otherkin

otherkin (plural otherkin or (nonstandard) otherkins)

otherkin (plural)
otherkins (nonstandard plural)

It appears that many otherkin are unaware of what makes them different. They just know they are not normal humans.

2000, Cara Des'tai, “The Internet goes mythic”, in Fate:

A close friend of mine turned out to be otherkin as well, and I added her to the group so she could discover who she is.

2014, James Vaughan, When Death Calls, →ISBN:

You’ve already told Tumblr that you are definitely, really a wolf with wings; you’ve argued in favor of Otherkin rights and awareness; you’ve become a leader of the Otherkin community.

2015 January 12, Jess Zimmerman, “The internet is fertile ground for the mosaic of allegiances out of which teens build identity”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

In addition to the otherkin identify as animals, there are some who identify as mythical creatures, like dragons, fairies, or vampires; fictionkin, who identify as fictional characters, frequently from anime series or videogames; weatherkin, like Marco, who identify as weather systems; conceptkin, who identify as abstract concepts; spacekin, who identify as celestial bodies; and several other even more obscure categories (musickin, timeperiodkin—the list goes on).

2016 August 4, Callie Beusman, “'I Look at a Cloud and I See It as Me': The People Who Identify As Objects”, in Broadly:

There exists an actual community of people who pretend to be animals and call themselves “otherkins.” As a piece in Vice once put it, “Otherkins are people too; they just identify as nonhuman.”

2017, Matt Walsh, The Unholy Trinity: Blocking the Left’s Assault on Life, Marriage, and Gender, New York, N.Y.: Image, Crown Publishing Group, →ISBN:

One does not conjure up new categories of being lightly, but Laycock does not hesitate and also introduces the concept of ‘otherkins’, “individuals who identify as ‘not entirely human’.” Otherkins have an unorthodox “framework of metaphysical beliefs,” Laycock says, “If it were orthodox they would not be other-kin.”

2019, David Cohen, “The Vampire Develops, Academic Studies and the Poet Flees the Bailiffs”, in The Psychology of Vampires (The Psychology of Everything), Abingdon, Oxon, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN:

The page stretched for thousands of entries by users named Starkin and Faefolk411 and NosferatuReborn, their avatars drawn from luridly-rendered fantasy paintings or sketches of people with horns or hooves or wings. “You ever heard of otherkins? They’re people who identify as part animal or spirit. They claim to be dragons, vampires, elves, that sort of thing.”

2019, Justin Joschko, “Someone Who Likes the Ramones”, in Whitetooth Falls, Carbondale, Ill.: JournalStone Publishing, →ISBN, page 57:

A person who claims or believes that their soul, essence, or identity is non-human.

Otherkin

a person who claims or believes that their soul, essence, or identity is non-human


Islamize

en-verb

Islamize (third-person singular simple present Islamizes, present participle Islamizing, simple past and past participle Islamized)

Islamizes (present singular third-person)
Islamizing (participle present)
Islamized (participle past)
Islamized (past)


Xaverian

From Xavier + -ian, after St. Francis Xavier.

A member of the Xaverian Brothers, a religious order founded in Bruges, Belgium 1839 and dedicated to Catholic education.


therian

From Theria + -ian. From translingual Theria, from Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, “wild beast”).

der

Any member of the taxonomic subclass Theria, the placental and marsupial mammals.


Holy See

The episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent see of the Catholic Church. It is also the sovereign entity headed by the Pope which governs the Vatican and represents the Catholic Church in temporal affairs.


Counter-Reformation

The Counter-Reformation was originally the creation of modern historians. The negative view, adopted by nineteenth-century German, and essentially Protestant, scholars, of those developments in Western Christendom which were opposed to the sixteenth-century Reformation, was characterized by the term ‘anti-Reformation’.

2017, Anthony D. Wright, The Counter-Reformation: Catholic Europe and the Non-Christian World, Routledge, →ISBN, page 1:

(historical) A period of Roman Catholic revival that aimed to combat the Reformation.


Fat Tuesday

(Christianity) The Tuesday before the onset of Lent.


Sacramentarian

From Late Latin sacramentarius, compare French sacramentaire.

(Christianity) One of the German reformers who rejected both the Roman and the Lutheran doctrine of the holy Eucharist.

(Christianity) One who holds extreme opinions regarding the efficacy of sacraments.


Sacramentarian

en-adj

Sacramentarian (comparative more Sacramentarian, superlative most Sacramentarian)

more Sacramentarian (comparative)
most Sacramentarian (superlative)

(Christianity) Of or pertaining to the Sacramentarians.


parol

From Tagalog parol, from Spanish farol (“lantern”).

An ornamental star-like Christmas lantern from the Philippines.

parol

an ornamental star-like Christmas lantern


tazia

From Arabic تَعْزِيَة (taʕziya, “consolation, mourning”).

uder

Gilt and paper presentations of their tombs are borne with shouting and wailing, music, torches, and yells, through the principal thoroughfares of the City; which fakements are called tazias.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, page 437:

‘What is the use of all these reforms, and Conciliation Committees for Mohurram, and shall we cut the tazia short or shall we carry it another route, and Councils of Notables and official parties where the English sneer at our skins?’

1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 107:

A representation of the tombs of Hasan and Hussain (the grandsons of Muhammad), carried in processions for various Islamic festivities.


dayan

A medieval hymn composed by the Dayyan ("Judge") Daniel b. Yehudah of fourteenth-century Rome, recited in the daily morning Preliminary Service, and by some, at the close of the Arvit and Musaf services on Shabbat and festivals.

1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 375:


nativity play

Her most significant role to date had been as a sheep in the school nativity play.

2008 October 4, Kevin Maher, “Dakota Blue Richards has become a girl in 10,000”, in TimesOnline, UK, retrieved 2008-10-14:

(Christianity) A dramatic depiction of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, commonly performed by children in churches and in Christian schools during the Christmas season.


paleochristian

en-adj

paleochristian (comparative more paleochristian, superlative most paleochristian)

more paleochristian (comparative)
most paleochristian (superlative)

Describing the early Christian church, its people, architecture and culture, etc.


simonist

Theologians went on quoting his definition. However, the original simonist, Simon Magus, had made his offer for the Holy Ghost in hard cash...

1978, Alexander Murray, Reason and Society in the Middle Ages, page 64:

(Christianity) One who engages in simony, the purchase of church offices.


Conservative

Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism

(Judaism) pertaining to Conservative Judaism


Aeolus

From the Latin Aeolus, from the Ancient Greek Αἴολος (Aíolos, “moving, swift”).

der

(Greek mythology) The name of a number of characters in Greek mythology, including the founder of the Aeolian race, and a god with power over wind.


Freyr

(Norse mythology) A Vanir god associated with kingship and virility in the North Germanic corpus, in which he rides the shining boar Gullinbursti and wields an antler as a weapon. He is sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr.


Son of God

From Middle English sone of God (also Goddes Sone, Godes Sune, etc.), a reanalysis of Old English Godes Sunu (literally “God's Son”), equivalent to Son + of + God.

(Christianity) Jesus Christ; the Son, considered one of the three persons of the Trinity by Trinitarians.


Quakerly

en-adj

Quakerly (comparative more Quakerly, superlative most Quakerly)

more Quakerly (comparative)
most Quakerly (superlative)

Those pretty curls were not Quakerly.


Mother Nature

But when you’re in a struggle with one of Mother Nature’s challenges — like a virus or a climate change — the goal is not to defeat her. No one can. She’s just chemistry, biology and physics. The goal is to adapt.

2020 April 28, Thomas L. Friedman, “Is Sweden Doing It Right?”, in New York Times:

A personification of nature as woman, emphasizing fertility and fecundity.

Mare Naturalesa

the personification of Nature and the Earth's biosphere as a woman


Confucianist

Confucianist (comparative more Confucianist, superlative most Confucianist)

more Confucianist (comparative)
most Confucianist (superlative)

Related to the teachings of Confucius; Confucian.


Confucianist

A follower of the teachings of Confucius; a Confucian.


logology

en-noun

logology (countable and uncountable, plural logologies)

From logo- + -ology. In the sense “recreational linguistics” popularized by Dmitri Borgmann in Language on Vacation (1965).

Coordinate term: numerology

(religion) The study of words in search for divine truth.

logologia

religion: study of words in search for God


supercosmic

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

The palingenesia having its first and last cause, as palingenesia, in the Incarnation is strictly supercosmic, supernatural, though it presupposes the natural, and like the cosmos has God for its first and last cause.

1861 July 14, “Gioberti's Philosophy of Revelation”, in Brownson's Review, volume 2, number 3, page 310:

For Babbitt then, as for Buddha, there was the cosmic and the supercosmic.

1948, Louis Joseph Alexandre Mercier, American Humanism and the New Age, page 30:

As such, morality is both part of the way things were meant to be (supercosmic) and a part of the way things in fact are (cosmic).

2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, Path of Life: The Way of Wisdom for Christ Followers:

(religion) Extremely cosmic; above the cosmos.


Romish

en-adj

Romish (comparative more Romish, superlative most Romish)

more Romish (comparative)
most Romish (superlative)

From Middle English *Romish, equivalent to Rome + -ish. Compare Dutch Roomsch, Rooms (“Roman”), German Römisch (“Roman”).

the friars of the Romish church

(religion, derogatory, archaic) Of, like, pertaining to, or supporting Romanism or the Roman Catholic Church.


Holi

Borrowed from Hindi होली (holī), from Sanskrit होली (holī).

A Hindu festival, held in the spring, in which people throw coloured powders at each other during noisy street celebrations.


Jumu'ah

From Arabic جمعة (jumuʕa), as in الجمعة (al-jumuʕa).

[T]here was a reasonably priced foot of land from which the raindbow could be seen at night every third jum'a in the month of Rabbi-ul-aker.

1988, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 195:

Then, […] the wind carried to his nostrils from the fires of the troops camped in the valley the desert tang of a camel-dung fire, and with it the plangent cry of a soldier-muezzin calling his saddle-weary brothers to a belated Jumuah.

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 57:

(Islam) The main congregational prayers, held at noon on a Friday.


sukkah

en-noun

sukkah (plural sukkahs or sukkot or sukkoth or sukkos)

sukkahs (plural)
sukkot (plural)
sukkoth (plural)
sukkos (plural)

But on his return to Atil from the summer hordes, the usurper Buljan ordered that his sukkah be erected on the donjon's roof [...].

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 132:

(Judaism) A temporary dwelling or booth used by practising Jews during Tabernacles (Sukkot).


talaq

talaq (countable and uncountable, plural talaqs)

From Arabic طَلَاق (ṭalāq, “divorce”), from the root ط ل ق (ṭ-l-q).

(Islam) An Islamic divorce, sanctioned by the Qur'an.


talaq

en-verb

talaq (third-person singular simple present talaqs, present participle talaqing, simple past and past participle talaqed)

talaqs (present singular third-person)
talaqing (participle present)
talaqed (participle past)
talaqed (past)

Muslim women can be talaqed instantly, and thrown into the streets by whimsical husbands.

1987, Srikanta Ghosh, Muslim Politics in India, page 46:

(Islam) To divorce somebody by these means.


theca

From New Latin, from Latin thēca, from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē, “a case, box, receptacle”), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “put, set, place”). Doublet of tay.

der

(Christianity) A case for the corporal cloth used in the Eucharist.


Jacobite

Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church

(Christianity, dated) A member of the Syriac Orthodox Church, or historically any miaphysite or monophysite. [from 15th c.]

Dawson rightly points […] especially to the semi-separatist Henry Jacob (1563–1624), who in 1616 had founded in Southwark what is regarded as the first Congregational Church in England. These “Jacobites,” as they were called, organized around a group of ordained Anglicans who had fallen out with the established church because of its corruptions.

2022, Jerome McGann, Culture and Language at Crossed Purposes: The Unsettled Records of American Settlement, →ISBN, page 189:

(Christianity, historical) A follower of Henry Jacob, a 16th–17th-century Puritan theologian; an early Congregationalist.


impanation

Cognate of French impanation. From Latin impanatus, a form of the verb impanare (“to impanate”); from im- (“in”) + panis (“bread”).

(Christianity) The actual, substantial presence of the body of Christ with the bread and wine of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper — as opposed to transubstantiation.


tish

Borrowed from Yiddish טיש (tish, “table”). Doublet of desk, dais, disc, dish, and discus.

doublet

YPC's most popular activity has been the monthly Shabbat tish, which turns a Friday evening dinner into a Shabbat experience.

1974, Conservative Judaism, Vol. 28, issues 3-29, p. 78

(Judaism) A festive meal for a religious event, especially Shabbat.


Lanka

(mythology, Hinduism) The island city of Ravana in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana.


religiophobia

From Latin religiō (“moral obligation, worship”) and Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos, “fear”).

uder

Hence it is not necessary for the scientists to develop a sort of religiophobia nor is it necessary for the religious man to develop an attitude of suspicion against science.

1937, A Chakravarti, Humanism and Indian Thought, G.S. Press, page 2

Racial groupthink and "religiophobia"...

In fact he reverses the issue of religiophobia by stating flatly that those who are not against him are for him!

A fear or hatred of religion, religious faith, religious people or religious organisations.


neo-pantheism

The founders of Neo-Pantheism... have no wish for a moment to depreciate the world that has gone before them; and, therefore, not that portion of it which, though they know it not, still subsists in pristine strength, and will alone survive the coming catastrophe!

1838, Nicholas Patrick Wiseman, editor, The Dublin Review, page 353:

But Aristotle's Absolute had personality without will; the Absolute of German neo-pantheism has, or rather is, will without personality; for originally it is without self-consciousness.

1906, Alfred William Benn, The History of English Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century, volume I, Longmans, Green, and Co., pages 243–244:

Neither the God of the old Pantheism nor that of the neo-pantheism of Froebel is the all-seeing, all-loving Father to whom the weary and the suffering turn for rest and consolation.

1912, Mary Fisher, A Valiant Woman: A Contribution to the Educational Problem, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, page 242:

This neo-pantheism is wide-spread enough to induce one of our leading publishing houses to reprint Seeley's "Natural Religion," a treatise once famous but lately out of print.

1917, Durant Drake, “The God of the Future is in the Making”, in Current Opinion, page 246:

Science perhaps never slid as far into neo-pantheism and neo-nihilism as Kelvin feared, and many physicists (and others) retained their confidence in the ether well into the 1920s and 1930s.

2002, Bruce Clarke, Linda Dalrymple Hendersonm, From Energy to Information: Representation in Science and Technology, Art and Literature, page 112:

The "Trinitarian" World of Neo-Pantheism: On Panentheism and Epistemology

2004, Philip Clayton, Arthur Robert Peacocke, Religion, In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being, page 131:

Any revived or reconceived variation of pantheism, the belief that the Universe is sacred and should be revered; any of a number of modern form of present day renditions of pantheism, as distinguished from earlier perspectives.


religious naturalism

An approach to spirituality that is devoid of supernatural elements.


like unto

In the Heavens, in the Earth, in the Waters, under the Earth, is none like unto thee.

1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, Book 1, chapter 6, Aristocracy of Talent:

Truly, the first condition is indispensable, That Wisdom be there: but the second is like unto it, is properly one with it.

1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, Book 3, chapter 12, Reward:

(archaic, chiefly biblical, in adjective or adverb phrases that express resemblance) like, similar to


spiritual naturalism

A calque of French naturalisme spiritualiste (coined by Joris-Karl Huysmans from naturalisme and spiritualiste).

The book embraces a wide range of subjects, ontological, cosmical, theological, spiritual, and social, which are presented in the aspect of a unitary system, the pervading animus of which is a kind of attenuated and semi-spiritual naturalism, which ignores and repudiates any special divinity or sacredness attaching to the teachings of the Bible.

1861, “Davis, Andrew Jackson” (encyclopedia article), in George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana (editors), The New American Cyclopædia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, D. Appleton and Company, Volume VI, page 286

The spiritual philosophy pulls them down, and opens again the fair fields of spiritual naturalism to the contemplation of thinkers.

1869, Epes Sargent, Planchette; Or, The Despair of Science, Roberts Brothers, page 306:

The possibility of a “spiritual naturalism” has been conceived by M. Huysmans.

1891 December, Edward Dowden, “The ‘Interviewer’ Abroad” (magazine article), in John Holmes Agnew and Walter Hilliard Bidwell (editors), The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, page 836

This spiritual version of naturalism is perhaps best formulated in the Laws […] This is a clear statement of spiritual naturalism; and it is combined as […]

1945, Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Volume I: The Spell of Plato:

Spiritual Naturalism, being a rejection of supernaturalism, removes the religious image to further penetrate and intensify […]

2005, Ramun Bjerken, The Archaic Smile: On Spiritual Naturalism, iUniverse, →ISBN, page xiii:

A worldview that reveres nature, without belief in the supernatural.


bhumi

(Buddhism) One of the ten hierarchically arranged stages through which bodhisattva passes to the path to awakening in the Mahayana tradition.


Bhumi

(uncountable, Hinduism) The earth element in the Hindu elemental tradition.


Adullamite

From Adullam + -ite, in the political sense from a speech by John Bright in Parliament on 13 March 1866 deriding the anti-reformist faction of Edward Horsman as a “Cave of Adullam”, i.e. a group of malcontents.

(biblical) An inhabitant of Adullam. Near this town there was a cave where David and his allies sought refuge from Saul.


Christmas cookie

en-noun

Christmas cookie (plural Christmas cookies)

A sugar cookie, usually cut in festive shapes, that is made and eaten at Christmas.


tekke

From Ottoman Turkish تكه (tekke), from Classical Persian تکیه (takya). Doublet of takya, takiyya, and takyeh.

In Turkey, a dervish or Sufi lodge or place of worship; alternative form of takya.


proprium

Man of himself, so far as he is under the influence of his proprium, is worse than the brutes. If man should be led by his own proprium, he could not possibly be saved.

1758, Emanuel Swedenborg, The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine:


Gelug

a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa, a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader.


pome

pome (plural pomes or (heraldry) pomeis)

From Middle English pome (“fruit, meatball”), from Old French pome (“apple”), from Latin pōmum. For the verb, compare French pommer. Doublet of pomme.

(Roman Catholicism) A ball of silver or other metal, filled with hot water and used by a Roman Catholic priest in cold weather to warm his hands during the service.


bairam

Eid, either of two Muslim festivals held after Ramadan.


tió de Nadal

/tɪˌəʊ dɛ nəˈdɒl/

Borrowed from Catalan tió de Nadal, from tió (“log”) and Nadal (“Christmas”).

Another ritual to do with trees is the tió de Nadal, the Yule log that becomes fertile and “craps” sweets and presents;

1991, Catalònia Culture, Centre Unesco de Catalunya, page 13:

A traditional Catalan Christmas character made by decorating a short log. It is “fed” with gifts each day from December 8th until Christmas, at which time it is sung to and beaten with sticks until it “poops”.

tronca de Nadal

a wooden Christmas character that is beaten until it poops gifts


Rastaman

But the most important aspect was that dreadlocks guaranteed a Rastaman was true to himself at all times...

2001, Lloyd Bradley, This is Reggae Music:

If I had known, really, what a Rastaman was, I would have thought this was no place for a Rastaman.

2004, Hank Bordowitz, Every Little Thing Gonna be Alright:


cohen

From Hebrew כוהן \ כֹּהֵן (kohén, “cohen”).

bor

כוהן \ כֹּהֵן

Is anyone here a cohen or a levi?

A Jewish priest: direct male descendant of the Biblical high priest Aaron, brother of Moses.


Falun Gong

/ˈfɑː.lən ɡɒŋ/

/ˈfɑ.lən ɡɔŋ/

Transliteration from Mandarin 法輪功／法轮功 (Fǎlún Gōng) via Hanyu Pinyin. "法輪" is a Chinese term referring to the Buddhist concept dharmachakra, and "功" means gong, a high-level or advanced type of spiritual meditation practice in China.

zh-l

法輪功／法轮功 (Fǎlún Gōng)

Of all the qigong exercises practised in China, Falun Gong is the only one that can have the effect of "the Law refining the practitioner".

1998 May, Li HongZhi, CHINA FALUN GONG (REVISED EDITION) (English Version), Hong Kong: Falun Fo Fa Publishing Co., →ISBN, →OCLC, page 34:

More recently, the Chinese authorities' paranoia in religious matters has become apparent in the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. It was banned in July 1999 and thousands of its members have since been arrested.

2002, Margaret Thatcher, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, HarperCollins, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 174:

As President Bush addressed students at Qinghua University in Beijing on the 30th anniversary of Richard M. Nixon's momentous trip to China, where was the mention of the six Qinghua graduate students recently sentenced in southern China's Xiangzhou District Court, in Zhuhai City, for "utilizing an evil cult to sabotage legal enforcement"? All are practitioners of Falun Gong, the outlawed meditation movement that numbers its followers in the tens of thousands. They had been writing articles about the persecution of Falun Gong members.

2002 February 23, Bei Ling, Andrea Huss, “Warming Up to China, Neglecting Democracy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-11-09, Opinion:

The decision to ban the group entirely was made after 10,000 Falun Gong adherents staged a silent protest outside the gates of Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party’s leadership compound in Beijing, to complain about reports in the state-run media that the group said were defamatory.

2009 April 27, Andrew Jacobs, “China Still Presses Crusade Against Falun Gong”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2011-02-01, Asia Pacific:

李洪志 w:zh:李洪志

A spiritual practice founded in China by Li Hongzhi (李洪志) in 1992, purporting to enable practitioners to ascend spiritually through moral rectitude and the practice of exercises and meditation.

法輪功

ほうりんこう, Hōrinkō; ふぁーるんごん, Fārungon


Chrimbo

The OED cites the first printed usage (of the variant spelling Crimbo) as being in 1928. They give John Lennon's 1963 usage in a Beatles' Fan Club Christmas single as the first recorded use of the variant form Crimble.

The thing is, The Montrose is cracker on a Thursday night, never mind that the Chrimbo lunacy season has kicked off good and proper.

"A Chrimbo pressie for me?" He peeped around the door.

2004, Amanda Boulter, Back Around the Houses:

(British, slang) Christmas, especially with regard to its more secular and commercial aspects.


diatessaron

en-noun

diatessaron (plural diatessarons or diatessara)

diatessarons (plural)
diatessara (plural)

From Latin, from Ancient Greek διά (diá, “through, across”) + τεσσάρων (tessárōn) (genitive plural of τέσσαρες (téssares, “four”)).

uder

(theology) A continuous narrative arranged from the first four books of the New Testament (the canonical gospels).


Kallikantzaros

Borrowed from Greek καλλικάντζαρος (kallikántzaros).

bor

καλλικάντζαρος

In Greek and Cypriot culture, a traditional Yuletide gift-bearing character, resembling a goblin.


Father Frost

Calque of Russian Дед Моро́з (Ded Moróz), literally "Grandfather Frost".

calque

In Slavic culture, a traditional Yuletide gift-bearing character.


Christmas stocking

en-noun

Christmas stocking (plural Christmas stockings)

A stocking hung up by a child on Christmas Eve to be filled with gifts, ostensibly by Santa Claus.

聖誕襪

stocking hung up on Christmas Eve to be filled with gifts


PCC

parochial church council
parochial church council#English

(Church of England) Initialism of parochial church council.


nuntius

Borrowed from Latin nūntius (“messenger”).


culture of death

en-noun

culture of death (plural cultures of death)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-culture of death.wav

(theology) In moral theology, the concept that human life can be a means to some other end and not solely an end itself.


Smriti

(Hinduism) A specific body of Hindu religious scripture.


Smriti

(Hinduism) Any individual text from the Smriti body of Hindu religious scripture.


LDS Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


LDS church

Any of the denominations of Christianity whose teachings and/or organisation derive from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830.


simultaneum

From New Latin simultaneum, from simul (“at the same time”).

(Christianity) The shared use of a church for both Protestant and Catholic services.


Vaisnavara

(Hinduism) A name of the fire-god Agni, in his function as a benevolent power.


nontheistic

The most influential contemporary school of non-theistic philosophers, the school of Comte, deny that either theism or atheism can be proved, and proscribe, with impartial rigour, all argument on either side...

1866 February 15, Peter Bayne, “Critical Notices: The Heavenly Father: Lectures on Modern Atheism”, in The Fortnightly Review, volume 4, number 19, page 119:

If the universe be regarded as self-existing, then men might hold to evolution, which is distinctly non-theistic, if not atheistic, not requiring a God for the reason that it is founded on the assumption that the possibility and potency and promise of all things reside in matter as matter.

1892, Charles Force Deems, “The Outlook of Theology”, in Christian Thought, volume 9, New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, page 440:

But to determine the position and worth of a religion, whether theistic or non-theistic, it is indispensable that we have some notion of what religion is in itself.

1895, Robert Flint, Theism: being the Baird lecture for 1876, 9th edition, William Blackwood and Sons, Lecture II, page 30:

Thus what he called "natural religion" must not be confused with modern brands of naturalistic or nontheistic religion.

1960, Hilary Shelton Smith, American Christianity: 1820-1960, →ISBN, →OL:

The nontheistic tradition of Buddhism generally takes the view that people (with each other's help) can liberate themselves.

1991, Marie Louise Baird, Contemplative Psychology, translation of original by H.F. de Wit, →ISBN, page 156:


anythingarianism

(religion) Beliefs and practices of an anythingarian.


gospelly

en-adv

gospelly (comparative more gospelly, superlative most gospelly)

more gospelly (comparative)
most gospelly (superlative)

The Ceremonies cease, but yet the Creede / Contained therein, continues gospelly, / That make my feeble Spirits will grow frim.

1698, Edward Taylor, “Meditation 25”, in The Poems of Edward Taylor, UNC, published 1989, →ISBN, page 129:

(archaic, Christianity) In the manner of the Gospel


ultramontane

en-adj

ultramontane (comparative more ultramontane, superlative most ultramontane)

more ultramontane (comparative)
most ultramontane (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French ultramontain, from Late Latin ultramontanus.

'Tis no wonder that a Council which had declar'd itſelf ſuperior to the Popes, which had undertaken to try, and even to depoſe them, and had given ſuch great Blows to the Privileges, and to the Authority of the Cardinals, was not relith'd by the Court of Rome, nor approv'd of by the Popes or tlieir Divines, nor by the Ultramontane Canonists.

1730, [1728], Jacques L'enfant, translated by Stephen Whatley, The History of the Council of Constance, volume 1, page ix:

It was by becoming a Catholic that I pacified the Vendee, and a Mussulman that I established myself in Egypt; it was by becoming ultramontane that I won over public opinion in Italy.

1910 [August 13, 1800], Napoleon Bonaparte, The Corsican: a Diary of Napoleon's Life in his Own Words, trans. Robert Matteson Johnston, Houghton Mifflin, pg. 144-145

My friend, a Scottish newspaper chief, has spent half a lifetime gliding across some of Fleet Street's more ultramontane and unreasonable titles.

2010 September 12, Kevin McKenna, “Save Catholicism? The pope needs a miracle”, in The Guardian:

(theology) Promoting the supremacy of the Pope.


Santa hat

It is Boxing Day in a football ground, and all we can do is sprawl over the plastic, hurling instructions and vague encouragement. The seat is an extension of the sofa, the match another Pick of the Day in the Radio Times. Some are wearing Santa hats, some have been drinking only six or seven hours after last stopping, guzzling away, topping up their levels to reach pie-eyed delirium.

2016, Daniel Gray, Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football:

A red and white hat associated with Santa Claus, approximately conical with a white bobble on top.


Santa suit

my 8th grade social studies teacher quit his job at Old Navy during college because he refused to wear a Santa suit

2023 December 25, Lucinda DiFiore, Twitter:

A red and white costume associated with Santa Claus, normally including an ostentatious black belt


Christianism

en-noun

Christianism (countable and uncountable, plural Christianisms)

/ˈkɹɪʃ.t͡ʃən.ɪzm̩/

From Latin christianismus; compare French christianisme, equivalent to Christian + -ism.

Christianism is an ideology, politics, an ism. The distinction between Christian and Christianist echoes the distinction we make between Muslim and Islamist. Muslims are those who follow Islam. Islamists are those who want to wield Islam as a political force and conflate state and mosque.

May 7, 2006, Andrew Sullivan, ‘My Problem with Chistianism’, TIME Magazine

At its extreme, as in the Christian identity movement, Christianism merges with white supremacy.

2007, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, The Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism, page 31:

Because I was always against any extremist ideology whether Islamism or Christianism or whatsoever.

2015, Stefan Borg, European Integration and the Problem of the State, page 129:

Christianism is characterised by overt, often extreme, anti-Islamism.

2021, Jeffrey Haynes, Trump and the Politics of Neo-Nationalism:

(US, derogatory) A political ideology centered around Christian fundamentalism.


folkish

en-adj

folkish (comparative more folkish, superlative most folkish)

more folkish (comparative)
most folkish (superlative)

universalist

chiefly US; related to their opponents, neopagan groups that support marginalized people

From folk + -ish. (Compare Old English folcisc, and German völkisch.)

neo-völkisch

related to far-right or racist neopagan groups

(religion, Germanic paganism) Practicing a form of Heathenry that is traditional.

(religion, Germanic paganism, especially in white supremacy and Nazism) Practicing far-right and racist forms of Heathenry that are hostile towards minorities, Christians, and Jewish people; and also supporting Nazi influences.


sacramentalism

en-noun

sacramentalism (usually uncountable, plural sacramentalisms)

(theology) The belief that observance of the sacraments is necessary for salvation, or belief in their efficacy.

sacramentarianism

belief in observation or efficacy of the sacraments

(theology) The belief that the natural world is a reflection or imitation of a perfect supernatural one.


tetrapla

From Ancient Greek τετραπλᾶ (tetraplâ), neuter plural of τετραπλοῦς (tetraploûs, “fourfold”), from τετρα- (tetra-, “tetra-: four”) + -πλόος (-plóos, “-fold”).

A text presented in four parallel versions, especially (historical) the version of the Bible presented in such a fashion by Origen.


zahir

(Islam) The external or apparent meaning of the Qur'an


batin

(Islam) The internal or hidden meaning of the Qur'an


magickal

en-adj

magickal (comparative more magickal, superlative most magickal)

more magickal (comparative)
most magickal (superlative)

You must decide for yourself whether a new, additional name will help or hinder your magickal growth.

1990, “Amber K”, in True Magick: A Beginner's Guide:

What magickal techniques do you use that work well for you?

2002, Joyce Higginbotham, Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-centered Religions:

You can even use it as a seal on your magickal correspondence.

2003, Denise Zimmermann, Katherine Gleason, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft:

Involving, or pertaining to, magick (in modern occultism).


probabilist

(theology, philosophy) A follower of probabilism.


psalmodic

This is but natural, for the practice of psalmodic chant is directly and indirectly interlaced with all the rich associations of the ecclesiastical calendar.

1984, Eric Werner, The Sacred Bridge, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., page 72:


humanation

In sixteenth-century England the Protestant Church dropped the word ‘humanation’, but the German version, Menschwendung, survived in Lutheran ‘wound mysticism’.

2006, Marsha Keith Schuchard, Why Mrs Blake Cried, Pimlico, published 2007, page 33:

(theology, rare) The fact or process of becoming human.


Jehoshaphat

/d͡ʒəˈhoʊ.ʃəˌfæt/

/d͡ʒəˈhɒʃ.ə.fæt/

/d͡ʒɪˈhɒʃ.ə.fæt/

From Hebrew יְהוֹשָׁפָט, from יהוה (“Yahweh”) + שָׁפַט (shafát, “to judge”), meaning "Yahweh has judged".

der

Hebrew יְהוֹשָׁפָט

compound

(biblical) A male given name from Hebrew


premillennial

Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, said in an interview that Mr. Van Impe’s premillennial view of the end times paved the way for his own ministry and that of other popular preachers like John Hagee and David Jeremiah.

2020 January 22, Elizabeth Dias, “Jack Van Impe, End Times Preacher on TV, Is Dead at 88”, in The New York Times:

(Christianity) Pertaining to the belief that the Second Coming will take place before the millennium.


JE

(religion) A hypothetical intermediate stage in the development of the Torah, consisting of a combination of the Jehovist (J) and Elohist (E) sources.


Zen Buddhism

(Buddhism) The Zen denomination of Buddhism.


Abednego

/əˈbɛd.nɪˌɡoʊ/

From Hebrew עֲבֵד נְגוֹא, itself derived from a reconstructed Aramaic name meaning likely "servant of Nabu" or "servant of Nergal".

bor

עֲבֵד נְגוֹא

Hebrew עֲבֵד נְגוֹא

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 3:23:

(biblical) Azariah, one of the captives in the Bible who came out of the fiery furnace unharmed.

Αβδεναγω

one of the captives who escaped the fiery furnace

Meshach

one of the captives who came out of the fiery furnace unharmed


Egg Saturday

(Christianity) The Saturday before Ash Wednesday. At the University of Oxford, the pace eggs are provided for the students on that day.


muzzy

"Ethiopia is a fortress of Christianity surrounded by Muzzies," said Tesfaye. His description paraphrased the words of Emperor Menelik II

1999, Julia Stewart, Eccentric Graces: Eritrea & Ethiopia Through the Eyes of a Traveler, page 138:


D&C

Doctrine and Covenants: part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement.


unitarian

(Christianity) A Christian who denies the doctrine of the Trinity, usually stressing some distinctions between God the Father and God the Son without denying the divinity of Jesus.

unitari

Christian who does not ascribe to Trinitarian theology

(Islam) Synonym of Muwahhid, a Muslim advocating God's strict unity.


Rastafari

From Amharic ራስ (ras, “Duke”, literally “head”) and ተፈሪ (täfäri, “revered”) from ተፈሪ መኮንን (täfäri mäkonn, “Haile Selassie”, literally “feared (son of) Makonnen”). More at Haile Selassie.


hieromonk

From Byzantine Greek ἱερομόναχος (hieromónakhos), from Ancient Greek ἱερός (hierós) + μοναχός (monakhós).

A peculiar and important rank in the Armenian hierarchy, conferred by a sort of ordination rite, is that of vartapet. He is a hieromonk or widowed priest of superior learning and ability, especially authorized to preach and teach.

1961, Donald Attwater, The Christian Churches of the East, new edition, volume 2 (Churches not in Communion with Rome), Leominster, Herefordshire: Thomas More Books, →OCLC, page 227:

A monk of the Eastern Church who is also a priest.


hanukkiah

en-noun

hanukkiah (plural hanukkiahs or hanukkiot or hanukkioth)

hanukkiahs (plural)
hanukkiot (plural)
hanukkioth (plural)

Borrowed from Hebrew חֲנֻכִּיָּה (khanukiyá).

Some might say that the hanukkiah is decorations, but it isn't; the hanukkiah is a ceremonial object, with specific, non-decorative purposes. Perhaps the Stars of David that many string about are appropriate Jewish decoration?

2005 December 23, Jonathan Safran Foer, “A Beginner's Guide to Hanukkah”, in The New York Times:

As a child of Holocaust survivors, there was nothing, no family relics. The celebration was very modest, with a very small hanukkiah, and my mother was a great maker of latkes. I now luckily have many different kinds of hanukkiahs.

2010 November 17, Rima Suqi, quoting Daniel Libeskind, “Daniel Libeskind on a New Show of Menorahs”, in The New York Times:

The candelabras lit on Hanukkah are technically called hanukkiahs. They have eight candles plus one more, a shamash, that is used for lighting the others.

[2023 December 7, Jacey Fortin, “For Some, the Symbols of Hanukkah Bring Extra Concern This Year”, in The New York Times:

(Judaism) A nine-branched menorah used during Hanukkah.


qazf

It may amount to qazf to impute zina to a deceased person...

1984, Keith Hodkinson, Muslim Family Law: A Sourcebook:

Nor has one heard of anyone being flogged for qazf under this Ordinance.

1985, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Ethnic Studies Report:

The maximum punishment for Qazf is 80 lashes and must be proven by the testimony of two pious Muslim male witnesses, except when the accused is non-Muslim.

1992, Asia Watch Committee, Double Jeopardy: Police Abuse of Women in Pakistan:

(Islam) False accusation of adultery (zina).


haunted house

haunted house (countable and uncountable, plural haunted houses)

بَيْت أَشْبَاح

house believed to be a center for supernatural occurrences

It was easy to see that it was an avoided house—a house that was shunned by the village, to which my eye was guided by a church spire some half a mile off—a house that nobody would take. And the natural inference was, that it had the reputation of being a haunted house.

1859, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in The Haunted House:

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see haunted, house.


monsignor

monsignor (plural monsignors or monsignori)

From Italian monsignore, from signore under influence from Middle French monseigneur. Doublet of monseigneur and monsieur.

He goes one day to hear Father Hecker preach on the Destiny of Man, on another to hear Monsignor Pie, Bishop of Poitiers, then Archbishop Manning, and again Monsignor Mermillod and Father Burke. […] We have just made her a grand festa for her day, the 20th—twelve Masses, cardinal, two archbishops, two monsignori, the other seven, priests.

1892, “Great Events in Rome”, in John Morris, editor, The Life of Mother Henrietta Kerr, Religious of the Sacred Heart, 3rd edition, Roehampton, pages 182 and 197:

We were passed on from one room to another, and finally came to a halt in a large square room, where there were more priests, one or two monsignori, in their violet robes, and two officers. […] We had barely time to exchange a few remarks, as Monsignor Bicletis was waiting for us to advance.

1905, Mary King Waddington, “Italy Revisited”, in Italian Letters of a Diplomat’s Wife; January–May 1880; February–April, 1904, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pages 249–250:

He wore the dress of an abbot and was accompanied by two monsignori in simple black. […] It was a letter from Monsignor Chatrousse, the Bishop of Valence in France.

1955, Francis Beauchesne Thornton, Cross upon Cross: The Life of Pope Pius IX, New York, N.Y.: Benziger Brothers, Inc., pages 83 (The Pope Begins His Reign) and 114 (The Flight to Gaeta):

He was accompanied by two monsignori, one of whom was Henry Cosgrove, an acquaintance of mine from Brooklyn. […] “It is obvious that I need no translator. Henry,” I said, turning to the American monsignor, “you can be my secretary.”

1999, Francis X[avier] Murphy, “Introduction to the 1999 Edition”, in Vatican Council II, Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, →ISBN, page xii:

He had only been in office for a couple of months when the brilliant polymath, Monsignor Ivan Illich, was summoned to Rome. Illich was an American citizen of mixed Spanish, German, Croat and Jewish origins, and a priest of New York archdiocese who worked in Cuernavaca in Mexico to prepare missionaries for Latin America. Two minor CDF monsignori, Sergio de Magistris and Giuseppe Casoria, attempted to interrogate him in the back rooms of the Palazzo.

2001, Paul Collins, “Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio”, in From Inquisition to Freedom: Seven Prominent Catholics and Their Struggle with the Vatican, Sydney, N.S.W.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 19:

He paid half the $850 monthly tuition, and the church monsignor covered the rest.

2007 February 4, Alexis Rehrmann, “Her Parents Couldn’t Take Care of Her. This Home Could.”, in New York Times:

“Chances are if you had any efforts to modify it, you’d have parades of monsignors, ministers and rabbis trooping up to Capitol Hill,” said Professor Baker.

2007 October 21, Peter Applebome, “A Court Decision Elbows a Village in Favor of Religious Rights”, in New York Times:

Monsignor, at least, was happier, because oblivious, and just went on transforming the ducks and capons bestowed on him into flesh. […] As chaplain and special counsellor of Casa Frumier he’d been able to garner the esteem of the many priests and monsignori who were guests there, for he never lacked either those saintly maxims or those agile mutations of conscience that allowed him to attract both the one and the other; […]

2014, Ippolito Nievo, translated by Frederika Randall, Confessions of an Italian, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN:

(Roman Catholicism) An ecclesiastic title bestowed on some Roman Catholic clerics by the Pope


Promised Land

At last, after years of patient waiting, he stood like Moses on the mountain, looking down into the Promised Land.

1910, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 3, in The Intrusion of Jimmy:

(Judaism, Christianity) The area historically known as Judea, which was promised to the Israelites by God according to oral tradition recorded in the Book of Genesis.

United States of America
United States of America

(Mormonism) The United States of America.


religious naturalist

religious naturalist (plural religious naturalists)

religious naturalism
religious naturalism

A person who believes in religious naturalism.


spiritual naturalist

spiritual naturalist (plural spiritual naturalists)

spiritual naturalism
spiritual naturalism

A person who believes in spiritual naturalism.


neo-pantheist

A person who believes in a modern form of pantheism


nonbelief

nonbelief (countable and uncountable, plural nonbeliefs)

But of course, heresy and nonbelief are hardly comparable crimes.

1988 January 15, Name withheld, “Movie Politics”, in Chicago Reader:

(religion, philosophy) Failure to believe; lack of belief.


maximalist

en-adj

maximalist (comparative more maximalist, superlative most maximalist)

more maximalist (comparative)
most maximalist (superlative)

From maximal + -ist, by analogy with minimalist.

Again, the progressive view was that the Mother of Jesus should receive all veneration for holiness, but not the title of mediator between God and man. Much of the Curia supported a “maximalist” cult of the Virgin.

1964 September 17, “Powers of Curia Likely to be Cut”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The case of the Bar Kokhba Revolt is an excellent example of how far the Minimalist and Maximalist interpretations of biblical and even ancient history can be verified.

2009, Richard A. Freund, Digging through the Bible, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 329:

(religion) Relating to religious or Biblical maximalism.


maximalist

The first is reported to represent the secretariat's attempted compromise between the “maximalists” and those who see the further aggrandizement of the cult of Mary as a further obstacle to a dialogue with the Protestants.

1964 September 13, “Pope Paul Will Open Session Of Vatican Council Tomorrow”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The Non-Fundamentalist Maximalists extrapolated from every single archaeological discovery an argument in favor of the authenticity of larger and larger parts of the Bible and used some of the critical Bible study information.

2009, Richard A. Freund, Digging through the Bible, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 14:

(religion) A proponent of Biblical maximalism, one who affirms the historicity of central Biblical narratives.


Ma Nishtana

From Hebrew מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה (“Why is it different?”).

bor

מַה נִּשְׁתַּנָּה

(Judaism) The four questions sung during Passover seder.


machzor

(Judaism) A prayerbook for a Jewish holiday.


Land of Israel

(Judaism, Christianity) A region in the Middle East promised by God to the descendants of Abraham.

أَرْض إِسْرَائِيل

ʔarḍ ʔisrāʔīl


Maccabee

From the Latin Maccabaeus, from the Ancient Greek Μᾰκκᾰβαῖος (Makkabaîos), from the Biblical Hebrew מַכַּבִּי (makkabbī).

(biblical) A member of the Maccabees (a liberation movement in Israel who established Jewish independence in the Land of Israel in the second and first centuries BC).


Shadrach

From Biblical Hebrew שדרך (šdrk /šadrak/), from Iranian, ultimately from Proto-Iranian *čiθráh with the hypocoristic suffix *-akah.

(biblical) Hananiah, one of the captives in the biblical Book of Daniel who came out of the fiery furnace unharmed.

Սեդրաք

one of the captives in the Book of Daniel

Abednego

one of the captives that came out of the fiery furnace unharmed


Meshach

From Biblical Hebrew מישך (myšk /mēšak/), from Iranian, ultimately from Proto-Iranian *mayšáh (“sheep, ram”) with the hypocoristic suffix *-akah.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 3:23:

(biblical) Mishael, one of the captives in the biblical Book of Daniel who came out of the fiery furnace unharmed.


Vashti

Hebrew וַשְׁתִּי (vaštī)

Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 1:9:


territorialism

en-noun

territorialism (countable and uncountable, plural territorialisms)

(religion) A theory of church government according to which the ruler of a country has the natural right to rule also over the ecclesiastical affairs of its people.


unprogrammed

Newcomers into an unprogrammed meeting often conclude that there is no minister, but such is not the case, for in one way or another all Friends are ministers.

1988, George T. Peck, What is Quakerism, A Primer:

(Quakerism) Having religious services that take the form of silent group meditation.


peritus

(Christianity) A Roman Catholic theologian attending an ecumenical council to give advice.


kashruth

The Reform and the others dropped all the things a woman has to do like the kashruth and the mikvah.

