrilege, from Old French sacrilege, from Latin sacrilegium, from sacrilegus (“sacrilegious”), from phrase sacrum legere, from sacrum (from sacer (“sacred, holy”)) + legō (“gather; take, steal”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- and *leǵ-. Sense of “profanation” from late 14th century.[1]
Unrelated to religion, which is ultimately from ligō (“I tie, bind, or bandage”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”).
Pronunciation
Noun
sacrilege (usually uncountable, plural sacrileges)
- Desecration, profanation, misuse or violation of something regarded as sacred.
Derived terms
Translations
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References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “sacrilege”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From sacrilegus (“sacrilegious”) + -ē (adverbial suffix).
Adverb
sacrilegē (not comparable)
Synonyms
- (impiously): irreligiōsē, nefāriē
Related terms
References
- “sacrilege”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “sacrilege”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia[1]
Old French
Etymology
First attested at the end of the 12th century, borrowed from Latin sacrilegium[1].
Noun
sacrilege oblique singular, m (oblique plural sacrileges, nominative singular sacrileges, nominative plural sacrilege)
Descendants
References
- ^ Etymology and history of “sacrilège”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- Latin terms suffixed with -e
- Latin lemmas
- Latin adverbs
- Latin uncomparable adverbs
- Old French terms borrowed from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns