hecatomb

The noun is a learned borrowing from Latin hecatombē (“great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb”), from Ancient Greek ἑκατόμβη (hekatómbē, “great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb; any animal sacrifice or large sacrifice”, from ἑκᾰτόν (hekatón, “hundred”) + βοῦς (boûs, “cattle, cow, ox”)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was the god of war. The great object of their military expeditions was, to gather hecatombs of captives for his altars. The soldier, who fell in battle, was transported at once to the region of ineffable bliss in the bright mansions of the Sun.

1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, chapter II, in History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], →OCLC, book I (Introduction—View of the Aztec Civilization), page 43:

(by extension, religion, historical) A great public sacrifice in other religions; also, a great number of animals or people reserved for such a sacrifice.


break bread

en-verb

break bread (third-person singular simple present breaks bread, present participle breaking bread, simple past broke bread, past participle broken bread)

breaks bread (present singular third-person)
breaking bread (participle present)
broke bread (past)
broken bread (participle past)

Under medieval conditions, guests brought their own knives worn with them, which were their daggers they hunted and gathered with, then only fit to cut meat. From the expression “break bread with friends” the ellipsis “break bread” implying community developed.

In baptism we make covenant; in communion we renew covenant week by week. . . . After offering prayers of thanksgiving, together we break bread and drink from the cup.

1979, Ronald E. Osborn, The Faith We Affirm, →ISBN, page 61:

(Christianity) To take part in Holy Communion.


daily bread

Possibly a reference to the Lord's Prayer in the Bible, part of which reads in the King James Version: “Give us this day our daily bread” (see Matthew 6:11, and compare Luke 11:3).

I thynke it mete / that euery Chriſten man not only knowe it [the Epistle to the Romans] by rote and with oute the boke / but alſo exerciſe him ſelfe therin euermore continually / as with the dayly brede of the ſoule.

1534 November, Willyam Tindale [i.e., William Tyndale], transl., “A Prologe to the Epistle of Paule to the Romayns”, in The Newe Testament […] (Tyndale Bible), Antwerp: […] Marten Emperowr, folio ccii, verso:

For he [Augustine of Hippo] calleth there the daily bread, which we continually pray for, either corporal bread and meat, which is our daily sustenance for the body, or else the visible sacrament of bread and wine, or the invisible sacraments of God's word and commandments; of the which sacraments God's word is daily heard, and the other is daily seen.

1817, Thomas Cranmer, “[Extracts from An Answer, by the Reverend Father in God, Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan, unto a Crafty and Sophisticated Cavillation, Devised by Stephen Gardiner, Doctor of Law, Late Bishop of Winchester, against the True and Godly Doctrine of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Our Saviour Christ. First Printed in A.D. 1551, and afterwards in 1580, from which Last Edition the Extracts are Taken.] Connexion between the Sacraments and Our Resurrection.—At page 183.”, in Legh Richmond, editor, A Selection from the Writings of the Reformers and Early Protestant Divines of the Church of England. … This Volume Contains Various Tracts and Extracts from the Works of Archbishop Cranmer; with a Memorial of His Life (The Fathers of the English Church; 3), London: Published by John Hatchard, bookseller to the Queen, 190, opposite Albany, Piccadilly, →OCLC, page 629:

This [the Eucharist] is not a physical food but a spiritual one, the very Body and Blood of Christ, offered for them as viaticum for their earthly journey. It is the "daily bread" which the faithful should ask for and eat [every]-day, more hungry and eager for it than for earthly bread.

1987, Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen [i.e., Gabriele di Santa Maria Maddalena], “298. Corpus Christi: Thursday or Sunday after Trinity Sunday: Year A”, in Divine Intimacy, enl. and rev. edition, volume III (Ninth Sunday through Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time), San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, →ISBN:

(by extension, chiefly Christianity) All those things, such as regular prayer, worship and meditation, needed to sustain spiritual life.


Dhanalaxmi

On the following day, the woman-folk worship Goddess Dhanalaxmi for prosperity.

1980, T. Vedantam, J. K. Barthakur, Census of India, 1971: Series 2: Andhra Pradesh, India Office of the Registrar General, page 138:

2004, http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov112004/deep2.asp
Goddess Dhanalaxmi is propitiated on the Amavasya night in Hindu homes. Goddess Laxmi is said to have emerged from the ocean during the 'samudra manthan'. Her birth is celebrated with pujas, illuminations and crackers and festivity in every Hindu home.

(Hinduism) A Hindu goddess, one of the eight forms of Laxmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity.


Lodebar

Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 9:5:

(biblical) A place where David found a member of the family of Saul.


regeneration

en-noun

regeneration (countable and uncountable, plural regenerations)

From re- + generation or regenerate + -ion, from Latin regenerātiō.

(theology) Spiritual rebirth; the change from a carnal or material life to a pious one

(Christianity) The renewal of the world at the second coming of Christ.


sanctification

sanctification (countable and uncountable, plural sanctifications)

From Old French sanctificacion, from ecclesiastical Latin sanctificātionem, from sanctificāre (“to sanctify”).

(theology) The (usually gradual or uncompleted) process by which a Christian believer is made holy through the action of the Holy Spirit.


Jethro

Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew יִתְרוֹ (yitró).


squirreling

(Scientology, often derogatory) The application of L. Ron Hubbard's technology in a heterodox manner.


devotional

en-adj

devotional (comparative more devotional, superlative most devotional)

more devotional (comparative)
most devotional (superlative)

/dɪˈvəʊʃənəl/

She spent much time playing devotional music.

Because of her love for Robert […] the Resistance leader, Willie undertakes dangerous missions for the anti-fascist groups. She doesn't seem however to have the slightest idea why she is doing it, it is a devotional, not a political action.

1981 August 29, Michael Bronski, “Hot and Cold Film”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 7, page 11:

The latter [mule] had what Muldoon referred to as 'devotional habits' — which is to say that, occasionally, she would go down on her knees and refuse to budge.

2023, Robin Lloyd-Jones, Gods of the Lost Crossroads, page 161:

(usually religious) Of or pertaining to devotion or worship.


salvific

salvific (comparative more salvific, superlative most salvific)

more salvific (comparative)
most salvific (superlative)

From Late Latin salvificus, from Latin salvus (“saved, safe”) + facio (“make”).

Less well recognized, however, is the central role played in much of early medieval Pure Land Buddhism by deathbed practices and accompanying beliefs about the radical salvific power of one's last nenbutsu, whether understood as the contemplation of the Buddha Amitābha (or Amitāyus, Jpn. Amida) or the invocation of his name.

2004, Jacqueline I. Stone, “By the Power of One's Last Nenbutsu: Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan”, in Richard K[arl] Payne, Kenneth K[en'ichi] Tanaka, editors, Approaching the Land of Bliss: Religious Praxis in the Cult of Amitābha (Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism; 17), Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawai‛i Press, →ISBN, page 77:

(chiefly Catholicism) Able or intending to provide salvation or redemption.


Confucianism

en-noun

Confucianism (countable and uncountable, plural Confucianisms)

A third important part of Confucianism is the concept of chun tzu or "ideal gentlemanly behavior." Confucius believed that the ideal man "is kind and upholds moral principles. He is a man who loves learning, who is calm and perfectly at ease and constantly careful of his own conduct, believing that by example he has great influence over society."

1981 September 27, “Humanism is still alive and well”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXII, number 38, Taipei, page 2:

The philosophy and teaching of Confucius, which emphasizes self-cultivation, collective harmony, righteousness and the family structure.

The Chinese New Year holiday period, being disrupted this year by the outbreak of a viral illness, has evolved over more than 3,000 years to become the most important of China’s traditional festivals.
As celebrated in China and in many other places where its known as the Lunar New Year, it is largely a secular holiday, yet it includes rituals and traditions that derive from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as from ancient myths and folk religions.

2020 January 23, David Crary, “Chinese New Year secular now but kept religious underpinning”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-06-15:

The school of thought and philosophy centered on Confucian principles, originating in China, including later teachings of scholars such as Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi).

A saying, epithet or idea attributed to Confucius.


Hiram

From Biblical Hebrew חִירָם (Ḥirám, “high-born”), possibly from Phoenician, or a shortened form of אֲחִירָם ('aḥirám, “brother of the exalted”).

bor

Harm. It wasn't even a nickname. It was just the way folks had always pronounced his first name Hiram, in mountain dialect, a long "i" sound blending the two syllables into an aspirated breath.

1994, Sharyn McCrumb, She Walks These Hills, Scribner's, →ISBN, page 8:

A male given name from Hebrew, taken into use by Puritans in the seventeenth century.


Omar

From Arabic عُمَر (ʕumar). Doublet of Umar.


prosphora

From Ancient Greek προσφορά (prosphorá, “offering”), from πρός (towards) + φέρω (bring).

der

a holy bread; a small loaf of leavened bread, used for communion in Orthodox Church. Usually consists of two layers, symbolizing the dual nature of Christ.


mother superior

en-noun

mother superior (plural mothers superior or mother superiors)

mothers superior (plural)
mother superiors (plural)

A nun in charge of a priory or convent; either a prioress or an abbess.


de-Christianise

en-verb

de-Christianise (third-person singular simple present de-Christianises, present participle de-Christianising, simple past and past participle de-Christianised)

de-Christianises (present singular third-person)
de-Christianising (participle present)
de-Christianised (participle past)
de-Christianised (past)

(transitive) To make unchristian or non-Christian.


conservator

From Middle English conservatour, from Anglo-Norman conservatour, from Latin cōnservātor (“one who conserves”), agent noun from cōnservō (“I preserve”).

(Roman Catholicism) A judge delegated by the pope to defend certain privileged classes of persons from manifest or notorious injury or violence, without recourse to a judicial process.


sacramental

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sacramental.wav

From Old French sacramental, from Ecclesiastical Latin sacrāmentālis.

But under the twofold pressure of solafideism’s rejection of "good works" for the sake of merit and sola scriptura’s denial of anything not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, sacramentals such as images, relics, blessings, and pilgrimages became the objects of the dissenters' most bitter condemnation and scorn.

1997, James Monti, The king's good servant but God's first:

The activities in this strategy immerse the young people in the many sacramentals that are part of the daily, weekly, and seasonal Catholic individual and communal religious expressions.

2000, Michael Theisen, Exploring Catholicism, page 17:

(Christianity, chiefly Roman Catholicism) An object (such as holy water or a crucifix) or an action (such as making the sign of the cross) which is regarded as encouraging devotion and thus spiritually aiding the person who uses it.

sakramentalo

an object or action which spiritually aids its faithful users


Benedictine

From French bénédictin, from Latin benedictus, named after Italian 6th century Saint Benedict of Nursia (Latin: Benedictus Nursiae). Recorded in English from the 17th century.

A monk or nun belonging to the order founded by Saint Benedict of Nursia.

A type of liqueur originating from the Benedictine cloister of Fécamp in France, made from cognac together with herb and spice extracts.


Benedictine

Of or pertaining to St. Benedict of Nursia.

բենեդիկտյան

of or pertaining to St. Benedict of Nursia

Of or pertaining to the Benedictine Order.

բենեդիկտյան

of or pertaining to the Benedictine Order


beatify

beatify (third-person singular simple present beatifies, present participle beatifying, simple past and past participle beatified)

beatifies (present singular third-person)
beatifying (participle present)
beatified (participle past)
beatified (past)

From French béatifier, from Medieval Latin beātifico (“I bless”).

(transitive, Roman Catholicism) To carry out the third of four steps in canonization, making someone a blessed.

beatificar

to take step in declaring a person a saint


Benedictus

From Ecclesiastical Latin benedictus (“blessed, praised”), from benedīcō (“I speak well (of)”).

bor

(Western Christianity) The Gospel canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68–79), with the incipit Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel (“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel”).

(Western Christianity) The second part of the Sanctus, beginning, Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini (“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”), and historically often sung as a separate piece of music.


consociation

en-noun

consociation (countable and uncountable, plural consociations)

PIE word
 *ḱóm
Borrowed from Latin cōnsociātiōnem, the accusative singular of cōnsociātiō (“alliance; association, union”), from cōnsociō (“to make common; to associate; to connect, join (in), unite; to agree with; to share”) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions). Cōnsociō is derived from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several things) + sociō (“to ally, associate; to join, unite; to share in”) (from socius (“associated; joining in, sharing, partaking; akin, kindred, related; allied, confederate, leagued, united”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”)).

der

(countable, Christianity) A confederation of Christian churches or organizations.

In Connecticut some of the Congregational churches are associated in consociations and the others in associations.

The Consociation was another meeting of the clergy, but embracing also with each minister a lay delegate, and thus uniting, not only the ministry, but the laymen of the county, in a general fraternal religious conference.

1869, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “One Minister in Cloudland”, in Oldtown Folks, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 451:

Congregational church
Congregational church

(US, Congregationalism, specifically) A voluntary, permanent council made up of representatives of neighbouring Congregational churches for mutual advice and co-operation in ecclesiastical matters; also, a meeting of pastors and delegates from churches thus united.


satori

en-noun

satori (usually uncountable, plural satoris)

Borrowed from Japanese 悟り (satori, “understanding; (Buddhism) enlightenment, satori”), from 悟る (satoru, “to perceive; to comprehend, understand; to come to enlightenment”), from Middle Chinese 悟 (nguH, “to become aware, apprehend, realize; to awaken”) (modern Mandarin 悟 (wù)), used to translate Pali bodhi (“supreme knowledge”) or its etymon Sanskrit बोधि (bodhi, “perfect knowledge or wisdom by which a person becomes a buddha or jina; enlightened or illuminated intellect of a Buddha or jina”).
Sense 3 (“mutant gene of Drosophila that causes homosexual behaviour in males”) was coined by the Japanese scientist Daisuke Yamamoto in a 1991 paper, based on the Japanese term.

coinage

[B]y his ſublime underſtanding and reputed great knovvledge in divine myſteries he obtain'd, and ſtill keeps, the name and repute of a Godo, that is, a perſon bleſs'd vvith a divine and moſt accute underſtanding, vvhom they ſuppoſe to be able to find out by his Satori, or Enthuſiaſtic Speculations, ſuch miſterious truths, as are far beyond the reach of common knovvledge.

1727, Engelbertus Kæmpfer [i.e., Engelbert Kaempfer], “Of the Temples and Clergy of this City”, in J. G. Scheuchzer [i.e., Johann Caspar Scheuchzer], transl., The History of Japan, […], volume I, London: […] [F]or the translator, →OCLC, book IV (Of Nagasacki, […]), page 308:

He [Darma or Bodhidharma] lived only upon vegetables, and thought this to be the higheſt degree of Holineſs, to paſs days and nights in an uninterrupted Satori, that is, a contemplation of the Divine Being.

1727, Engelbertus Kæmpfer [i.e., Engelbert Kaempfer], “[The Appendix […].] I. The Natural History of the Japanese Tea; with an Accurate Description of that Plant, Its Culture, Growth, Preparation, and Uses.”, in J. G. Scheuchzer [i.e., Johann Caspar Scheuchzer], transl., The History of Japan, […], volume II, London: […] [F]or the translator, →OCLC, § 2, page 3:

"Slim your hips the Zen way," Juliana said. "Lose pounds through painless satori. I'm sorry, Miss Davis. I'm woolgathering."

1962, Philip K[indred] Dick, chapter 3, in The Man in the High Castle, 1st Mariner Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, published 2011, →ISBN, page 31:

It was as if [Neal] Cassady […] was in a state of satori, as totally into this very moment, Now, as a being can get.

1968, Tom Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus and Giroux, →OCLC, page 102:

Zen teaches that we are all already enlightened, some of us simply don't choose to realize it. If we choose to embrace Satori, then we are enlightened.

1999, Scott Shaw, “Mushin”, in Samurai Zen, Boston, Mass.: Weiser Books, →ISBN, page 142:

Satori and Zen seem to have such an intimate relationship in Japan that when somebody says "satori," everybody immediately associates it with Zen, and vice versa. […] For Shakyamuni, satori wasn't something peculiar only to himself. His was the satori of life inclusive of himself and all things. That is something that truly goes beyond the discrimination of our minds.

2004, Kōshō Uchiyama, “The World of Intensive Practice”, in Daitsu Tom [Thomas] Wright, Jisho Warner, Shohaku Okumura, transl., Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice, Somerville, Mass.: Wisdom Publications, →ISBN, page 68:

(uncountable, Zen Buddhism) A sudden inexpressible feeling of spiritual enlightenment or understanding, the result of meditation and study.


custos

(Roman Catholicism) A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a custody of the order.


Colossians

(biblical) The twelfth book of the New Testament of the Bible, an epistle to the people of Colossae which is attributed to Paul the Apostle.

歌罗西书

Gŏ̤-lò̤-să̤ Cṳ̆


Sina

And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 7:30:


carene

From Medieval Latin carēna (“40-day fast; remission of such a fast”), from Late Latin quadragēna (“40-day period, Lent”) or quarantena (“40-day period”), from Latin quadrāgēnus (“40 each”), from quadrāgintā (“four tens, forty”). Doublet of quadragene and quarantine.

der

(Catholicism, historical, rare) A 40-day fast or period of similar abstinence.

You have with much labour, and some charge, purchased to your self so many Quadragenes or Lents of pardon; that is, you have bought off the penances of so many times forty dayes. It is well; but were you well advised, it may be your Quadragenes are not Carenes; that is, are not a quitting the severest penances of fasting so long in bread and water; for there is great difference in the manner of keeping a penitential Lent, and it may be you have purchased but some lighter thing; and then if your demerit arise to so many Carenes, and you purchased but mere Quadragenes, without a minute and table of particulars, you may stay longer in Purgatory than you expected... And they that read... will soon perceive that all this is but a handful of smoke, when you hold it, you hold it not.

1664, Jeremy Taylor, A Disswasive from Popery to the People of Ireland, page 93:

Careen (and its Latin source, quadragene) no longer made sense in the fifteenth century because priests no longer distributed punishments in forty-day parcels, the duration of Lent... the culture had shifted from brief punishments on earth to long punishments in the afterlife, in Purgatory. But the term was still in circulation, and people sought to make sense of it by inventing new definitions for it.

2016, Kathryn M. Rudy, Rubrics, Images, & Indulgences in Late Medieval Netherlandish Manuscripts, pages 47–8:

(Catholicism, historical, rare) An indulgence from 40 days of fasting or similar abstinence, especially during Lent; (later) various equivalent indulgences against punishment in Purgatory.


CKJV

(biblical) Initialism of Chinese King James Version (of the Bible).


calamus

en-noun

calamus (usually uncountable, plural calamuses or calami)

Learned borrowing from Latin calamus (“reed, cane”), from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos). Doublet of culm, haulm, helm (Etymology 4), qalam, and shawm.

dbt

(Christianity, historical) Synonym of fistula (“tube for sucking Eucharist wine”).


maharishi

From Sanskrit महर्षि (maharṣi, “great seer”) from महा (mahā, “great”) + ऋषि (ṛṣi, “saint, seer”).

His lineage of teachers and masters included several famous maharishis.

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 66:


seminarian

I realized this all too well when as a seminarian I got stuck with the job of recruiting the washees for a Maundy Thursday service. It's much easier to be the one down on the floor with the basin[…]

1995, Margaret Guenther, Toward Holy Ground, page 43:


Jansenism

From the mid-seventeenth century, therefore, disputes about Jansenism turned into a struggle for the soul of the French Church, now vigorously resurgent against a steadily more beleaguered Reformed Protestantism.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 798:

The Catholic doctrines of Cornelius Jansen and his followers, which emphasise original sin, divine grace and predestination; condemned as a heresy by Pope Innocent X in 1653


dalmatic

From Middle French dalmatique, from Ecclesiastical Latin, derived ultimately from the name of the province of Dalmatia.

He had [...] dalmatics of white satin and pink silk damask, decorated with tulips and dolphins and fleurs-de-lis [...].

1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray:

A long wide-sleeved tunic, which serves as a liturgical vestment in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches and is worn by a deacon at the Eucharist or Mass and, although infrequently, by bishops as an undergarment above the alb.


cessationism

(Christianity) The belief or teaching that the visible miraculous works of the Holy Spirit (such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and divine healing) have ceased.


Advent calendar

en-noun

Advent calendar (plural Advent calendars)

Probably a calque of German Adventskalender, the modern tradition having originated in 19th-century Germany.

A calendar used to count down the days of Advent, having windows revealing a hidden picture or gift on each day.

адве́нт-календа́рь

note that since Christmas in Russia is in January and was prohibited in Soviet times Advent calendars are untraditional for Russians


devo

The 246 daily devos help you dive deep for treasure to keep. Every devo starts with a fun saying that will help you learn and remember the meaning of one small slice of the Bible.

2007, Emmett Cooper, The One Year Make It Stick Devotions, Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, page 13:

I used to hate doing devos, but now I just have to do devos. When I don't, it just feels like something's wrong.

2016, Mick Schultz, Ministry Training Academies: Equipping Kids for Ministry, Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, →ISBN:

Consider this: If a friend asked you to do a devo with them for a month, how would you feel? […] Call your devo-partner (or better yet, take a WEEKEND WALK together) and spend some time reflecting on the past week.

2022, Drew Hill, Alongside Jesus: Devotions for Teenagers, Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, →ISBN:

(Christianity, informal) A devotion; a devotional; a piece of religious text used for devotion, or the time spent on reading and reflecting on such text.


theopanism

From theo- + pan- + -ism. First used as a technical term by the Jesuits in elucidating Hinduism.

The belief that the universe emanates from, or is a projection of, God.


Golgotha

* From the Ancient Greek Γολγοθᾶ (Golgothâ) from the Aramaic גּוּלְגּוּלְתָּא (gulgultā).
* (rooms of the heads of the colleges; a hat): Punning on "the place of the skulls/heads".

der

גּוּלְגּוּלְתָּא

Aramaic גּוּלְגּוּלְתָּא (gulgultā)

sense

"And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha"

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 19:17:

(biblical) The hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.


Demiurge

/ˈdɛmɪˌɝd͡ʒ/

From Ancient Greek Δημιουργός (Dēmiourgós), see demiurge.

For the rest, we meet in the Demiurge of the Valentinians all the traits of the world-god with which we have by now become familiar and can therefore deal here very briefly

2001, Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion: The message of the alien God, page 191:

(Gnosticism) A prideful, inferior being that creates the material world; frequently identified with the creator God of the Hebrew Bible.


Lughnasadh

From Irish Lughnasadh (obsolete form of Lúnasa (“August”)), from Old Irish Lugnasad.

The Celtic people of Ireland viewed they year in two equal halves, Samhain, side of dark, and Beltaine, side of light. Dividing these halves are the harvest festival of Lughnasadh and the spring festival of Imbolc. The Celtic year begins November 1st, but I have started my collection in the fall harvest festival of Lughnasadh, a time of year where memories abundant dance in my head like the leaves in which my brothers and I played.

1998, Kelly Ann McMillin, Seasons of Time, Lulu.com, page i:

It was first light and the kitchens were alive with activity, this was Thar's day, the day of the festival of Lughnasadh, the beginning of a new year.

2012, Tony Collins, The Lost Crystal: Key to the ancient world of Thar Cernunnos, AuthorHouse, page 203:

August brings us to the eighth month of our modern calendar and the celebrations of the first harvest at Lughnasadh and the Corn Moon.

2014, Lotuswulf Satyrhorn, Tribes of the Moon: A Book of Otherkin Coventry, Seasonal Rituals and Lunar Magick for All 13 Months, AuthorHouse, page 138:

A Gaelic/Celtic holiday celebrated on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the summer solstice and autumnal equinox, during the time of the harvesting.

lúnasa

holiday near the midpoint between summer solstice and autumnal equinox


jumbo

Returning to the villa, we were greeted by a party which frightened the boys. It was the Moco Jumbo and his suite. The Jumbo was on stilts, with a head, mounted on the actor's head, which was concealed: the music was from two baskets, like strawberry baskets, with little bells within, shook in time. The swordsman danced with an air of menace, the musician was comical, and Jumbo assumed the "antic terrible," and was very active on his stilts.

1806, William Young, “A Tour through the Several Islands of Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Antigua, Tobago, and Grenada, in the Years 1791 & 1792”, in Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies. […] In Four Volumes, volume IV, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed and sold by James Humphreys, […], →OCLC, page 257:

[A]nother Krooman came hurrying up, holding out a wooden image with a few bits of grass round its neck, and exclaiming, "Wurra! Wurra! Jumbo hang in fetische-house, sure he make much finish die." […] Jumbo was an uncouthly-carved figure of a man, about a foot in height, sitting cross-legged like a tailor, with ears preposterously large, the Kroo mark down the forehead and nose, and a piece of looking-glass fixed in the thorax and abdomen.

1845 April, “Delta” [pseudonym], “Krooman versus Boobie. A Scene at Fernando Po.”, in P. L. Simmonds, editor, Simmond’s Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany, volume IV, number 16, London: Simmonds & Ward, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 487–488:

(paganism, historical) Short for mumbo jumbo (“a deity or other supernatural being worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol representing such a being”).


divine right

(Christianity, political science, philosophy) The Christian doctrine that monarchs have a God-given right to rule, that they are answerable only to God, and that rebellion is sinful.


black friar

Named from the black mantles that they wore over white woollen habits.

A member of the religious order of the Dominicans.

доминиканец

a member of the religious order of the Dominicans


mendicant order

en-noun

mendicant order (plural mendicant orders)

Any religious order whose members depend on begging or charity.


falda

From Italian falda, from a Germanic language; compare fold.

A white silk vestment worn by the pope, which is a long skirt, worn over the cassock, extending beneath the hem of the alb, reaching to the ground.


binitarianism

(chiefly Christianity) The belief, particularly among some Christian churches (also called cults, denominations, or sects) that God is two personae (persons), two individuals, or two aspects in one Godhead (or God), these being God the Father and God the Son (Jesus Christ).


unitarianism

unitarianism (countable and uncountable, plural unitarianisms)

Some New England congregations embraced Unitarianism (the belief in a unitary God as opposed to a holy trinity), and some of those moved on to Unitarian Universalism[.]

2011, Colin Woodard, chapter 15, in American nations, New York: Penguin, →ISBN:

The belief in a single God, not divided into any aspects, particularly when presented as a contrast to Christian trinitarianism.


trinitarianism

trinitarianism (countable and uncountable, plural trinitarianisms)

(theology) The monotheistic Christian doctrine that defines God as three divine persons or hypostases: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

kolminaisuusoppi

doctrine of three persons or hypostases in one Godhead


missal

From Old French messel (“book of the Mass”).

(Catholicism) A book containing the prayers and responses needed when celebrating the Roman Catholic Mass throughout the year.


duotheism

duotheism (usually uncountable, plural duotheisms)

Belief in the existence of two deities. This often refers to the belief in a god and goddess of roughly equal power, as is the case in Wicca.


Smartism

A denomination of the Hindu religion whose adherents follow the Vedas and Shastras, primarily the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Adi Shankara.


transtheism

Back-formation from transtheistic, a term coined by Heinrich Zimmer for the theological system in Jainism.

Beyond theism or atheism, belief in one or more deities which transcend the universe and yet are also immanent; belief in a panentheistic God.


brit milah

From Hebrew בְּרִית מִילָה (literally “covenant of circumcision”).

bor

בְּרִית מִילָה

(Judaism) The Jewish ceremony of circumcision normally performed on the eighth day of life.


cloistral

en-adj

cloistral (comparative more cloistral, superlative most cloistral)

more cloistral (comparative)
most cloistral (superlative)

Ultimately from Latin claustrālis (“of the cloister”), probably via Middle French cloistral. Doublet of claustral

1606, Samuel Daniel, The Queen’s Arcadia, in The Poetical Works of Mr. Samuel Daniel, London: R. Gosling, 1717, The Epistle, pp. 151-152,
… it is in that Kind [of Words], as best accords
With rural Passions, which use not to reach
Beyond the Groves, and Woods, where they were bred
And best become a Cloistral Exercise,
Where Men shut out retir’d, and sequestred
From publick Fashion, seem to sympathize
With innocent and plain Simplicity:

1766, Thomas Amory, The Life of John Buncle: Esq., London: J. Johnson and B. Davenport, Volume 2, Section 3, p. 56,
As to the marriage of the friars in this cloystral house, their founder, Ivon, in my opinion, was quite right in this notion.

Coming straight from the convent, she had gone in behind the high walls of the manor-house that was almost more cloistral than any convent could have been.

1915, Ford Madox Hueffer [i.e., Ford Madox Ford], chapter II, in The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, →OCLC; republished Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, 1972 (1982 printing), →ISBN, part III, page 126:

[T]he three men followed, rushing into the hall, pausing, bringing with them into its stale and cloistral dimness something of the savage summer sunlight which they had just left.

1932, William Faulkner, chapter 19, in Light in August, [New York, N.Y.]: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, →OCLC; republished London: Chatto & Windus, 1933, →OCLC, page 438:

Of, pertaining to, resembling or living in a cloister.

klášterní

of, pertaining to, or living in a cloister


chedi

From Thai เจดีย์ (jee-dii), from Pali cetiya (Devanagari spelling: चेतिय (cetiya)), from Sanskrit चैत्य (caitya, “hall, temple, or place of worship”).

der

A Thai Buddhist monument similar to a stupa.

စေတီ

a Thai Buddhist monument similar to a stupa


magick

en-noun

magick (countable and uncountable, plural magicks)

Actual magic or sorcery in fiction or in e.g. Wicca, neopaganism or modern witchcraft, as opposed to illusion or stage magic.


magick

Relating to actual magic or sorcery in fiction or in e.g. Wicca, neopaganism or modern witchcraft, as opposed to illusion or stage magic.


granthi

The person who reads the sacred scripture at a Sikh religious ceremony.


Guru Granth Sahib

Transliteration of Punjabi ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ (gurū granth sāhib), from ਗੁਰੂ (gurū, “guru”) + ਗ੍ਰੰਥ (granth) + ਸਾਹਿਬ (sāhib, “sahib”).

translit

ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ

af

The main religious scripture of Sikhism.


hospitaller

From Middle English hospiteler, from Middle French hospitalier; equivalent to hospital + -er.

Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God

A member of any of several religious orders that cared for the sick in hospitals.


candy cane

(US, Canada) An edible candy in the shape of a cane or staff, generally consumed during Christmas time and usually having a peppermint flavor.


Talibanization

The process of converting something, especially a government or culture, into something based on the fundamentalist Islamic teachings of the Taliban.


Talibanized

en-adj

Talibanized (comparative more Talibanized, superlative most Talibanized)

more Talibanized (comparative)
most Talibanized (superlative)


sufferation

Borrowed from Jamaican Creole sofarieshan.

bor+

In this time of economic hardship, there is only sufferation upon the land.

Lockdown remind you that what make you brothers is not blood but sufferation.

2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 332:

(Rastafari, Jamaica, nonstandard) Suffering, especially due to poverty or repression.


fitna

en-noun

fitna (countable and uncountable, plural fitnas)

Borrowed from Arabic فِتْنَة (fitna, “sedition, strife”).


Candomblé

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese Candomblé, from Kimbundu kandombe + Yoruba ilé (“house”), meaning “candombe house”.

bor+

It wasn’t until the 20th century that mainstream society began to tolerate expressions of Candomblé in an effort to recognize Brazil’s African heritage and cultivate a stronger Brazilian national identity, said Luis Nicolau Parés, a professor of anthropology at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, who wrote a book about Candomblé.

2024 May 18, Orlando Mayorquín, quoting Luis Nicolau Parés, “Backlash to Anitta’s Music Video Evokes a Painful History in Brazil”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A religion, practiced mostly in Brazil, that blends African and Roman Catholic elements.


temporale

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin temporāle, substantivisation of temporālis (“of or pertaining to time”).

The third and final volume of the temporale employs a different stave height and was clearly written later.

2003, Pia Palladino, Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, →ISBN, page 53:

In the Roman rite, this period of the year is known as ‘ordinary time’ and, like the Old Hispanic rite, mostly uses quotidian materials for the temporale.

2022, Emma Hornby, Raquel Rojo Carrillo, “The Liturgical Year in the Old Hispanic Rite”, in Emma Hornby et al., editors, Understanding the Old Hispanic Office: Texts, Melodies, and Devotion in Early Medieval Iberia, →ISBN, page 37:

(Roman Catholicism) A cycle of texts to be read or chanted at liturgical services on particular weeks and movable feasts throughout the year; a book that contains this cycle.


treyf

From Yiddish טרייף (treyf), from Hebrew טְרֵפָה (trēfáh).