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


Maronite Church

A Syriac Eastern Catholic particular church (sui juris), founded by St Maron, in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church.


gatha

Transliteration of Sanskrit गाथा (gāthā). Doublet of Gatha.

translit

(Buddhism) A poem or mantra, especially one recited mentally as part of meditation or mindfulness practice.


Ezekias

And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 1:9-10:

King Hezekiah, in the New Testament form.


universalist

en-adj

universalist (comparative more universalist, superlative most universalist)

more universalist (comparative)
most universalist (superlative)

(religion, US, paganism, Germanic paganism) Following a form of neopaganism, especially Germanic neopaganism, that is supportive of minorities and marginalized groups.


skete

From ecclesiastical (medieval) Ancient Greek σκήτη (skḗtē), which is either from a place name in Egypt Σκήτις, Coptic Ϣⲓϩⲏⲧ (Šihēt), or via aphesis from ἀσκητής (askētḗs, “ascetic; monk, hermit”).

A kind of hermitage or monastic community in Eastern Christianity, generally consisting of living quarters and a church.


E-meter

Short for electropsychometer, a device that can detect charge in the brain.

(Scientology) An electronic device used in auditing in an attempt to diagnose whether a subject has been relieved from spiritual impediment of his or her sins or charged memories (engrams).


Our Lady of Sorrows

Calque of Latin Māter Dolōrōsa (“Sorrowful Mother”) under influence from Domina Nostra (“Our Lady”) and their descendants in other languages.

calque

(Christianity, chiefly Catholicism) Synonym of Mary, mother of Jesus, in particular reference to her grief at the Christ's crucifixion.

Mare de Déu dels Dolors

the grieving Mary — see also Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady, Queen of Heaven


psychographic

(spiritualism) Relating to seances or occult communication.


restorationism

en-noun

restorationism (usually uncountable, plural restorationisms)

(specifically, Christianity) A movement that rejects much or all of contemporary Christianity and advocates a return to what is viewed as Jesus's original teachings. The Mormons are an example of a restorationist church.


shamanistic

en-adj

shamanistic (comparative more shamanistic, superlative most shamanistic)

more shamanistic (comparative)
most shamanistic (superlative)

From Christ to the Fisher King of the Grail legends, the man suffering from a magical wound is no ordinary man; he is the man who has transcended the duality of sexuality, the man with a vulva, the shamanistic androgyne.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 109:

There are an estimated 300 shamanistic temples within an hour of Seoul’s bustling city center, and in them, shamans perform their clamorous ceremonies every day.

2007 July 7, Choe Sang-Hun, “Shamanism Enjoys Revival in Techno-Savvy South Korea”, in New York Times:

In this film Ute Gebhardt looks at shamanistic healing rituals in Tuwa, which today is part of the Russian Federation. In Tuwa shamanism was able to survive five and a half decades of Soviet communism. Even today there is a shamanistic clinic in Tuwa’s capital Kyzyl.

2009 December, Günter Nyul, “The Neutral in biodynamic cranio-sacral osteopathy – an extraordinary state of consciousness”, in Donau Universität Krems, archived from the original on 2024-03-02, page 15:

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of shamanism.


takfiri

“In Ghazaliya, it is forbidden to sell ice because the takfiris said, ‘The Prophet Muhammad had no ice in his time,’ ” said Khatan Kareem, a manager at the factory where the drivers worked, shaking his head at the absurdity.

2007 July 28, Stephen Farrell, “Strife and Ice, Staples of Life, Overlap in Iraq”, in New York Times:

(Islam, derogatory) A radical Muslim who excommunicates other Muslims, or accuses them of apostasy.


sermonizer

Before long, Jansson[…]had acquired a reputation as a riveting sermonizer.

1988 October 7, John Kennedy, “"Here is the place!"”, in Chicago Reader:


decisionism

/dɪˈsɪʒənɪzəm/

The decisionism of today's SBC is problematic, but many of us remain unconvinced that dropping decision from our evangelistic vocabulary is a necessary response […].

2008, Chuck Lawless, “Southern Baptist Non-Calvinists—Who Are We Really?”, in E. Ray Clendenen, Brad J. Waggoner, editors, Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue, page 166:

The sinner's prayer is an example of a wrong presupposition that plagues much of modern evangelism. It comes from the errant notion that a sinner's decision to receive Christ is the determining factor in salvation. The sinner's prayer is an offshoot of this concept of decisionism, despite the fact that it utterly removes the idea that it is actually God who draws people to Himself.

2011, John MacArthur et al., Evangelism: How to Share the Gospel Faithfully, page 134:

(Christianity) A theology that stresses the importance of the decision to become a Christian for salvation. Often this decision takes the form of the sinner's prayer.


unkosher

There are, according to Penansky, 4,000 ways a mezuzah can be "unkosher" (illegitimate): the parchment may tear or curl, a letter may have weakened.

(somewhat informal, chiefly Judaism) Not kosher


archabbey

(ecclesiastical) An abbey which is the seat of an archabbot (high monastic rank within an order or congregation)


particularism

en-noun

particularism (countable and uncountable, plural particularisms)

From particular + -ism, after French particularisme.

(Christianity, Judaism, theology) The principle that only certain people are chosen by God for salvation.


ostension

ostension (countable and uncountable, plural ostensions)

Borrowed from Middle French ostension, in turn from Latin ostensiō, ostensiōnem.

(Christianity) The showing of the sacrament on the altar in order that it may receive the adoration of the communicants.


kaccha

(Sikhism) An undergarment worn by baptized Sikhs, one of the five Ks.


five Ks

The five items of faith worn by Khalsa Sikhs: kaccha, kara, kirpan, kanga and kesh.


kesh

(Sikhism) The practice of allowing one's hair to grow naturally, one of the five Ks.


trayf

To the preparation, then: vegetables softened in butter, lots of Guinness, thick chunks of second-cut brisket — breast deckle, as it’s called in some of New York’s better precincts (where trotter gear, by the by, is known as trayf city).

2009 February 22, Sam Sifton, “Put a Lid on It”, in New York Times:


demonically

en-adv

demonically (comparative more demonically, superlative most demonically)

more demonically (comparative)
most demonically (superlative)

Audition…An almost unclassifiable masterpiece of J-horror and one of the very few movies in the genre in which the demonically violent protagonist is allowed to be a woman, satirising women’s position in Japanese society and cinema.

2018 July 6, Peter Bradshaw, “The scariest horror films ever – ranked!”, in The Guardian:


threeness

en-noun

threeness (countable and uncountable, plural threenesses)

From three + -ness. Compare Middle English þrinnesse, þrimnesse, þremnesse, þrumnesse (“trinity”, literally “three-ness”), Old English þrīnes, þrinnes (“trinity”, literally “three-ness”).

Therefore concern yourselves, you philosophers: how God has created this world in six days. For the work of each day is a creation of a spirit in the Holy Threeness, and the seventh day is the rest of the Sabbath of God, in the seventh [...]

2010, Jeff Bachl, translated by Michael L. Birkel, Genius of the Transcendent: Mystical Writings of Jakob Boehme, Shambhala, translation of original by Jakob Boehme:


kanga

(Sikhism) A comb, required to be worn at all times by Sikhs, one of the five Ks.


traif

Recently my wife caught me using the pot for my traif soup.

2007 March 18, Randy Cohen, “Tuition Trick”, in New York Times:


jihadism

jihadism (usually uncountable, plural jihadisms)

The twin institutions of mahdist jihadism and radical puritanical sufism

1983, Research in social anthropology, 1975-1980:

Liberals rightly recoil from the constant pressure on Muslims to explain themselves and denounce jihadism or even islamism.

2009 February 4, Jonathan Freedland, “As British Jews come under attack, the liberal left must not remain silent”, in The Guardian:

The ideological movement within modern Islamism that advocates armed jihad and hostility against non-believers.


mahant

Borrowed from Hindi महान्त (mahānt), from Sanskrit महान् (mahān, “great”).

(Hinduism) A head or chief of a monastery.


butsudan

From Japanese 仏壇 (ぶつだん butsudan), from Middle Chinese 佛 (bjot "Buddha") ＋ 壇 (dan "altar", "platform").

A Buddhist shrine, comprising a wooden cabinet with doors that enclose and protect a religious icon.


jivanmukti

Borrowed from Sanskrit जीवन्मुक्ति (jīvanmukti, “emancipation while still alive”).

bor+

(Hinduism) In Hinduism, the process of achieving complete self-realisation, attaining moksha during one's own life.


Hellenismos

Unadapted borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἐλληνισμός (Ellēnismós, “imitation of the Greeks”).


paramukta

Borrowed from Sanskrit परमुक्त (para-mukti, “supremely free”).

bor

(Hinduism) supremely liberated being; being liberated beyond the state of a jivanmukta


mahurat

From Hindi [Term?], from Sanskrit [Term?].

‘The mahurat, Your Highness, is at nine seventeen in the morning.’

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 265:

(India, Hinduism) A time or moment considered lucky for beginning some project; an inauguration, now especially the start of a film production.


rm

w:Missionary (LDS Church)#Returned missionaries

(Mormonism) Initialism of returned missionary.


bocor

From Haitian Creole bòkò, from Fon bókɔ́nɔ̀ (“soothsayer”).

“The bokor who knows the magic can make anyone a zombi—a Haitian living abroad, a foreigner.”

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 47:

The corpse is buried in all solemnity, and two days later, at dead of night, the bocor digs it up, stops feeding it salt, and has himself a zombie.

A bòkò is an entrepreneur, and has a reputation as a man who will “work with both hands,” that is, for healing and revenge.

1995, Elizabeth McAlister, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, page 305

It seemed to him that he was […] surrendering all agency and becoming hers to command, as if she were a Haitian bokor and he at lunch at Bergdorf Goodman had been administered the so-called zombie's cucumber which confused his thought processes and made him her slave for life.

2017, Salman Rushdie, The Golden House, Jonathan Cape, published 2017, page 180:

(voodoo) A voodoo practitioner who deals with malefic as well as beneficial effects; a sorcerer.


mashgiah

(Judaism) Alternative spelling of mashgiach


zeved habat

(Judaism) A ceremony in which girls are named.


Pidyon Haben

en-noun

Pidyon Haben (usually uncountable, plural Pidyon Habens)

(Judaism) Alternative spelling of pidyon haBen


pidyon haben

pidyon haben (usually uncountable, plural pidyon habens)


mashgiach

mashgiach (plural mashgiachs or mashgichim)

bor

Hebrew מַשְׁגִּיחַ

Kashruth fraud in Brooklyn. Seems a goon squad of fake mashgichim or kosher supervisors have been making their way around the neighborhoods pulling surprise ‘inspections’ on different shops and restaurants, selling them fancy-looking certificates to put in the window […]

2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, Vintage, published 2014, page 24:

(Judaism) Somebody who supervises the kashrut status of food in a restaurant.


niddah

I assume you, Josh, are perfect. My description of our ideals on that point match; I publically^([sic]) admitted a personal flaw in my not actually being emotionally in tune with my ideal. I assume you do not worry about the current economy, having perfect bitachon, are never beset with hunger on Yom Kippur, or sexual desire when your wife is a niddah, or otherwise ever have your emotions at odds with your ideals.

