ceremony

en-noun

ceremony (countable and uncountable, plural ceremonies)

From Middle English cerymonye, from Latin caerimonia or caeremonia, later often cerimonia (“sacredness, reverence, a sacred rite”).

To whom the Priest with naked armes full net
Approching nigh, and murdrous knife well whet,
Gan mutter close a certaine secret charme,
With other diuelish ceremonies met:

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, pages 463-464:

In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep [the passover] in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 9:3:

Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

1881, Henry James, Jr., chapter 1, in The Portrait of a Lady, New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 1:

A ritual, with religious or cultural significance.


arhat

Transliteration of Sanskrit अर्हत् (arhat, “worthy of worship”), used as a title for sanctified Buddhists. Doublet of arahant.

translit

1954: Over and against the arhat, retreating from appearances into an entirely transcendental Nirvana, stands the Bodhisattva, for whom Suchness and the world of contingencies are one — Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (Chatto & Windus 1954, p. 32)

(Buddhism) One who has attained enlightenment; a Buddhist saint.

(Jainism) One of the stages of the ascetic's spiritual evolution, when all passions (anger, ego, deception, greed, attachment, hatred and ignorance) are destroyed; arhanta.


Baldur

But the fate of Baldur, the most amiable and beloved of Asa gods, is, we think, by far the most pleasing of the Scandinavian Myths, although less characteristic of the warlike temper just mentioned than some of the others.

1836, The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 16, page 443:

In the god Baldur the legend recognizes the god of the earth-sun, the earth force. No being of the earth can approach him with hostility. Hence also the god whom the German legend knew to be a straggler, namely Loki, cannot kill Baldur with anything belonging to the earth; he has to kill him with a branch of mistletoe, because this is a stranger among the creations of the earth, and for this reason can serve the straggler, Loki, who is not related to the earth gods.

1993, Rudolf Steiner, Apocalypse of Saint John, page 99:

1997, Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume IV: Mediaeval Christianity, A.D. 590—1093, unnumbered page,
A transition from the myth of Baldur to the gospel of Christ cannot have been very difficult to the Scandinavian imagination; and, indeed, it is apparent that the first ideas which the Scandinavian heathens formed of the “White Christ” were influenced by their ideas of Baldur.

The variety of myths prohibits a single answer, but of biblical myths and myths such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Baldur’s death, the love of Isis and Osiris, and Prometheus, it is accurate to say that they "are marked by their relevance to men's questions about their nature and place in the universe."

2008, Alan Gregory, Quenching Hell: The Mystical Theology of William Law, page 84:

(Norse mythology) The Norse god of light and purity, a son of Odin and Frigg, known for his beauty and near-invulnerability.


confess

en-verb

confess (third-person singular simple present confesses, present participle confessing, simple past and past participle confessed)

confesses (present singular third-person)
confessing (participle present)
confessed (participle past)
confessed (past)

From Middle English confessen, from Anglo-Norman confesser, from Old French confesser, from Latin confessus (Old French confés), past participle of cōnfiteor (“I confess, I admit”) from con- + fateor (“I admit”). Displaced Middle English andetten (“to confess, admit”) (from Old English andettan). Doublet of confiteor.

cog

If we confesse our sinnes, hee is faithfull, & iust to forgiue vs our sinnes, and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse.

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

Our beautiful votary took an opportunity of confessing herself to this celebrated father.

1710 September 18 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 7, 1710”, in The Spectator, number 1647; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

(religion) To unburden (oneself) of sins to God or a priest, in order to receive absolution.

1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles
He […] heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were confessed.

A jealous man confesses his wife under a priest's habit, who tells him that she is visited every night by a friar; […]

1867, W. K. Kelly, The Decameron: or ten day's entertainment of Boccaccio. A revised translation:

(transitive, religion) To hear or receive such a confession of sins from.

εξομολογώ

to hear or receive a confession of sins from


Babel

From Latin Babel, from Biblical Hebrew בָּבֶל (bāḇel, “Babylon”), from Akkadian 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 (Bābilim); in Genesis associated with the idea of confusion. Doublet of Babylon.

der

Therefore is the name of it called Babel[…]

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 11:9, column 2:

(biblical) The city and tower in the land of Shinar where the confusion of languages took place, according to the Bible.


imam

Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

Now it chanced that in one of the mosques was an Imam. (footnote: The person specially appointed to lead the prayers of the congregation and paid out of the endowed revenues of the mosque to which he is attached)

1901, John Payne, Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp:

But then there's a Christian cleric and an imam on each of the country's three regional censorship boards, in Kaduna, Lagos and Onitsha, although more than one producer told me that the brown envelope worked the same magic here as in any other Nigerian Government department.