The casserole looked delicious, but Moishe wouldn't eat it because it was treyf.


theurge

He acknowledged Christ to be a most excellent man, the friend of God, the admirable theurge; he denied, however, that Jesus designed to abolish entirely the worship of demons...

1803, Johann Lorenz Mosheim, translated by Archibald Maclaine, An Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern, from the Birth of Christ to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century, page 174:

The father was known simply as a philosopher, the son as a theurge...

1995, Brian P. Copenhaver, Trismegistus Hermes, Hermetica, Cambdridge: University Press, page xxv:

In other words, the theurge makes himself known to and recognized by the gods, like the mysta in his initiation, by means of 'symbols', signs or passwords (synthemata).

1996, Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire, Blackwell Publishing, page 285:

In this process the human mediator's own role was significantly increased from that of middleman theurge to god-imitating demiurge, not only bringing the images to life inside himself in the form of an “inner sculpting,” but...giving them external form as spirits as well.

2001, Victoria Nelson, The Secret Life of Puppets, Harvard University Press, page 54:

One who works miracles, or persuades a god or spirit to perform a supernatural work.

теу́рг

one who works miracles, or persuades a god or spirit to perform a supernatural work


haoma

Transliteration of Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀 (haoma). Doublet of soma.

translit

The offering of haoma was a common practice among Achaemenids; the Haumavarga Scythians probably owe their name to the fact that they did not press the plant but strewed it ritually (HOFFMANN 1975).

1999, Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible: DDD, page 384:

(Zoroastrianism) A plant associated with the divinity Haoma.


neo-pagan

1901, J. A. Symonds, American Journal of Sociology 6, page 560,
The Italian Renaissance produced a brief but astounding burst of neo-pagan individualism.

The neopagan impulse of the classical revival.

1877, J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy iv. 193

Of or relating to neo-paganism, a modern form of paganism.


neo-pagan

1868 April 5, William James, letter, in R. B. Perry (ed.), The thought and character of William James as revealed in unpublished correspondence, together with his published writings 1842–1910, (1935), volume I, page 268,
The very persons who would most writhe and wail at their surroundings if transported back into early Greece, would, I think, be the neo-pagans and Hellas worshipers of today.

An adherent of neo-paganism, a modern pagan.


psychopomp

From Latin psȳchopompus, from Ancient Greek ψῡχοπομπός (psūkhopompós), from ψῡχή (psūkhḗ, “soul”) + πομπός (pompós, “conductor”).

com

It is generally assumed that the sun goddess functions in the Shapash hymn as psychopomp, transporter of the dead to and from their netherly abode.

1994, Brian B. Schmidt, Israel's Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition, page 84:

These intermediaries take various forms: the psychopomps of the Neo platonists, the angelic beings of ritual magic, the spirit guides of theosophy, the aliens of modern Ufologists, and the neopagan gods which are a feature of late twentieth-century alternative thought.

1996, Juliette Wood, “Chapter One: The Concept of the Goddess”, in Sandra Billington, Miranda Green, editors, The Concept of the Goddess, page 8:

For most of us, Dr Wilder Penrose was our amiable Prospero, the psychopomp who steered our darkest dreams towards the daylight.

2000, J. G. Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 3:

Characteristically, the shaman is a healer, a psychopomp (someone who guides the souls of the dead to their home in the afterlife), and more generally a mediator between her or his community and the world of spirits (most often animal spirits and the spirits of the forces of nature).

2001, James R. Lewis, Odd Gods: New Religions & the Cult Controversy, page 323:

This is an allusion to Hermes as the guide of souls, the psychopomp; an important element of Hermes' nature that receives only this scant mention in the Hymn. To understand Hermes as psychopomp we must get to the root of the Hermes of life and death.

2012, Dennis L. Merritt, Hermes, Ecopsychology, and Complexity Theory, volume 3, page 43:

(religion) A spirit, deity, person, etc., who guides the souls of the dead to the afterlife.


High Mass

A Roman Catholic or Anglo-Catholic Mass celebrated in full ceremonial form, in which the celebrant is generally assisted by a deacon and, in the Tridentine form, a subdeacon, and accompanied by acolytes, a thurifer, and a choir.

grand-messe

a Catholic Mass celebrated in full ceremonial form

(loosely) Any sung Mass, including a Missa Cantata.


Saint Stephen's Day

en-proper noun

Saint Stephen's Day (countable and uncountable, plural Saint Stephen's Days)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Saint Stephen's Day.wav

"Feeding the Wren" is a custom based on the legend of Saint Stephen, who was hiding in a bush and betrayed to his enemies by a wren. On Saint Stephen's Day, December 26, the young children gather together, obtain a wren, and place it in a cage on top of a bush while they go from door-to-door collecting money which will be used for charity.

1991, Stephen M. Crotts, Saint Nicholas Speaks, Lima, Oh.: C.S.S. Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 17:

St. Stephen's Day
St. Stephen's Day#English


subdeacon

Originated 1275–1325 from Middle English subdecon and -dekene, from Late Latin subdiāconus. See sub- + deacon.

(Catholicism, chiefly historical) A Catholic clerical rank in the major orders below that of a deacon.

(Catholicism, chiefly historical) A Catholic cleric who assists the deacon at High Mass and normally reads the Epistle at the Eucharist.

alidiakoni

(Anglicanism) A layperson who acts as an assistant to the deacon during the celebration of mass.

(Eastern Orthodoxy) The highest of the minor orders below that of a deacon.


Festival of Lights

From the importance of candles or light during the celebrations.

[…] celebration of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights[.]

1996, Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans: Primary Readings:

One of our more Judaically advanced cellmates gave us insightful lessons about the laws and customs of the Festival of Lights.

2012, Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul, →ISBN:

2000, Meenal Pandya, Here Comes Diwali: The Festival of Lights:

Invite a practicing Hindu from your community to speak about the Festival of Lights.

2001, Elizabeth A. Raum., Every Day a Holiday:

2008, Dianne M. MacMillan, Diwali: Hindu Festival of Lights:


Christmas cracker

en-noun

Christmas cracker (plural Christmas crackers)

(British, Canada, New Zealand) A table decoration, in the form of a large paper sweet wrapper, constructed around a cardboard tube typically containing a paper hat, silly joke and a small novelty or toy; a pair of people pull the ends of the cracker causing an embedded device to make a crack sound as the cracker breaks in two and the contents are released.


Christmas season

Christmas season (plural Christmas seasons)

(US, informal, retail and marketing) The winter season starting around Thanksgiving (typically Black Friday) and ending at or about New Year's Eve.


Boxing Day

Perhaps because of boxes that were placed outside churches to collect special offerings tied to St. Stephen's Day; or because of the old British custom of tradesmen collecting “Christmas boxes” of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service, mentioned by the English diarist Samuel Pepys (1633–1703).

There are plenty of discounted Christmas items in the Boxing Day sale.

Boxing-day in the London streets, and especially a wet Boxing-day, can scarcely fail to afford us some tableaux vivants illustrative of English metropolitan life. […] Christmas-eve of the year about which I write was bright and springlike; Christmas-day dismal, dark, and un-Christmas-like; but Boxing-day that year was essentially muggy, sloppy, drizzly, and nasty.

1875, Charles Maurice Davies, “Boxing-day on the Streets”, in Mystic London, or, Phases of Occult Life in the Metropolis, London: Tinsley, →OCLC:

On Boxing day, December 26th, 1902, the sixth grand annual pantomime, "Jack & the beanstalk"

[1902], On Boxing Day, December 26th, 1902, the Sixth Grand Annual Pantomime, “Jack & the Beanstalk”: With which is Incorporated the Patriotic Legend, “St. George and the Dragon.” (pantomime programme), Kingston upon Thames, London: [Royal County Theatre], →OCLC, title page:

Think about all those Boxing Day sales, then sit back and relish in the fact that you have enough and that you don't give a shit.

2015 January 5, Steven J. Bennett, “Rule #12: Boxing Day”, in 365 Rules of the New World: If We Had a Chance to Do It All Over Again, Would We Do It Right?, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, page 483:

Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26 each year and is a national holiday in the UK. […] Boxing Day is a time to spend with family or friends, particularly those not seen on Christmas Day itself. It is also a day to eat left over turkey. […] Boxing Day is also a time when the Brits show their eccentricity by taking part in all kinds of bizarre traditions including swimming the icy cold English Channel, or running into the sea, fun runs and charity events. December 26 is a big day for sales too. Dramatic price reductions lure out millions of shoppers who even queue for hours before the shops open.

2016 December 22, Chloe Kerr, “More turkey! Where does Boxing Day get its name, what are its origins and how is it celebrated?”, in The Sun, London:

The day after Christmas; the 26th of December.

يَوْم اَلصَّنَادِيق

the day after Christmas: 26 December — see also St. Stephen's Day


probabilistic

en-adj

probabilistic (comparative more probabilistic, superlative most probabilistic)

more probabilistic (comparative)
most probabilistic (superlative)

From probabil(ity) + -istic and probabil(ism) + -istic.

(religion) Of or pertaining to the Roman Catholic doctrine of probabilism.


St. Stephen's Day

en-proper noun

St. Stephen's Day (countable and uncountable, plural St. Stephen's Days)

And the Commonalty having renewed their Petition on the Friday following, being Chriſtmas Day: And the King's Will being known, and his Warrant obtained, the ſaid Charter, which confirmed the Perambulation, was ſealed on Saturday, being St. Stephen’s Day, in a little Houſe near the Severn, belonging to the Prior of Worceſter, […]

1717, William Nelson, “Purlieu”, in Manwood’s Treatise of the Forest Laws: Shewing Not Only the Laws Now in Force, but the Original of Forests, What They are, and How They Differ from Chases, Parks, and Warrens; with All Such Things as are Incident to Either; …, 4th corrected and enlarged edition, in the Savoy [i.e., London]: Printed by E[lizabeth] Nutt (executrix of J[ohn] Nutt, assignee of Edward Sayer, Esq;) for B. Lintott at the Cross-Keys, R. Gosling at the Mitre and Crown, J. Pemberton at the Buck and Sun, all in Fleet-street; and L. Ward in Inner-Temple-Lane, →OCLC, paragraph 83, pages 283–284:

[…] Dugdale, in his Origines Judiciales, gives a long and particular account of the revelry at the Temple, on each of the twelve days of Christmas, in the year 1562. It appears from this document, that the hospitable rites of St. Stephen's Day, St. John's Day, and Twelfth Day, were ordered to be exactly alike; and as many of them are in their nature perfectly rural, there is every reason to suppose they were observed, to a certain extent, in the halls of the country gentry, and substantial yeomanry.

1821, Sholto Percy [pseudonym; Joseph Clinton Robertson], Reuben Percy [pseudonym; Thomas Byerley], The Percy Anecdotes. Original and Select, London: Printed for T. Boys, Ludgate Hill, →OCLC, page 163:

That order of the Church is the proper one, which disposes men to earnest meditation, which causes men to feel the weight of truth and be humbled under it; and that order is an unworthy one, which occupies the popular mind with deaneries and bishoprics, Michaelmases and Epiphanies, St. John's days and St. Stephen's days. If a preacher wish to present the doctrine of divine sovereignty to his hearers, he must let it pervade all the exercises of the Sabbath, […]

1844 May 28, Edwards A[masa] Park, A Discourse Delivered in Boston before the Pastoral Association of Congregational Ministers in Massachusetts, May 28, 1844, 2nd edition, Andover, Mass.: Allen, Morrill & Wardwell, →OCLC, page 25:

Late in the morning of St. Stephen's Day, Marc mounted his horse, ready to leave Windsor, Cecily, and all of Angleterre.

2015, Blythe Gifford, chapter 13, in Whispers at Court, Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Historical, →ISBN, page 170:

Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church

(Christianity) A Christian holiday commemorating Saint Stephen the protomartyr (first Christian martyr; died 34 C.E.), falling immediately after Christmas Day (on December 26 in the Western Church and on December 27 in the Eastern Orthodox Church).


Shintoism

The origin of the Doll Festival reaches back to the crude days of Shintoism.

1925, Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, A Daughter of the Samurai, page 237:


Elisha

From Biblical Hebrew אֱלִישָׁע (Elisha').

(biblical) A prophet, a disciple and successor of Elijah.


schismatic

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

From Middle English scismatik with etymological respelling, from Middle French scismatique, from Latin schismaticus, from Ancient Greek σχισματικός (skhismatikós), from σχίσμα (skhísma, “cleft, division”). The music sense is based on schisma, from the same ultimate Greek source; compare schism.

der

(religion) Of or pertaining to a schism.


schismatic

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

He semeth a sysmatyke
Or els an heretike,
For fayth in hym is faynte.

c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 17–19:

Amid heretics and schismatics, spoilers of the church’s lands, and scoffers at saints and sacraments, there remains a remnant.

1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 267:

(religion) A person involved in a schism.


baptism of fire

en-noun

baptism of fire (plural baptisms of fire)

Derived from English translations of the New Testament, namely the Gospels of Matthew (3:11) and of Luke (3:16); from Ancient Greek through Latin; presumably from Aramaic.

(Christianity) The gift of the Holy Spirit.

And the Father's counselor suggested that he invite you along to help: sort of a re–baptism of fire, so to speak.

2013, “Mammy?”, in Mrs. Brown's Boys, season 3, episode 5, spoken by Father Damien (Conor Moloney):

(Christianity) Tribulation endured as spiritual discipline.


Tobiah

From the Hebrew name טוֹבִיָּה (Toviyyah, “Yahweh is good”).

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

An Ammonite mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah. (biblical character)


Ten Commandments

Calque of Biblical Hebrew עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים ('aséret had'varím, “the ten items”), from Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13 and Deuteronomy 10:4.

cal

עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים

(biblical) A particular list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to the Old Testament of the Bible or the Hebrew Bible, were twice given or dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and inscribed on two stone tablets.


prolation

en-noun

prolation (countable and uncountable, plural prolations)

/pɹəʊˈleɪʃən/

From Latin prolationem, from the past participle stem of proferre (“bring forward, produce”).

(obsolete, theology) The production or emission of the logos or divine word.


confessionary

/kənˈfɛ.ʃən.ɛə̯ɹ.iː/

/kənˈfɛ.ʃən.ɛə̯ɹ.iː/

la Cadiere told her that almost every Night before me went into the Confessionary, F. Girard embraced and kiss'd her

1732, Marie-Catherine Cadière, A Compleat Translation of the Sequel of the Proceedings […] :


confessionary

/kənˈfɛ.ʃən.ɛə̯ɹ.iː/

/kənˈfɛ.ʃən.ɛə̯ɹ.iː/


Little Christmas

(Ireland) January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany.


commissary

From Late Latin commissarius, from commissus, past participle of committō (“to commit, entrust to”). Doublet of commissar.


Thessalonians

(biblical) Books in the New Testament of the Bible (1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians), epistles to the Christians in ancient Thessaloniki.


sectary

Either from the French sectaire or directly from its etymon, the Medieval Latin sectārius, from secta (“sect”). Cognates include the Italian settario and the Portuguese and Spanish sectario.

(Christianity) A Protestant dissenter or nonconformist.


Judeo-Christian

Ferdinand Christian Baur
Judeo-Christian

After a German term coined by Ferdinand Christian Baur in an 1831 issue of the Tübinger Zeitschrift für Theologie. Also Judeo- + Christian.

From all I can see there is but one way to bring about the object of the Society, that is by erecting a Judæo Christian community, a city of refuge, where all who wish to be baptized could be supplied with the means of earning their bread.

1821 October 17, Alexander M'Caul, “Extract of a Letter From Mr. M'Caul”, in The Jewish Expositor, and Friend of Israel, volume V, page 478:

He said, that in converting the Jews one should not compel them to change their ancient customs, as circumcision, and keeping the seventh day, for the Abysinians circumcise, and keep the seventh day ; in short, one ought to establish a Judeo-christian church.

1829, Joseph Wolff, Missionary Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, Missionary to the Jews, volume III, London: James Duncan, page 314:

She and Fabrice and even Mosca are incapable of acting meanly, a thing that carries no weight in the Judaeo-Christian scheme of morals.

1939 July 27 [2017 February 4], George Orwell, George Orwell: An age like this, 1920-1940, David R. Godine Publisher, →ISBN, page 401:

And of course, the Baha'i Faith claims to be the fulfillment of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

1992, Thomas Tai-Seale, Thy Kingdom Come: A Biblical Introduction to the Bahá'í Faith, page 235:

(Judaism, Christianity) Of or pertaining to Judaism and Christianity.


Judeo-Christian

Even the great devotion of the Judeo-Christians to Jesus did not separate them from Judaism.

2012, Bernard Beck, chapter 1, in True Jew: Challenging the Stereotype, illustrated edition, New York: Algora Publishing, →ISBN, page 25:

(Judaism, Christianity) Somebody who follows both Judaism and Christianity.

giudeocristiano

I myself have found what is variously called Neo-Paganism, Wicca, the Old Religion, etc. a source of joy, strength, and purpose. My life is not perfect, but it is far better than being hung up on sin, guilt, and other such bullshit, and going through bizarre intellectual gymnastics trying to reconcile being gay with being a Judeo-Christian.

1980 December 13, Patrick Alther, “Gay, Pagan And Proud”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 21, page 4:

No matter what religion people belong to, if they do not accept any formal religion, or even if they are Agnostics, Atheists, or Anti-theists, most Americans and Europeans use the word “God” with the Judeo-Christian definition. This does not mean that everyone who uses this word believes in that particular God or that there is any God. This volume discusses God in terms used by Judeo-Christians, as understood by them.

2006, Edward Nagell, Destiny, volume 2, 1094 New DeHaven Street, Suite 100, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2713: Infinity Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:

(Judaism, Christianity) Somebody who is either Judaist or Christian.


seven virtues

(Catholicism) The seven heavenly virtues: the three theological and four cardinal virtues.

Meronyms: chastity, temperance, generosity, diligence, patience, kindness, modesty

(Catholicism) The seven capital virtues; the virtues that are opposed to, or are remedies of, the seven deadly sins.


Radha

(Hinduism) Hindu goddess of love and devotion, Grand Consort of god Krishna, Avatar of Lakshmi.

A female given name from Sanskrit used in India.


kashrut

Borrowed from Hebrew כַּשְׁרוּת (kashrut).

bor+

(Jewish law) The Jewish dietary laws, stating which foods are fit to eat.


Calvinism

en-noun

Calvinism (countable and uncountable, plural Calvinisms)

From French calvinisme, equivalent to Calvin + -ism.

The Christian religious tradition based upon the doctrines and forms of Christian practice of several Protestant reformers, especially John Calvin, in contrast to Catholicism, Lutheranism, Anabaptism, and Arminianism. One distinctive trait of the system is its Augustinian doctrine of predestination, which teaches that God has elected some for salvation, apart from anything they do or believe.


stigmatization

stigmatization (countable and uncountable, plural stigmatizations)

the stigmatization of Saint Francis

(theology) The production of stigmata upon the body.


ecclesiological

en-adj

ecclesiological (comparative more ecclesiological, superlative most ecclesiological)

more ecclesiological (comparative)
most ecclesiological (superlative)


xian

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 縣／县.

Tight and dense motifs occur on bronzes excavated in 1923 from a tomb at Lijialou at Xinzheng Xian in southern Henan attributed to the small state of Zheng.

1987, Jessica Rawson, “The Eastern Zhou Period”, in Chinese Bronzes: Art and Ritual, British Museum Publications, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 47:

At the time of the elections (1980) Nanjing was subdivided into three suburban counties (xian) and nine urban districts (qu).

1990, Barrett L. McCormick, “Elections to Local People's Congresses”, in Political Reform in Post-Mao China: Democracy and Bureaucracy in a Leninist State, University of California Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 138:

The Henan Mongol autonomous county (xian) is inhabited by Tsoros Mongols, and there are Ööld Mongols in the Huzhu autonomous county.

2017, Alan J. K. Sanders, Historical Dictionary of Mongolia, 4th edition, volume I, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 700, page 274:

(China, Taiwan) An administrative subdivision of imperial, republican, and communist China roughly equivalent to counties, now distinguished from the more urban "districts" (qu). (Alternative form of hsien for Taiwan (ROC).)


xian

(sometimes derogatory or offensive) Alternative form of Xian: Christian.


xian

But what an epoch in the xian world—what a time for a xian Orator to make a deep & eternal impression on socity^([sic]).

1993, Mary Moody Emerson, edited by Nancy Craig Simmons, The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson, Athens: University of Georgia Press, page 242:


ecclesiology

en-noun

ecclesiology (countable and uncountable, plural ecclesiologies)

The branch of theology concerned with the doctrines, role etc. of a church.


Kemetic

Pertaining to ancient Egypt's religion, culture, or language, whether Ancient Egyptian or the modern Coptic language and its dialects.


cenobitic

en-adj

cenobitic (comparative more cenobitic, superlative most cenobitic)

more cenobitic (comparative)
most cenobitic (superlative)


Shamsher Jang

From the Hindi शमशेर जंग (śamśer jaṅg, “sword of war”), from Classical Persian شمشیر جنگ (šamšēr jang). It was part of the full title of the Maharaja of Travancore.

uder

(Hinduism) A Hindu princely title, Sword of War.


calvaria

en-noun

calvaria (plural calvariae or calvarias)

From Latin calvāria (“skull”). Doublet of calavera and calvary.

CD105 Thy1- progenitor populations derived from regions of the fetal mandible or calvaria that do not undergo endochondral ossification formed only bone without marrow in our assay.

2008 December 10, Charles K. F. Chan et al., “Endochondral ossification is required for haematopoietic stem-cell niche formation”, in Nature, volume 457, number 7228, →DOI:

(anatomy) The dome or roof of the skull, the skullcap.