2009 April 27, Micha Berger, “Avigdor Lieberman, our realistic new Foreign Minister (Naomi Ragen)”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated (Usenet):

(Judaism) Someone whom Halacha considers menstruant.


pidyon haBen

en-noun

pidyon haBen (usually uncountable, plural pidyon haBens)

The Pidyon Haben applies to the firstborn of the mother only; thus, if one has four or five sons born to him by four or five virgin wives, he is bound to redeem them all.

1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 287:

(Judaism) A ceremony in which a firstborn son is redeemed by a kohen, in order to release him from his obligation from serving in the Temple.


eruv

eruvs (plural)
eruvim (plural)
eruvin (plural)

From Hebrew עירוב / עֵרוּב (eirúv, “mixture”).

Sam is sad that people don't visit him at home on Shabbos because he lives outside the eruv.

“We live in a day and age,” he continued, “where if you don’t have an eruv, you’re taking yourself off of many people’s lists.”

2007 August 12, Jake Mooney, “A Slender Thread to Knit a Neighborhood”, in New York Times:

‘Fat’ is the word you hear shouted in the playground, or on the street – it's never allowed over the threshold of the house. My mum won't have that filth in her house. At home, together, we are safe. It's like an eruv for the slow and soft.

(Jewish law, most commonly) An eruv chatzerot; ritual aggregation of properties that allows Jews observing traditional Shabbat rules to carry burdens across property lines.

érouv

eruv chatzerot, ritual aggregation of domains

(Jewish law) One of the other types of eruv; an eruv tavshilin or eruv techumin.


retem

Ultimately from a Semitic language. Compare Arabic رَتَم (ratam), Biblical Hebrew רותם

A shrub with white flowers, possibly Retama raetam; the juniper of the (King James Version) Old Testament.


amillennialism

(Christianity) A view in Christian eschatology that rejects the claimed future thousand-year physical reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, in opposition to premillennial and some postmillennial views of the Book of Revelation, chapter 20, claiming instead that the number of years in Revelation 20 is a symbolic number and that Christ's eventual physical reign will be permanent.


pareve

/ˈpɑː.ɹə.və/

Borrowed from Yiddish פּאַרעוו, פּאַרעווע (parev, pareve), of uncertain origin. Suggestions include:
* Perhaps from Middle High German bar (“bare, naked”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare, naked”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós, from *bʰos- (“bare, barefoot”), and thus cognate with English bare.
* Perhaps from a West Slavic source such as Czech párový (“occurring in pairs”), because according to Jewish dietary laws, meat and milk cannot be combined, but as pareve food contains neither, it can be paired with either meat dishes or milk dishes.

bor

פּאַרעוו, פּאַרעווע

My mom made a pareve casserole with soy hot dogs.

"Parev ice" includes Kosher ice and means the substance intended for sale for human consumption which resembles ice-cream and which— / (a) is usually known as Parev ice or Kosher ice, and / (b) contains no milk or milk derivatives, […]

1970, Statutory Instruments, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, →OCLC, page 4249:

There are on the market many items which resemble such dairy products as coffee cream, sour cream and whipped cream both in taste and appearance but actually are pareve. These are customarily served in the original container to show that the product is pareve despite the dairy appearance.

1990, Bonne Rae London, “Introduction to Kashruth: Why Keep Kosher?”, in Hi-tech Jewish Cooking: Recipes for the Microwave, Processor, Blender and Crock Pot, New York, N.Y.: Shapolsky Publishers, →ISBN, page 4:

A food product containing neither meat nor milk, or derived from either is neutral. The Yiddish word parev (parve) or the Hebrew word stam is used to describe this third category. The neutral (parev) category includes (1) everything which grows from the soil: vegetables, fruits, nuts, coffee, spices, sugar, salt, (2) all kosher fish, (3) eggs, and (4) items manufactured from chemicals. Parev foods may be eaten or cooked with either dairy or meat products.

1991, Hayim Halevy Donin, “The Dietary Laws: A Diet for the Soul”, in To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life: Selected and Compiled from the Shulhan Arukh and Responsa Literature, and Providing a Rationale for the Laws and the Traditions, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN, page 113:

After eating parve food cooked in a meat pot or cut with a meat knife, does one need to wait six hours to eat dairy? Parve food that was cooked in a meat pot [but without any meat in the pot, such as fish cooked in a meat pot] does not require a wait of six hours before dairy may be eaten. […] [Note that our discussion here applies only to dairy food eaten after parve food, not together with it.]

2002 July, Doniel Yehuda Neustadt, דיוני הלכה [Diyune Halakhah]: The Weekly Halachah Discussion: A Review of Practical Halachic Topics Related to the Parashah of the Week, 2nd rev. edition, Jerusalem, Nanuet, N.Y.: Feldheim Publishers, →ISBN, page 205:

From the marketing perspective, most manufacturers would prefer that products not inherently dairy (such as cheese snacks) enjoy a Pareve status. In many situations, however, considerations other than the status of ingredients may make it necessary to confer a Dairy (or Dairy Equipment) status to otherwise potentially Pareve products. Examples of such situations may include: / The equipment used to cook or heat the inherently Pareve items is also used to process dairy products. In such situations, the equipment may require a Kosherization from dairy to Pareve productions, a process which may prove impractical.

2009, Zushe Yosef Blech, Kosher Food Production, 2nd edition, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, page 201:

In true kosher cooking, meat and dairy should never be combined. Pareve margarine is made up of 100 percent vegetable oil. Dairy margarine has milk as one of the ingredients plus perhaps added vegetable oil. This is why when cooking a meat or dairy meal, if the recipe requires butter or margarine, I substitute it with pareve margarine.

2011, Avrom Honig, “Bubbe” [pseudonym], “Quick Notes on Keeping Kosher”, in Feed Me Bubbe: Recipes and Wisdom from America's Favorite Online Grandmother, Philadelphia, Pa.: Running Press, →ISBN:

(Jewish law) Of food: that has no meat or milk in any form as an ingredient.


mallam

From Arabic مُعَلِّم (muʕallim, “teacher”).

(Islam) In Africa, a teacher of the Qur'an.


Divine Mercy Sunday

en-proper noun

Divine Mercy Sunday (plural Divine Mercy Sundays)

(Roman Catholicism) The Sunday after Easter.


Swaminarayan

(Hinduism) A deity worshiped in the Swaminarayan faith of Hinduism.


shura

From Arabic شُورَى (šūrā, “consultation”)

“The leadership, resistance and shura are all based here in Afghanistan.”

2007 January 5, Carlotta Gall, “Taliban Leader Promises More Afghan War”, in New York Times:

[…] Mullah Bradar[…] is said to reside in the Pakistan port city of Karachi, where many members of the Quetta shura have taken refuge, according to Afghan officials.

2009 March 11, Carlotta Gall, “As U.S. Weighs Taliban Negotiations, Afghans Are Already Talking”, in New York Times:

(Islam) A body that provides counsel to a leader


postmillennialism

(Christianity) An interpretation of the Book of Revelation where Christ's second coming will be after the "Millennium", a Golden Age or era of prosperity and dominance of Christianity.


jizya

en-noun

jizya (usually uncountable, plural jizyas)

From Arabic جِزْيَة (jizya), from Middle Persian 𐭢𐭦𐭩𐭲 (gzyt /gazīd/), 𐭢𐭦𐭩𐭲𐭪𐭩 (gzytky /gazīdag/, “poll-tax”).

Ending jizya lifted a real burden on the poor, and promised, at least symbolically, a greater equality between the followers of different faiths.

2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 122:

(Islam, historical) A per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria.


postmillennial

en-adj

postmillennial (comparative more postmillennial, superlative most postmillennial)

more postmillennial (comparative)
most postmillennial (superlative)

And just as for postmillennial Christians, man, led by God's prophets and saints, will establish a Kingdom of God on Earth (for premillennials, Jesus will have many human assistants in setting up such a kingdom), so, for Marx and other schools of communists, mankind, led by a vanguard of secular saints, will establish a secularized Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

1990, Murray N. Rothbard, Karl Marx: Communist as Religious Eschatologist, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 123–179:

(Christianity) Pertaining to the belief that the Second Coming will take place after the millennium.


Parsi

Borrowed from Gujarati પારસી (pārsī), "as the Gujaratis, from long tradition, called anyone from Iran", from Sanskrit पारसि (pārasi), पारसिक (pārasika), from Middle Persian [Term?].
The Indian term is attested many centuries prior to the arrival of the Parsis on the Indian subcontinent, and appears both for Iranians generally, as well as in the specific Iranian sense of Middle Persian parsi(k) ("of, or pertaining to, Persia proper") to refer to Sassanian kings, e.g. in the 4th-century Mahabharata. The Indian term is thus conventionally assumed to be ultimately a loanword from Middle Persian (or general Middle Iranian) parsi(k). In colonial times the term was also applied to the Portuguese, and by extension to Europeans in general.
Older texts have pārasā́rya "Perso-Iranian", etc. Other Iranian ethnonyms found in the Mahabharata include Sanskrit pahlava, pahnava "Parthian(s)", sāka "(eastern) Scythian(s)", bāhlika "Bactrian(s)".

A member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent.


tower of silence

en-noun

tower of silence (plural towers of silence)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tower of silence.wav

Calque of French tour du silence, from the fact that human voices are generally not heard at such places.

(Zoroastrianism) A low, cylindrical, open-topped tower where Zoroastrians place the bodies of deceased people to disintegrate from exposure and consumption by carrion birds such as vultures, the remaining bones being kept in an ossuary.

بُرْج الصَّمْت

low, cylindrical open-topped tower where Zoroastrians place the bodies of deceased people to disintegrate


station-to-station

Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross

(Christianity) The procession by devotees along successive stations in the Stations of the Cross.


astaghfirullah

/ˈæs.tæɡ.fɪ.ɹəˈlɒː/

Borrowed from Arabic أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ (ʔastaḡfiru llāha, literally “I ask forgiveness from Allah”).

bor+

أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ

(Islam, literally) In the literal sense, "I seek forgiveness from Allah"; a short prayer of redemption; God forgive me.

I should not have done that, astaghfirullah.

(Islam) An expression of guilt or shame.


jhatka

Borrowed from Hindi झटका (jhaṭkā, “sudden movement, jerking”) or Punjabi ਝਟਕਾ (jhaṭkā), from Sanskrit झटिति (jhatiti, “immediately, at once”). Not related to Slovak jatka (“slaugherhouse”).

der

(Sikhism) Meat of an animal slaughtered in accordance with Sikh law.


charterhouse

From French chartreuse, reanalysed as a compound of charter + house. Doublet of chartreuse.


Mandaean

From Mandaic [script needed] (mandaia, “those with knowledge”), from ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀ (“knowledge”).

(religion) A believer in, or follower of, Mandaeism

mandealainen

a believer in, or follower of, Mandaeism


Nishan Sahib

Borrowed from Punjabi ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨ ਸਾਹਿਬ (niśān sāhib, literally “respected ensign”).

bor+

ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨ ਸਾਹਿਬ

A Sikh holy flag, colored orange and white, with a symbol of the khanda.


chaur

A kind of ceremonial fan used by Sikhs, made from yak hair, which is waved over the Guru Granth Sahib.


mandir

Transliteration of Hindi मंदिर (mandir).