In the 1980s, roughly six hundred young Algerian men, many of them protégés of Muslim Brothers from Egypt and Wahhabi imams from Saudi Arabia, went to Afghanistan to join the anti-Soviet jihad.

2004 October 7, London Review of Books, page 3:

The critically low level of rainfall in the second half of 2020 – approaching 50% year on year for November – led the religious affairs directorate to instruct imams and their congregations to pray for rain last month.

2021 January 13, Bethan McKernan, “Turkey drought: Istanbul could run out of water in 45 days”, in The Guardian:

(Islam) One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.


aspect

From Middle English aspect, from Latin aspectus (“look, sight; appearance”), from aspiciō (“see; catch sight of; inspect”), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + speciō (“look, look at, behold; observe”).

suunta

position in respect to points of a compass, the sun, etc.

takoto

of the position of land in relation to the sun

The Mother Goddess in her many manifestations is termed Shakti, the female energy in creation, and worshipped as the supreme female aspect of Brahman.

1995, V.P. Kanitkar, W. Owen Cole, Hinduism — An Introduction:

(religion, mythology) The personified manifestation of a deity that represents one or more of its characteristics or functions.


aspect

en-verb

aspect (third-person singular simple present aspects, present participle aspecting, simple past and past participle aspected)

aspects (present singular third-person)
aspecting (participle present)
aspected (participle past)
aspected (past)


crux

→ French: crux

From Latin crux (“cross, wooden frame for execution”), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Doublet of cross and crouch (“cross”).

der

the real crux of the climb was encountered

The final half-mile was the crux of the climb.

1973, Pat Armstrong, "Klondike Fever: Seventy Years Too Late", in Backpacker, Autumn 1973, page 84

Most pitches have a distinct crux, or tough spot; some have multiple cruxes. […] ¶ Climb efficiently on the "cruiser" sections to stay fresh for the cruxes.

2004, Craig Luebben, Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 179:

Continue climbing the groove; the crux is passing some vegetation on the second pitch.

2009, R. J. Secor, The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails, Third Edition, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 51:

(climbing) The hardest point of a climb.


audit

→ Polish: audyt

Borrowed from Latin audītus, from audiō (“I hear”).

[ Werner Erhard said:] I got a lot of benefit from auditing. It was the fastest and deepest way to handle situations that I had yet encountered.

1978, William Warren Bartley, Werner Erhard: the Transformation of a Man: the Founding of est, New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., →ISBN, pages 146–47:

The trainings of Landmark, Block Training and UP Hans Schuster und Partner thus display strong similarities with the self-improvement seminars of Scientology, which are incidentally called 'auditing sessions', a term taken from the business world.

2007, Martin Ramstedt, “New Age and Business: Corporations as Cultic Milieus?”, in Daren Kemp, James R. Lewis, editors, Handbook of the New Age (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion), volume 1, Leiden: BRILL, →ISBN, pages 196–197:

(Scientology) Spiritual counseling, which forms the core of Dianetics.


audit

en-verb

audit (third-person singular simple present audits, present participle auditing, simple past and past participle audited)

audits (present singular third-person)
auditing (participle present)
audited (participle past)
audited (past)

→ Spanish: auditar

In John's case, I suspect, when he lost Diana he went back to his Scientology church to be audited.

2011, Diane Saks, Overcoming Celebrity Obsession, page 225:


kirk

Inherited from Northern Middle English kyrke, from either Old Norse kirkja or Old English ċiriċe. Doublet of church.

inh+

When she sang in the kirk, folk have told me that they had a foretaste of the musick of the New Jerusalem, and when she came in by the village of Caulds old men stottered to their doors to look at her.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

But long, long ago an enthusiastic reporter called it a "fairy palace," and the office building on the west side was once a church. Hence, in North British phraseology, to "gang tae the Kirk" meant to be had up on the carpet.

1941 January, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 3:

(Northern England and Scotland) A church.


focal

Learned borrowing from New Latin focālis. By surface analysis, focus + -al.

lbor

Choose your focals to blend well with the intention of your magical work or ritual.

2000, Sirona Knight, Celtic Traditions: Druids, Faeries, and Wiccan Rituals, page 193:

And no witch leaves behind focals.