Ark of the Covenant

¶ Then Solomon assembled the Elders of Israel, and all the heads of the Tribes, the chiefe of the fathers of the children of Israel vnto Ierusalem, to bring vp the Arke of the Couenant of the Lord, out of the citie of Dauid, which is Zion.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 5:2:

Indiana Jones: The city of Tannis is one of the possible resting places of the lost Ark.
Eaton: The lost Ark?
Jones: Yeah, the Ark of the Covenant, the chest the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments in.
Musgrave: What do you mean the Ten Commandments? You mean the Ten Commandments?
Jones: Yes, the actual Ten Commandments, the original stone tablets that Moses brought down out of Mount Horeb and smashed if you believe in that sort of thing.

1981, 19:23 from the start, in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Action-adventure), →ISBN, →OCLC:

The story was true: In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a British expedition set out for Jerusalem to find the ark of the covenant, only to fail, spectacularly, in 1911, in an eruption of political turmoil and religious animosity.[…]
The expedition may have had an impact on British foreign policy in the region, Andrew said when we talked, and it helped spawn the world’s ongoing fascination with the ark of the covenant (and Indiana Jones).

2021 October 31, Olivia Parker, “What Happens When Everyone Is Writing the Same Book You Are?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-11-01, Essay:

(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) The sacred container, a gold-plated wooden chest, of the two tablets of law (the Ten Commandments) given to Moses by the Hebrew God.

𐕜𐔰𐕗𐔰𐕎𐔲𐔼 𐔳𐔰𐔲𐕒𐕡𐕘𐕒𐔺

the sacred container, a gold-plated wooden chest


millenarian

en-adj

millenarian (comparative more millenarian, superlative most millenarian)

more millenarian (comparative)
most millenarian (superlative)

/mɪlɪˈnɛːɹɪən/

Franciscans coming from Iberia were particularly prone to the millenarian enthusiasm which gripped southern Europe around 1500, and which the Franciscan Order had so long fostered. They believed that they were living in the End Times […]

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 699:

Mirandola cultivated a Dominican friar, Savonarola, whose millenarian visions had provoked revolution: in the wake of France's invasion, he had inspired a popular uprising in Florence, its ruling Medici family replaced by a people's republic.

2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 108:

(Christianity) Pertaining to the belief in an impending period of one thousand years of peace and righteousness associated with the Second Coming of Christ and his reign on earth.

milenial

pertaining to the belief in an impending period of one thousand years of peace and righteousness associated with the Second Coming of Christ and his reign on earth


Midrashic

Midrashic (comparative more Midrashic, superlative most Midrashic)

more Midrashic (comparative)
most Midrashic (superlative)

Like the rabbis, the Christians used midrashic techniques to enable Jews to move forward.

2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage, published 2010, page 86:

(Judaism) Of or pertaining to a Midrash or to Midrashim.


Obon

It was coming up to Obon, and spirits were cruising about like travelers arriving at the airport with their suitcases, looking for a place to check in. Obon was their summer vacation, too, when they could come back from the land of the dead to visit us here, in the land of the so-called living.

2013, Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, Canongate Books (2019), page 222:

(Buddhism) A Japanese festival to honour the spirits of one's ancestors.


Nimrod

Blake's depiction of the biblical Nimrod, whom Erdman traces to Young's poem, recalls Milton's Paradise Lost.

1993, G. A. Rosso, Blake's Prophetic Workshop: A Study of The Four Zoas, page 80:

In the fourth century St. Ephraim the Syrian wrote, in his commentary on Genesis, that Nimrod 'ruled in Erekh which is Orhay (Edessa)'.[…]In Jewish and thereafter in Moslem tradition, Nimrod was the foe of Abraham.

2005, J. B. Segal, Edessa: The Blessed City, page 1:

The historical facts testify that they were highly developed; Nimrod, a descendant of Ham, therefore making him Hamitic, was the first human king not just of Bible record, but secular history also speaks of him. He ruled over a kingdom that included several cities in Mesopotamia.

2010, Khamit Raamah Kush, Faces of the Hamitic People, unnumbered page:

(biblical) A grandson of Ham; a mighty hunter and king of Shinar.


burn in hell

en-verb

burn in hell (third-person singular simple present burns in hell, present participle burning in hell, simple past and past participle burned in hell or burnt in hell)

burns in hell (present singular third-person)
burning in hell (participle present)
burned in hell (participle past)
burned in hell (past)
burnt in hell (participle past)
burnt in hell (past)

Ted could die and burn in hell as far as I was concerned.

2011, Joyce Turner, Pain Through A Child's Eyes, →ISBN, page 136:

For some people, salvation is little more than fire insurance— they don't care about this life, they just don't want to burn in hell.

2011, Max Lucado, 3:16 Participant's Guide: The Numbers of Hope, →ISBN:

I was only about eight years old but the message was loud and clear, “If you die without knowing Jesus as your savior, you will burn in hell for eternity!”

2012, Bill Petite, A Rose in the Desert, →ISBN:

(literally) To spend the afterlife suffering in hell.


haram

Borrowed from Arabic حَرَام (ḥarām). Doublet of herem.

In case of necessity it is permissible to change one's madhhab or to do a few things according to another madhhab. It is haram to cheat in order to omit a fard or commit a haram.

2003, M. Sıddık Gümüş, Advice For The Muslim, page 258:

In Arabic, haram is the noun derived from the verb hrm, the opposite of what it allowed.

2012, Manal Hamzeh, Pedagogies of Deveiling: Muslim Girls and the Hijab Discourse, page 82:


haram

I can’t speak about sex with my friends in Arabic. The words are too heavy and culturally loaded. It all sounds haram (sinful).

2005, Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules, Taylor & Francis e-Library, →ISBN, page 135:

[…] collateral assets must not be debt, cash or prohibited as haram (sinful activity) and must not be associated in any way with unethical or exploitative operations or with speculation and uncertainty (gharar) […]

2007, Andreas Jobst, The Economics of Islamic Finance and Securitization:

A year ago, the Party didn't even exist; some Salafi preachers had deemed democracy haram—forbidden under Islamic law.

2012 April 30, Wendell Steavenson, “Radicals Rising”, in The New Yorker:

(Islam, fiqh) Forbidden by Islam: unlawful, sinful.


madrasah

Borrowed from Arabic مَدْرَسَة f (madrasa, “school”), a noun of place from the verb دَرَسَ (darasa, “to learn, to study”).

(Islam) A school for any kind of teaching, at any grade level; usually specifically a school that teaches Islamic theology.


solifidian

From Latin sōlā fidē (“only by faith”) + -ian.

Julian upbraided the Chriſtians that they were Solifidians; and the Church of Rome layes upon us this aſperſion, that we are againſt good works; indeed we plead not for the merit of them, but we are for the uſe of them.

1671, Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes, page 204:

A person who believes that faith alone (as opposed to good deeds) brings salvation.


solifidian

Believing, or relating to the belief, that faith alone (as opposed to good deeds) brings salvation.


Nevi'im

Hebrew נְבִיאִים (n'vi’ím, “Nevi'im”, literally “prophets”)

uder

(biblical) A subdivision of the Hebrew Testament (Tanakh) that is known in English as the Prophets. This section is subdivided into two sections, the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The Latter Prophets is further subdivided into the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets (known as the Twelve).


Thoth

Via Latin Thōth from Ancient Greek Θώθ (Thṓth), from Egyptian ḏḥwtj (“Thoth”, literally “he who is like the ibis”). Compare Coptic Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ (Thōout).

der

(Egyptian mythology) The ancient Egyptian moon god of wisdom, learning, and magic, usually depicted as an ibis or baboon.


Ketuvim

(Judaism) A subdivision of the Hebrew Testament (Tanakh), known in English as "The Writings." It is composed of Songs (Psalms, and Song of Solomon), Proverbs, and eight other books of the Bible that were written near the close of the canon. These scriptures are viewed as less authoritative than the Torah.


symbolics

From French symbolique or Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (sumbolikós, “of or belonging to a symbol”).

uder

(theology) The study of that branch of historic theology which treats of creeds and confessions of faith.


aseity

en-noun

aseity (countable and uncountable, plural aseities)

From Medieval Latin aseitas (“state of being by itself”), from Classical Latin a se + -itas.

der

He is Spiritual, for were He composed of physical parts, some other power would have to combine them into the total, and his aseity would thus be contradicted.

1902, William James, “Lecture XVIII: Philosophy”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 439:

(metaphysics, theology) Usually ascribed to deity: the attribute of being entirely self-derived, in contrast to being derived from or dependent on another; the quality of having within oneself the entire reason for one's being; utter independent self-existence and self-sustenance.


mitzvah

en-noun

mitzvah (plural mitzvahs or mitzvot or mitzvoth or mitzvos)

mitzvahs (plural)
mitzvot (plural)
mitzvoth (plural)
mitzvos (plural)

Borrowed from Hebrew מצווה (mitsvá, “commandment”).

She called Penansky regularly to remind her to observe the mitzvahs.

1988 September 2, Florence Hamlish Levinsohn, “A Special Connection With God”, in Chicago Reader:

(Judaism) Any of the 613 commandments of Jewish law.

mitsvà

any of the 613 commandments of Jewish law

‘You heard about them pulling my license. That was indirectly Joel. Who, without meaning to, did me such a mitzvah.’

2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, Vintage, published 2014, page 17:

(Judaism) An act of kindness, a good deed.


Aesculapius

Learned borrowing from Latin Aesculāpius.

lbor

(Roman mythology) The god of medicine and healing. Greek counterpart: Asclepius.


Conformist

(religion, historical) In English history, a person whose religious practices conformed with the requirements of the Act of Uniformity and who was therefore in concert with the established Church of England, as opposed to those of the Nonconformists, whose practices were not acceptable to the Church of England.


co-create with God

en-verb

co-create with God (third-person singular simple present co-creates with God, present participle co-creating with God, simple past and past participle co-created with God)

co-creates with God (present singular third-person)
co-creating with God (participle present)
co-created with God (participle past)
co-created with God (past)

(Christianity) To work to create things or bring about circumstances, with the attitude that one is doing God's work.


bubbe meise

Borrowed from Yiddish באָבע־מעשׂה (bobe-mayse).

bor+

If you look ahead to the second book of the Maccabees, you will see that Judah did not embrace the life of the tzaddik […] No, Judah discovered […] that war, not holiness, is good business. He spent the years after the Maccabean victory pillaging whatever small settlements happened to strike his fancy. So if some Hebrew school teacher feeds you full of bubbemeises about the Jews only having enough sacred oil to light the eternal flame for one day […] don't believe it for a minute.

1988 December 4, Liz Galst, “Lesbian Maccabee Unmasked!”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 21, page 7:

(Judaism) An old wives' tale; a fairytale.


balteus

Borrowed from Latin balteus (“belt, girdle”).

(biblical) The girdle of a biblical Jewish priest.

(Roman Catholicism) The subcinctorium, a papal garment.


Christianese

Anthony answered, 'Talking Christianese is being the Church. Don't you think Church matters?' Fred said, 'Not when you define the Church as a group having Christian experiences. You need someone to tell you what Christianity is before you can define a group's experiences as Christian.'