On the contrary, in the afternoon, he said, “It was good that I went to the mandir. Even physically, I feel well.”

1960, The Visva-Bharati quarterly: Volumes 26-27, Shantiniketan, West Bengal, page 58:

The word mandir derives from the Sanskrit mandira, meaning a dwelling place. A mandir is a home to God as represented by the deity singled out for honour within the building's inner sanctum.

2003 September 30, Jerome Monahan, Places of worship, week 4: a mandir:

"The stories and carvings include diverse portions of India's geography and Hindu belief systems. This would include Mahabharata and Ramayana as well as the Puranas and regional histories. In fact, this mandir will be uniquely identified by its intricate mandovar facade which will share many traditional tales from across India as well as unique designs from the Gulf," he said.

2020 November 10, 25,000 Cubic Feet Of Stone Carved In India For Abu Dhabi's First Hindu Temple:


pujari

/puːˈdʒɑːɹi/

The pujari at the Kalika Mata temple lightly tolls the bell and then in a voice that is as clear and crystalline as the sky this morning sings the Surya Stotra.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 48:

The pujari saw the headman's anger and said to Hiranbai, 'God bless you, child, for your good work for all these God's creatures.'

2000, Bhagwan Gidwani, Return of the Aryans:

(Hinduism) Someone who performs a puja, especially a priest in a Hindu temple.


supererogate

en-verb

supererogate (third-person singular simple present supererogates, present participle supererogating, simple past and past participle supererogated)

supererogates (present singular third-person)
supererogating (participle present)
supererogated (participle past)
supererogated (past)

/ˌs(j)uːpəɹˈɛɹəɡeɪt/

/ˌsupəɹˈɛɹəˌɡeɪt/

Borrowed from Latin supererogare. See supererogation.

They who, in their obedience, attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate, and to do more than God requires, […]

The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter XVI, article iv

Were this all, therefore, or my task confined to such a relation, I should supererogate indeed in making this appearance.

1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter I, in Shrewsbury:

(intransitive, theology, Catholicism) To do more than God commands.


Sarabaite

From Ecclesiastical Latin sarabaita, possibly from Coptic ⲥⲁ (sa) + ⲣⲁⲩⲏ (rauē) or Coptic ⲥⲁ (sa) + ⲣⲁ (ra) + ⲁⲩⲏⲧ (auēt). Compare with ⲥⲁⲣⲁⲕⲱⲧⲉ (sarakōte).

(historical) A class of monk in Catholic belief who dwelt in his own home, or in or near a city.


yad

(Judaism) A pointer used in the ritual of Torah-reading.


disfellowship

disfellowship (third-person singular simple present disfellowships, present participle disfellowshipping or disfellowshiping, simple past and past participle disfellowshipped or disfellowshiped)

disfellowships (present singular third-person)
disfellowshipping (participle present)
disfellowshiping (participle present)
disfellowshipped (participle past)
disfellowshipped (past)
disfellowshiped (participle past)
disfellowshiped (past)

Disfellowshipped persons, shunned by the organisation for their unrepented sins, slipped in at the last and sat by the door, ready to disappear at the end of the closing prayer.

2020, Paul Mendez, Rainbow Milk, Dialogue Books (2021), page 62:

(transitive) To subject to disfellowshipment.


Pastafarianism

Blend of pasta + Rastafarianism; popularized in 2005 by Bobby Henderson as a satirical protest against the teaching of intelligent design.

One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (Pastafarianism), and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.

2005 January, Bobby Henderson, “Open Letter To Kansas School Board”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):

Flying Spaghetti Monster
Flying Spaghetti Monster

A parody religion centered around the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a creator deity who resembles spaghetti and meatballs.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

an organized religious body practising Pastafarianism


Jewishly

en-adv

Jewishly (comparative more Jewishly, superlative most Jewishly)

more Jewishly (comparative)
most Jewishly (superlative)


cardinalate

From Latin cardinālātus, from cardinālis (“cardinal”), itself the noun use of the adjective derived from cardō (“hinge, main point”) + -ālis (“-al”).

The cardinalate under a maximum age composes the conclave which elects the pope.

The Roman Catholic cardinals, taken collectively.

樞機主教之職

the dignity and ecclestiastic office of Roman Catholic cardinal


manuductor

From Latin manus (“hand”) + ductor (“leader”).

(Catholicism) The chief novice in an order.


manuterge

(Catholicism) A towel used by a priest during liturgy


shiur

bor

Hebrew שִׁעוּר (šiʿū́r)

Rabbi Bleich’s theological discourse on the topic, known as a shiur, has been viewed more than 4,000 times and downloaded nearly 1,000 from the Yeshiva University Web site “Torah Online .”

2009 April 4, Samuel G. Freedman, “A Jewish Holiday, Once Every 28 Years”, in New York Times:

dars

a lesson on a topic in the Qurʾān or Sunna


samana

/sɑːˌmɑːnɑː/

From Pali samaṇa. Doublet of sramana and shaman in some contexts.

(religion) An ascetic, (especially) an ascetic monk who ignores the Vedas in Buddhist and Indian contexts.

(Buddhism) An ascetic monk, a Buddhist hermit.

شامانيّ؛ سامانيّ؛ شامان؛ سامان؛ عرّاف، ناسِك شامانيّ


manzil

Borrowing from Arabic مَنْزِل (manzil, “house, dwelling”).

(Islam) Any of the seven partitions of the Qur'an, which can be read in an entire day.


synteresis

From Medieval Latin syntērēsis (in Thomas Aquinas), from Ancient Greek συντήρησις (suntḗrēsis, “careful watching”), from συντηρεῖν (suntēreîn, “to keep guard”).

der

Synteresis, or the purer part of the conscience, is an innate habit, and doth signify “a conservation of the knowledge of the law of God and Nature, to know good or evil”.

(theology, historical) An aspect of one's conscience by which one can judge wrong from right and decide on what makes good conduct (as distinguished from syneidesis).


Elul

From Hebrew אֱלוּל (elúl), from Akkadian 𒌗𒆥 (ⁱᵗⁱeluli, “month of harvest”).

“Twenty-three years ago,” the rebbe says without hesitation. “On the twentieth of Elul. No one in this house has spoken to or seen him since then.”

2007, Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, 4th Estate (2010), page 142:

(Judaism) The twelfth month of the civil year and the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year in the Jewish calendar, after Av and before Tishrei.

أيلول

twelfth month in civil year in the Jewish calendar


Abdias

From Latin Abdias, from Ancient Greek Ὀβδίας (Obdías), from Hebrew עוֹבַדְיָה (ʿovadyah).

Unto whom I will give for leaders, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Oseas, Amos, and Micheas, Joel, Abdias, and Jonas, […]


Islamic fascism

In World War II we fought Nazism and Japanese imperialism. Today we are fighting against Islamic fascism.

2006 July 20, Rick Santorum, speech at the National Press Club

A putatively Islamic form of fascism or authoritarianism; a Muslim theocracy.


ecumene

From Ancient Greek οἰκουμένη (oikouménē, “inhabited world”), from οἰκέω (oikéō, “I inhabit, dwell”), from οἶκος (oîkos, “residence”).

bor

(religion) Unification of Christianity and of Christendom.


mardana

Borrowed from Hindi मर्दाना (mardānā) / Urdu مردانہ (mardāna), from Persian مردانه (mardâne).

(Islam) A part of a house or palace reserved for men, especially on the Indian subcontinent.

(India, Islam) A part of a train reserved for men.


Church of Scotland

The national Presbyterian church of Scotland.


pilpul

(Judaism) Penetrating investigation, disputation, and drawing of conclusions, especially in Talmudic study.


cross of Lorraine

en-noun

cross of Lorraine (plural crosses of Lorraine)

It is an emblem of Lorraine in eastern France. It was originally held to represent Joan of Arc and later used in various patriotic contexts.

A cross consisting of a vertical bar intersected by a shorter horizontal one above its midpoint, and again by another horizontal bar half the length of the first, intersecting the vertical bar midway between the larger horizontal bar and the top of the vertical bar: ⟨☨⟩.


magid

(Judaism) Alternative spelling of maggid


maggid

bor

Hebrew מַגִּיד

(Judaism) A teacher of the Torah in Eastern Europe.


beth din

From Hebrew בֵּית דִּין (bêṯ dîn, “court of law”), from בֵּית (bêṯ, “house of”) + דין (dîn, “judgment”).

Another reason for augmenting Tahanun on Mondays and Thursdays is that in ancient Israel the Bet Din ("court sessions") were held on those days that were days of judgment on high.

1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 350:

(Judaism) A rabbinical court which regulates certain parts of Jewish law.


Tamar

From Hebrew תָּמָר (tamár, “Tamar”, literally “date palm, date”).


Marranic

(Judaism) Of, or pertaining to, the Marranos or to Marranism.


Marranist

(historical, Judaism) A practiser of Marranism; Marrano.


Marranism

(historical, Judaism) The secret practice of Judaism by the Marranos.


emanationism

(theology) The idea that everything emanates from something else, and that the original and most perfect things emanated directly from God.


theocrasy

en-noun

theocrasy (countable and uncountable, plural theocrasies)

/θiːˈɒkɹəsi/

/ˈθiːəʊkɹeɪsi/

From theo- (“god”) + -crasy (“mixing”), from Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god”) and Ancient Greek κρᾶσις (krâsis, “mixing, tempering”).

uder

2007: Isaac Bonewits, Neopagan Rites: A Guide to Creating Public Rituals That Work, chapter 1: “Defining Our Terms”, page 3 (first edition; Llewellyn; →ISBN
Duotheism¹ (two deities) is what Neopagans call a religion in which the duotheologians claim that there are two deities, usually of opposite gender, and that all other spirits are aspects or faces of these two, through a process known as theocrasy² (deity mingling).

(Neopagan theology) Interaction, admixture, and conflation of divine principles.


baptizand

Let the baptizands stand naked in the water. A deacon should step down in like manner into the water with the baptizand […] and say, “Dost thou believe in God the Father almighty?” and the baptizand should reply, “I believe”.

1950, J. N. D. Kelly, translating the Latin translation of Testamentum Domini by I. E. Rahmani, quoted in Early Christian Creeds, London: Longmans, Green and Co., retrieved 26 January 2022, page 35

Baptism is such a transaction, where the baptisand formally gives himself into the hands of a new Master.

1970, James D. G. Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re-examination of the New Testament Teaching on the Gift of the Spirit in Relation to Pentecostalism Today, Naperville, Illinois: Alec R. Allenson, →ISBN, retrieved 2022-01-26, page 118:

Is it the believer (baptisand) or a third party (minister of baptism) who neither should nor can be certain of the faith?