2003, Helen K[atharine] Bond, Seth D[aniel] Kunin, Francesca Aran Murphy, editors, Religious Studies and Theology: An Introduction, New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 500:

I often ran them off with my self-righteous attitude or scared them away with Christianese language […]

2007, Dan C. Gilliam, “Friendship: A Superhero Faith”, in God Touches: Finding Faith in the Cracks and Spaces of Life, Cincinnati, Oh.: Standard Publishing, →ISBN, page 180:

Reasons for departure were simply expressed in "Christianese": "The Lord is leading us to fellowship elsewhere," "The Spirit is moving us on," and so on.

2007, Mike Minter, A Western Jesus: The Wayward Americanization of Christ and the Church, Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 8:

(Christianity, informal, slang) The terms, catchphrases and theological jargon used by some Christians, commonly from Christian theology and influenced by popular translations of the Bible.


felix culpa

en-noun

felix culpa (plural felix culpas or felices culpae)

felix culpas (plural)
felices culpae (plural)

Borrowed from Latin fēlīx culpa (“happy fault”), via Roman Catholic theology.

(religion) The Biblical story of the fall of Adam and Eve and the loss of the Garden of Eden, known theologically as the source of original sin - meaning that this loss of innocence was a fortunate fall because of the good that would come from it, that is, Christian redemption and the eventual hope of Heaven.


papistry

papistry (countable and uncountable, plural papistries)


papistic

en-adj

papistic (comparative more papistic, superlative most papistic)

more papistic (comparative)
most papistic (superlative)

The old papistic worship.

1774-1781, Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry:

(derogatory) Being of or connected with the Roman Catholic faith.


papistical

papistical (comparative more papistical, superlative most papistical)

more papistical (comparative)
most papistical (superlative)


papism

(often derogatory) the Roman Catholic faith


classis

Borrowed from Latin classis. Doublet of class.

At Utrecht and Breda there was strong pressure from the Dutch Reformed Church to exclude from employment British preachers who refused to take membership in the classis.

1982, Keith L. Sprunger, Dutch Puritanism:

(religion) An ecclesiastical body or judicatory in certain churches, such as the Dutch Reformed Church. It is intermediate between the consistory and the synod, and corresponds to the presbytery in the Presbyterian church.


historicism

en-noun

historicism (countable and uncountable, plural historicisms)

Calque of German Historismus, historic + -ism.

(theology) A method of interpretation in Christian eschatology which attempts to associate Biblical prophecies with actual historical events and symbolic beings with historical persons or societies.


renovation

renovation (countable and uncountable, plural renovations)

/ˈɹɛnəveɪʃən/

Borrowed from Latin renovatio, renovationem.


Eos

From Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs, “Greek goddess of the dawn”), from ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn, daybreak; morning; day; east”). Doublet of Aurora.

der

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of the dawn; daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios and Selene, wife of Astraeus (god of the dusk), and mother of the four Anemoi ("Winds"), and the five Astra Planeta ("Wandering Stars/Planets"). Her Roman counterpart is Aurora.


consubstantial

en-adj

consubstantial (comparative more consubstantial, superlative most consubstantial)

more consubstantial (comparative)
most consubstantial (superlative)

From Latin consubstāntiālis, from con- + substāntia (“substance”).

I have no more made my booke, then my booke hath made me. A booke consubstantiall to his Author[…].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 18, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:


lord of the flies

Calque of Biblical Hebrew בַּעַל זְבוּב (baʿal zəḇûḇ, “fly-lord, Beelzebub”), which in turn is a mistranslation of the name of the Semitic devil Baal-zevuv.

calque

בַּעַל זְבוּב

(idiomatic, biblical) a ruler over a worthless kingdom; leader of a meaningless microcosm.


name it, claim it

(Christianity) A catch phrase of the Christian Word of Faith movement, a statement of faith and affirmation.


sloka meter

(poetry, Hinduism) A Sanskrit meter consisting of two lines of sixteen syllables each.


Prod

Clipping of Protestant, as pronounced in an accent with flapping.

"I don't want my daughter marrying a dirty Prod," he said.

'Could be a lot of things,' McCormack said. 'Still, it narrows things down. Probably a Prod […]'.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 47:

It was sound advice for anyone visiting Northern Ireland in 1999 and remains so today: do not refer to Protestants as “Prods”, or to Catholics as “Fenians” or “Taigs”, and whatever you do don’t refer to your visit as “being out here”.

[2023 August 23, Rory Carroll, “Files reveal terms ministers were warned not to use in Northern Ireland”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(Ireland, UK, slang, sometimes derogatory) A Protestant, (as termed by Roman Catholics), that is in the context of their religious beliefs, or those who have been born in the Protestant tradition, or sometimes those implied to be Protestant by their political ideology of Irish unionism or Ulster loyalism.


Anubis

From Latin Anūbis, from Ancient Greek Ἄνουβις (Ánoubis), from Egyptian jnpw, i-n:p-w-E16

(Egyptian mythology) In the mythology of ancient Egypt, the god of the dead and tombs, commonly depicted with the head of a jackal.


Hail Mary

en-noun

Hail Mary (plural Hail Marys or Hail Maries)

Hail Marys (plural)
Hail Maries (plural)

“What did the priest, and all of you, keep on saying when we first went in?” / “Our Fathers, Hail Maries, and Glorias; couldn’t you hear?” asked Emily, laughing. / “No, I should think not, you rattled on so fast- What are Hail Maries and Glorias?” / “The Gloria you know well enough, my dear, because you say it in your church at the end of every psalm,” replied Miss Horton; “the Hail Mary is a prayer to our Blessed Lady,” and she repeated it.

1872, F. A., chapter V, in Marion Howard; or Trials and Triumphs, Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham, […], page 100:

And if I say ten Hail Marys / Leave a light on in Heaven for me

1987, Gary Clark (lyrics and music), “Mary's Prayer”, performed by Danny Wilson:

(Christianity) A prayer calling for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.


let go and let God

en-verb

let go and let God (third-person singular simple present lets go and lets God, present participle letting go and letting God, simple past and past participle let go and let God)

lets go and lets God (present singular third-person)
letting go and letting God (participle present)
let go and let God (participle past)
let go and let God (past)

(idiomatic) To consciously surrender one's free will to the will of God.


Cheesefare

Cheesefare Saturday

Cheesefare Sunday

Cheesefare Week

(Orthodoxy, attributive) In the Christian Orthodox churches, the day before the Lenten fast, traditionally the last day on which cheese and other animal products may be eaten until Pascha (Easter).


BoM

(Mormonism) Initialism of Book of Mormon.


PEC

He also wants the full-time missionaries to attend not only PEC and ward council but also auxiliary meetings.

2007 August, R. Val Johnson, “How to Be a Great Member Missionary”, in Ensign, pages 50–55:

(initialism, Mormonism) Priesthood Executive Committee.


saving grace

en-noun

saving grace (countable and uncountable, plural saving graces)

(theology) God's grace or blessing, enabling sinners to attain salvation.


Mohammad

Alternative spelling of Muhammad (the prophet who introduced Islam).


Delilah

Borrowed from Hebrew דְּלִילָה (d'līla, “[she who] weakened”).

bor

"Leila!" she said enigmatically. "Have you seen her?" / "I went to her flat last week with Dad—he likes her." / "Delilah is her real name, you know. All men like her. And Captain Fort is her lover."

1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter I, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part III, 1 §, page 220:

A female given name from Hebrew of Biblical origin.


Christer

The village people called his father 'Righteous Christer,' which shows that he too must have been 'stiff as a tree' in following what he knew to be right.

1917, L. V. Hodgkin, A Book of Quaker Saints:

(sometimes derogatory) A Christian who publicly displays his or her religion.

fundamentalist

person who publicly displays his religion


vale of tears

Douay–Rheims Bible
Mary, mother of Jesus
Psalm 84
Salve Regina

Calque of Latin lacrimārum vallis from the “Salve Regina” (a hymn to the Virgin Mary), based on Hebrew עמק הבכא (ʿēmeq habbāḵāʾ) from Psalm 84:6 of the Bible. The Hebrew term may mean “valley of the baka tree”, a tree of uncertain species (compare 2 Samuel 5:23–24 where baka is used to refer to a tree, and is often translated into English as “balsam tree”, “mulberry tree”, or “poplar tree”), but ancient Greek translations assumed the word intended was בָּכָה (bakhá, “to cry, weep”) and so rendered the term as “valley of weeping”, which was then used in Latin and English translations. See, for example, the Douay–Rheims Bible (1610) where the verse is numbered as Psalm 83:6.

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Diligently Conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke and Other Editions in Diuerse Languages. 􂀿...􂁀

He [Vitus Theodorus] was called to be a Paſtor at Norinberg, his own country, [...] till it pleaſed God to put an end to his labors, by tranſlating him out of this vale of tears into his Everlaſting Kingdom, Anno Chriſti 1549.

1654, Samuel Clark[e], “The Life of Vitus Theodorus, who Dyed Anno Christi 1549”, in The Marrow of Ecclesiastical History, Contained in the Lives of One Hundred Forty Eight Fathers, Schoolmen, First Reformers, and Modern Divines which Have Flourished in the Church since Christ’s Time to this Present Age: […], 2nd enlarged edition, London: Printed for T. V. and are to be sold by William Roybould […], →OCLC, page 323:

While we ſojourn in this vale of Tears and Sorrow, we are detain'd from the bleſſ'd Sight and Enjoyment of God; and kept from the Happineſs of juſt Men made perfect.

1708 June 4, [Urith Bunchley], A Funeral Sermon upon the Death of Mrs. Urith Bunchley, Daughter to Sir Austin Palgrave, Bart. who Departed this Life May the 21st. Preached at Clavering in Essex, May the 24th, 1708 [Julian calendar]. […] By a Presbyter of the Church of England, London: Printed for S. Bunchley, and are to be sold by J[ohn] Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 10:

But let us recommend all to god, who alone know what ſhall befal in this vale of tears, this evil world we have here, in which there is ſcarce any thing to be found without ſome mixture of iniquity, impoſture, or knavery.

1749, Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, “Of the Strange Adventure, which Befel the Valorous Don Quixote with the Wain or Cart of the Parliament of Death”, in Charles Jarvis, transl., The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. Translated from the Original Spanish […], 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson and S. Draper […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 57:

Body o' me, it makes a man sick of his kind, ashamed to belong to the race of men, to see the envy that abounds in this here sublunary wale^([sic – meaning vale]) of tears!

1832, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XI, in Eugene Aram. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book I, page 192:

We must not call earth a vale of tears. It is neither pious to do so, nor in any respect proper. We might as well, nay, with far greater propriety, call it a field of laughter.

1853, Leigh Hunt, “[Exercises of the Heart in Its Duties and Aspirations.] XXI. Of Tears and Laughter.”, in The Religion of the Heart. A Manual of Faith and Duty. […], London: John Chapman, […], →OCLC, page 61:

I excused myself and dropped to the rear of the procession, sad at heart, willing to go hence from this troubled life, this vale of tears, this brief day of broken rest, of cloud and storm, of weary struggle and monotonous defeat; and yet shrinking from the change, as remembering how long eternity is, and how many have wended thither who know that anecdote.

1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Pilgrims”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC, page 260:

Driven by such a hope, as if refusing to recognize this world as a vale of tears where (as they taught me) even injustice is foreordained by Providence to maintain the balance of things, whose design often eludes us, Salvatore journeyed through various lands, from his native Montferrat toward Liguria, then up through Provence into the lands of the King of France.

1983, Umberto Eco, “In which Adso Receives the Confidences of Salvatore, which Cannot be Summarized in a Few Words, but which Cause Him Long and Concerned Meditation”, in William Weaver, transl., The Name of the Rose: Translated from the Italian, London: Secker & Warburg, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2004, →ISBN, page 180:

So it was steady as she goes as Sally was hustled into bed, and on the stroke of twelve a fourth Aintree child entered this vale of tears.

1999, Dwain Campbell, “Prologue”, in Tales from the Frozen Ocean, St. John’s, Nfld.: Jesperson Publishing, →ISBN, page 10:

As we devour the Earth's resources and despoil the environment, we are driving ourselves into a metaphoric vale of tears.

2005, Daniel Hillel, “Epilogue: The Lasting Relevance of Early Ecological Influences”, in The Natural History of the Bible: An Environmental Exploration of the Hebrew Scriptures, New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 227:

(in the singular) The world, a place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt, especially (Christianity) as a place to be left behind when one dies and goes to heaven.

وادِي دُمُوعٍ

the world as the place where difficulties and the sorrows of life are felt


Jezebel

/ˈd͡ʒɛzəˌbɛl/

Borrowed from Hebrew אִיזֶבֶל ('izével).

“I know if anyone called me a carrot-topped Jezebel, umbrage is the first thing I'd take. Who was Jezebel, by the way? The name seems familiar, but I can't place her.” “A character in the Old Testament, sir. A queen of Israel.” “Of course, yes. Be forgetting my own name next. Eaten by dogs, wasn't she?” “Yes, sir.” “Can't have been pleasant for her.” “No, sir.” “Still, that's the way the ball rolls.”

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XI, in Jeeves in the Offing:

(biblical) The Phoenician princess and Queen of Ancient Israel who appears in the Old Testament (1 Kings & 2 Kings). She incited heresy and lured the Jews away from their God and back to idols.


clergywoman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-clergywoman.wav

An ordained (female) Christian minister; a female member of the clergy.

女牧師

ordained (female) Christian minister, female member of the clergy


jihadist

From jihad + -ist. Attested from the 1910s in the sense of "a mujahid".http://books.google.ch/books?id=LZ1VAAAAYAAJ&q=jihadist&dq=jihadist&hl=de&ei=CHXKTaC3NMnJsgaKj72pAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA
The adjectival sense of "pertaining to the jihadist movement" is from the 1960s.http://books.google.ch/books?id=eN4_AQAAIAAJ&q=jihadist&dq=jihadist&hl=de&ei=XHXKTauaHobBswaNz_SMAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQhttp://books.google.ch/books?id=K-VxAAAAMAAJ&q=jihadist&dq=jihadist&hl=de&ei=G3bKTaGTNtHLswaOndSUAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwADgKhttp://books.google.ch/books?id=pQJyAAAAMAAJ&q=jihadist&dq=jihadist&hl=de&ei=7HXKTefaDsbDswar9-WmAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA.

One who participates in a jihad, an Islamic holy war or conflict; a mujahid.

奋战者 (fènzhànzhě) (a number of other translations exist with a 圣战 "holy war" part)

[…] only a matter of time before Christian jihadists start strapping bombs to their bodies and going off on suicide missions in the name of Jesus Christ.

2006, Anthony Livingston Hall, The Ipinions Journal: 2005: the Year in Review, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 226:

Like Muslim jihadists, Christian jihadists such as these two are willing to sacrifice as they seek to impose their religious tyranny on others.

2009, Robert S. McElvaine, Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America, Broadway Books, →ISBN, page 178:

[…] with Christian jihadists wearing bandoliers, waving real weapons, and waging a literal flesh-and-blood incursion against teachers of false religions.

2010, John F. MacArthur, The Jesus You Can't Ignore: What You Must Learn from the Bold Confrontations of Christ, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN:

By the end of the semester, only one radical Jewish jihadist in my study group kept being a racist pig and attacking me personally in section discussions.

2012, Florian Homm, Rogue Financier: The Adventures of an Estranged Capitalist, FinanzBuch Verlag, →ISBN:

I was prepared to meet a radical atheist jihadist. Would we brawl right there in my hotel room? I half expected just that.

2016, Larry Alex Taunton, The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: The Restless Soul of the World's Most Notorious Atheist, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 94:

[…] and even later evolved into the Jewish jihadist who wrote the Book of Revelation.

2017, Emmanuel Carrère, The Kingdom, →ISBN, page 371:

One who is militant for their religion (or irreligion).


jihadist

en-adj

jihadist (comparative more jihadist, superlative most jihadist)

more jihadist (comparative)
most jihadist (superlative)

Pertaining to the Islamic fundamentalist doctrine of jihadism, which advocates armed jihad.


kingdom come

en-noun

kingdom come (countable and uncountable, plural kingdoms come or kingdom comes)

kingdoms come (plural)
kingdom comes (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-kingdom come.wav

From the phrase “Thy kingdom come” from the Lord’s Prayer which is recorded in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the Bible: see, for example, Matthew 6:10 in the King James Version (spelling modernized): “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven.” By these sentences, Jesus seeks the establishment of the rule of God the Father over the Earth in the future.

оня свят

place that one will go to after one's death — see also afterlife

(uncountable, colloquial) The place that one will go to after one's death; the afterlife.

(figuratively) Death; also, a state of complete annihilation.

"And where are all these brothers and sisters?" demanded the stranger. / "Dead! dead as herrings—gone to kingdom come a precious long time ago.["]

1843, Alfred Crowquill [pseudonym; Alfred Henry Forrester], “The ‘Plummy’”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume XIII, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, part I, page 624:

(Christianity, specifically) Heaven or paradise.

(uncountable, Christianity) The rule of God over the world in the future; especially, according to those believing in millenarianism, during a period of peace beginning with the second coming of Jesus Christ and lasting a millennium.


Ægir

(Norse mythology) A giant and king of the sea, personifying the power thereof. He is the son of Fornjótr, and the brother of Logi and Kári. He has nine daughters — the billow maidens — by his wife, Rán, namely: Bára, Blóðughadda, Bylgja, Dúfa, Hefring, Himinglæva, Hrönn, Kólga, and Unnr.


Coptic

Of or pertaining to the copts, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria or to the Coptic language.

kopt

of or pertaining to the Copts, Coptic Orthodox Church or to the Coptic language

ⲣⲉⲙⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ m (remǹkhēmi, literally “Man of Egypt”) (bohairic)


Coptic

The Afroasiatic language traditionally spoken by the Copts in Egypt, now extinct and used only as a liturgical language.


groundling

From ground + -ling. Compare Old English grundling (“a groundling fish, grundel”).

cog

The BEARDED-LOACH or GROUNDLING. Gobites Barbatula. It is a small fish about five inches long, bearded with six small Threads, three on each side

1681, Nehemiah Grew, Musaeum Regalis Societatis. Or a Catalogue and Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and preserved at Gresham Colledge:

When you angle for a trout, you are to do it as deep, that is, as near to the bottom as you can, provided your bait do not drag, although a trout will sometimes take it in that posture: if for a grayling, you are then to fish further from the buttom, it being a fish that usually swims nearer to the middle of the water, and lies always loose; or, however, is more apt to raise than trout, and more inclined to raise than to descend, even to a groundling.

Fertilized groundling (Misgurnus fossilis) and sturgeon (Acipenser Stellatus) eggs were irradiated (10,000 r) at stages from fertilization to middle gastrulation.

1958, Soviet Physics, Doklady, page 464:

Lopashov (1944) extirpated and grafted neural tubes from several species of teleosts—the groundling, Misgurnus fossilis, the loach, Nemacheilus barhatulus, and the perch, Perca fluviatilis — to determine whether pigment cells were of neural crest origin.

1999, Brian K. Hall, The Neural Crest in Development and Evolution, →ISBN, page 82:

Cobitis taenia
Cobitis taenia#Translingual

Any of various plants or animals living on or near the ground, as a benthic fish or bottom feeder, especially:

The spined loach (Cobitis taenia), weather loach (Misgurnus fossilis), or other member of the loaches.

Charadrius hiaticula
Charadrius hiaticula#Translingual

The ringed plover, Charadrius hiaticula.

The poor plodding groundling, helpless and impotent, is swooped upon at will, day and night, completely wiped out at the whim of the low- flying plane, which soars off leaving complete and utter destruction behind it!

1937, Field Artillery Association (U.S.), The Field Artillery Journal - Volume 27, page 342:

He then enlisted in the air force and served as a groundling in North Africa, Sicily, and England.

2010, Erin Bried, How to Build a Fire: And Other Handy Things Your Grandfather Knew, →ISBN:

Present at the Battle of Jutland, he had been recalled for the duration of this war and, being in the area, he had come to see how his little lad was faring in the sky. I was given permission to fall out and join him, gladly setting aside my groundling's bayonet.

2012, Pat Cunningham, The Fear in the Sky: Vivid Memories of Bomber Aircrew in World War Two, →ISBN:

One who is confined to the ground, especially:

(military, slang) A soldier who fights on the ground or serves as ground crew, as opposed to a seaman, pilot, etc.

It is not good for the groundling to be alone I will make for it a help as its counterpart (2.18).

1993, Athalya Brenner-Idan, Feminist Companion to Genesis, →ISBN, page 47:

The two of them were naked, the groundling and his woman, they were not ashamed.

2010, Margaret Hebblethwaite, Opening the Scriptures: Faith Throughout the Year, →ISBN, page 16:

It isn't until three chapters later that this groundling receives a name—Adam; at that point, the groundling is no longer referred to as “it” in the text, but becomes “him.”

2014, Megan McKenna, Leave Her Alone, →ISBN:

(Abrahamic religions) Adam, before eating the apple of knowledge of good and evil (emphasizing his creation from the ground).


rounder

My daddy was a rounder, he wore a rounder's hat and coat.

1972, Mike Richards (lyrics and music), “Kentucky Hills of Tennessee”:

A Methodist preacher traveling a circuit, also referred to as a circuit rider.


Holy Thursday

From Middle English Holy Thursday, holy Thurysday, hooly þursday, haly þorsday, Hallʒhe Þurrsdaʒʒ, equivalent to holy + Thursday.

(Christianity) Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter


Javan

From Hebrew יוון / יָוָן (yaván), identified with Greece.

he-m

יוון / יָוָן (yaván)


Greek Orthodox

Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Church

Of or relating to the Greek Orthodox Church

græsk-ortodoks

of or relating to the Greek Orthodox Church