1994, Jonathan D. Trigg, Baptism in the Theology of Martin Luther, Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill, →ISBN, retrieved 2022-01-26, page 88:

With the change to an administered immersion, the baptisms of John and Christians were likely still the ducking of the head of the standing baptizand into the water […]"

2009, Everett Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, →ISBN, retrieved 2022-01-26, page 36:


tritheism

en-noun

tritheism (usually uncountable, plural tritheisms)

A belief in three gods, especially the nontrinitarian doctrine that God the Son, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are separate gods which is condemned as heresy by most Christian denominations.

triteismo

form of Christianity that denies the Trinity


personal union

personal union (countable and uncountable, plural personal unions)

In the political sense, calque of German persönliche Vereinigung (attributed to German jurist Johann Stephan Pütter, 1777).

calque

(theology, Christian theology) Hypostatic union; the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one individual existence (person).

unione ipostatica

union of Christ's human and divine natures in one person


cathedra

en-noun

cathedra (plural cathedrae or cathedras)

Borrowed from Latin cathedra (“seat”), from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra, “chair of a teacher, throne”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”). Doublet of chair and chaise.


Apollos

Inherited from Middle English, derived from Latin; from Ancient Greek Ἀπολλῶς (Apollôs), probably an abbreviated form of Ἀπολλώνιος (Apollṓnios).

First Epistle to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians

A figure of the early Christian church, mentioned in the Book of Acts and the First Epistle to the Corinthians.


home teach

en-verb

home teach (third-person singular simple present home teaches, present participle home teaching, simple past and past participle home taught)

home teaches (present singular third-person)
home teaching (participle present)
home taught (participle past)
home taught (past)

I cannot say that I love to home teach until I get to the first home, and then I do love it because I then get the spirit of a home teacher because I am acting like a home teacher—doing what a home teacher does.

1974 January, Hartman Rector Jr., “You Shall Receive the Spirit”, in Ensign, volume 3, number 4, page 105:

(Mormonism) To teach as part of a home teaching assignment.


archdeceiver

(religion) One who orchestrates deception, especially the Devil.

arquienganador

one who orchestrates deception, especially the Devil


home teaching

When it came time for me to be ordained a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood, I told the bishop I would accept a home teaching assignment.

1994 May, Robert D. Armstrong, “My Very Senior Companion”, in New Era, retrieved 2009-04-26, page 46:

(Mormonism) The responsibility of the priesthood in which a pair of priesthood holders visit another member's family to teach them LDS doctrine and see how they are doing.


orisha

Under the command of Olorun were also orishas, intermediaries in the Yorubic religion said to be connected between man and the supernatural.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 713:

A divine entity in Yoruba religion that possesses the supernatural capability of reflecting some of the manifestations of Olódùmarè


word of God

Just as it would be utterly vain to lay natural reasons of comfort to him who hath no wit, so would it undoubtedly be frustrate to lay spiritual causes of comfort to him who hath no faith. For unless a man first believe that holy scripture is the word of God, and that the word of God is true, how can he take any comfort in that which the scripture telleth him?

1535, Sir Thomas More, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, Book I, ch. 2:

(theology) the Scriptures, especially when interpreted as the work of God rather than man


Absolution Day

(Roman Catholicism) The Tuesday before Easter.


apophatically

en-adv

apophatically (comparative more apophatically, superlative most apophatically)

more apophatically (comparative)
most apophatically (superlative)

(theology) In an apophatic way; using apophasis.


apophatic

en-adj

apophatic (comparative more apophatic, superlative most apophatic)

more apophatic (comparative)
most apophatic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀποφατικός (apophatikós, “negative”).

uder

For him, the assertions of Palamas ran counter to the apophatic insistence in Pseudo-Dionysius that God was unknowable in his essence.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 488:

Augustine had absorbed the underlying spirit of Greek apophatic theology, but the West did not develop a fully fledged spirituality of silence until the ninth century, when the writings of an unknown Greek author were translated into Latin and achieved near-canonical status in Europe.

2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage, published 2010, page 123:

(theology) Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions.

apophatique

pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions


Mia Maid

From a former name of the church's program for young women, which was the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association, or YWMIA. First adopted and applied to the middle age group of the YWMIA in 1950.

(Mormonism) A 14- to 15-year-old participant in the Young Women organization of the LDS Church.


charism

en-noun

charism (countable and uncountable, plural charisms or charismata)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek χάρισμα (khárisma, “grace”). Doublet of charisma.

lbor

Reviewing the prudential warnings and moral qualms issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “it is hard not to conclude,” the editors write, “that the bishops’ charism, rather than the president’s, has better served the nation.”

2007 April 14, Peter Steinfels, “A Catholic Debate Mounts on the Meaning of ‘Just War’”, in New York Times:

(Christianity, theology) A power or authority, generally of a spiritual nature, believed to be a freely given gift by the Grace of God.

charisma

extraordinary power granted by the Holy Spirit


shtreimel

en-noun

shtreimel (plural shtreimels or shtreimlech)

shtreimels (plural)
shtreimlech (plural)

My idea of a walk, influenced by Kazin and honed over these last nine years that I’ve lived in New York, involves a freewheeling thoughtfulness powered by the legs but fed by observation, a physical and mental stream of consciousness nudged this way and that by an infinite number of human variables: an old man doing his esoteric exercises, a lone glove dropped in the middle of a snowy sidewalk, an Orthodox Jew in a shtreimel.

2007 August 19, Nicole Krauss, “The Walker and the Walk”, in New York Times:

(Judaism) A fur hat, usually worn by some married Haredi Jewish men on Shabbat and during Jewish holidays and other festive occasions.


purificator

(Christianity) The napkin used to wipe the lip of the chalice during Holy Communion.


bentsh

en-verb

bentsh (third-person singular simple present bentshes, present participle bentshing, simple past and past participle bentshed)

bentshes (present singular third-person)
bentshing (participle present)
bentshed (participle past)
bentshed (past)

Borrowed from Yiddish בענטשן (bentshn, “to bless”).


Lilith

bor

Hebrew לִילִית (lîlîṯ)

Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told / (The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,) / That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive, / And her enchanted hair was the first gold.

1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Body’s Beauty”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, page 240:

(Judaism) The first wife of Adam in Jewish folklore.


dominionism

A tendency among some conservative Christians, especially in the USA, to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action.


melomakarona

From Greek μελομακάρονα (melomakárona) or μελομακάρονο (melomakárono).

μελομακάρονα

Earlier in the day, his mother had prepared soup for the female lead and melomakarona, or Greek honey cookies, for the crew.

2007 January 14, Jeff Vandam, “Lights, Camera, Honey Cookies: A Soap Opera, Greek Style”, in New York Times:

Greek honey macaroons with crushed walnuts, traditionally served at Christmas.


shaheed

From Arabic شَهِيد (šahīd, “martyr, witness”).

She has told the child that her father was a shaheed, a martyr, concealing the real story of her brutal conception.

2007 January 16, Joan Dupont, “For a Director on the Rise, Sarajevo’s War Years Linger”, in New York Times:

An Islamic or Sikh martyr, one who has died fulfilling a religious commandment and is thus promised a place in Paradise.


Xtian

And because of the hauteur of Portagoose prelates, they drove the Xtians out of Japan till were none of that sect in the Island


anthropomorphist

(religion) Someone who attributes the human form to God.


Christian Science

(religion) A Christian church comprising the members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, founded by Mary Baker Eddy.

Ciência Cristã

a Christian church that follows the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy


algum

der

אַלְגּוּמִּים

Hebrew אַלְגּוּמִּים (algumím)

And the seruants also of Huram, and the seruants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought Algume trees and, precious stones.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 9:10:

(biblical) A tree or wood mentioned in the Bible, possibly juniper or red sandalwood.


kashaya

Borrowed from Sanskrit कषाय (kaṣāya, “astringent; dull; yellowish red; dirt; passion”), from Proto-Indo-European *kars-. Cognates include Sanskrit कष्ट (kaṣṭa) and English harsh.

bor+

(Buddhism) Robes of fully ordained monks and nuns

(Jainism) Passion; strong feelings produced by a person's soul out of worldly attachments.


maulana

Ultimately from Arabic مَوْلَانَا (mawlānā).
The Indian slang usage of the term for any Muslim person was derived from a stereotype, especially towards Muslims who look stereotypical (beard, robes, and skullcap).

At the end of his long and cantankerous life the maulana had gone against all his high principles. He had gone to a Boston hospital to look for health; he had at the very end entrusted himself to the skill and science of the civilization he had tried to shield his followers from.

1981, V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey, page 168:

(Islam) A religious scholar, especially in Central and South Asia.

(India, Islam, Internet slang, religious slur) A Muslim person in general, especially an extreme conservative.


mawlid

the fair (or mulid) as it had developed over the years was half secular and half religious in inspiration.

1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 101:

(Islam) A holiday celebrating the birthday of a holy man or prophet, especially Muhammad.


gemach

(Judaism) A free-loan fund for Orthodox Jews.


Zebul

Then said Zebul unto him, Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou saidst, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? is not this the people that thou hast despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.

An officer of Abimelech. (biblical character)


family home evening

en-noun

family home evening (plural family home evenings)

Well-planned family home evenings can be a source of long-lasting joy and influence.

1970 April 27, Joseph F. Smith et al, Family Home Evening

Scriptures, Family Home Evening, and family prayer will strengthen families.

2009 April 5, Barbara Thompson, “Sister Barbara Thompson, Second Counselor, Relief Society”, in Deseret News, archived from the original on 2009-04-10:

(Mormonism) An evening, usually Monday, set apart once a week for family activity such as lessons, games, and prayer.


counterreformer

From counterreform + -er or counter- + reformer.

According to John Bossy, the Catholic counterreformers attempted to make the parish the primary focus of religious life […]

1986, Joseph H. Lynch, Godparents and Kinship in Early Medieval Europe, →ISBN, page 26:

The council [of Trent] also urged caution in the use of vocal polyphony […] Notably, the counterreformers did not follow Luther and Calvin in advocating congregational song in the vernacular.

2008, Steven R. Guthrie, “Theology and Music”, in The Encyclopedia of Christianity, volume 5, Eerdmans-Brill, →ISBN, page 371:

This stands in significant contrast, for example, to the Catholic counterreformer Ignatius of Loyola who, in his Spiritual Exercises, requires that the retreatant consider the idea that God created the whole world for her.

2020, Brendan Thomas Sammon, “Beauty and the Good in Dionysius the Areopagite”, in Alice M. Ramos, editor, Beauty and the Good: Recovering the Classical Tradition from Plato to Duns Scotus, →ISBN, page 204:

(historical, Roman Catholicism) Alternative spelling of Counter-Reformer (“proponent of the Counter-Reformation”).


First Vision

(Mormonism) The appearance of God the Father and Jesus Christ to the fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith, Jr. in a wooded area (now called the Sacred Grove) near Palmyra, New York in the early spring of 1820.

Première Vision

appearance of God and Jesus to Joseph Smith, Jr. near Palmyra


restorationist

(religion) One who believes in a temporary future punishment and a final restoration of all to the favour and presence of God; a Universalist.


martyry

From Late Latin martyrium (also 'martyrdom'), from Ancient Greek (martyrion), from (martys) 'witness'.

Major martyries are often traditional destinations of pilgrimages, hence become chapels or churches beyond the local parish needs

A shrine in honor of a (usually religious, notably Christian) martyr, possibly at his grave.

A shrine at a site which "bears witness" to a crucial religious event not related to a tomb.