2019, Faith Hunter, Circle of the Moon, page 27:

I use focals for aura work sometimes.

(Wicca) An object that is used to focus concentration when performing magic.


fard

Borrowed from Arabic فَرْض (farḍ, “religious duty”), from فَرَضَ (faraḍa, “to ordain, make obligatory, specify”).

It is suggested that the child pray only the fardrak'ats at this stage. He can keep adding the sunnah rak'ats from the time he has all the fards completed—that is, from his seventh birthday—so that by age ten he has the entire salat, fards and sunnahs, complete.

1995, Norma Tarazi, Zeba Siddiqui, “Islamic Practices, Manners, and Values”, in The Child in Islam: A Muslim Parent’s Handbook, Plainfield, Ind.: American Trust Publications, →ISBN, page 132:

(Islam) A commandment from Allah that a Muslim has to fulfill; a religious duty or obligation.


fard

The second fundamental of Islam is "to perform the ritual prayer (namâz, salât) [five times a day in accordance with its conditions and fards] when the time for prayer comes." It is fard for every Muslim to perform salât five times every day after each time of salât starts and to know that he or she performs it in due time.

1993, Mawlânâ Diyâ’ Ad-dîn Khâlid, “Introduction”, in Belief and Islam (Hakîkat Kitâbevi Publications; no. 8), Istanbul: Hakîkat Kitâbevi, →OCLC:

(Islam) Required as a matter of religious duty or obligation.

fard

(Islam) required as a matter of religious duty or obligation


druid

Borrowed from French druide, from Old French, via Latin Druidae, from Gaulish *druwits, from Proto-Celtic *druwits (literally either “oak-knower” or “firm knower, great sage”), from either Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”) or *drew- (“solid, firm, hard”) and *weyd- (“to see, to have knowledge”).
The earliest record of the term in Latin is by Julius Caesar in the first century B.C. in his De Bello Gallico. The native Celtic word for "druid" is first attested in Latin texts as druides (plural) and other texts also employ the form druidae (akin to the Greek form). Cognate with the later insular Celtic words, Old Irish druí (“druid, sorcerer”) and early Welsh dryw (“seer”).

(historical) One of an order of priests among certain groups of Celts before the adoption of Abrahamic religions.

(fantasy, roleplaying games) A priest or mage who uses magic based on nature or trees.


gaiter

Borrowed from French guêtre, from Middle French guiestres, guestes pl, from Old French *gueste, from Frankish *wastiju, from Proto-Germanic *wastijō (“garment; dress”).
Cognate with Middle High German wester (“a child's chrisom-cloth”), Middle High German westebarn (“godchild”), Old English wæstling (“a coverlet”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌹 (wasti, “garment; dress”).

cog

[He] stood and pulled up the gaiter around his neck to mask his mouth and nose. “People are careful around here, so you'll want to put your mask on,” she told Perry.

2022 June 14, D. Jackson Leigh, Forever Comes in Threes, Bold Strokes Books Inc, →ISBN:


oblate

From French oblat and its source, post-classical Latin oblātus (“person dedicated to religious life”), a nominal use of the past participle of offerō (“I offer”).

der

(Roman Catholicism) A person dedicated to a life of religion or monasticism, especially a member of an order without religious vows or a lay member of a religious community.

2007, The Venerable Bede started as an oblate at St Paul's, Jarrow, but by the time of his death in 735 was surely the most learned man in Europe. — Tom Shippey, ‘I Lerne Song’, London Review of Books 29:4, p. 19

A child given up by its parents into the keeping or dedication of a religious order or house.


oblate

en-adj

oblate (comparative more oblate, superlative most oblate)

more oblate (comparative)
most oblate (superlative)

From Late Latin oblātus, from Latin ob (“in front of, before”) + lātus (“broad, wide”), (modeled after prōlātus (“extended, lengthened”)).

The Earth is an oblate spheroid.

Why should I not speak to him or to any human being who walks upright upon this oblate orange?

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

’Tis prolate, still,’ with a long dejected Geordie O. ‘Isn’t it…?’ ‘I’m an Astronomer,– trust me, ’tis gone well to oblate.’

1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 39, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 392:


nones

From Latin nōnus (“ninth”).
As a day of the Roman calendar, via nōnae (“ninth days”) from the original Roman practice of counting forward to the next full or new crescent moon, the nones' occurrence 8 days before the ides of every month (9 counting inclusively) following the establishment of a fixed calendar, and from the Latin practice of treating most recurring calendrical days as plurals. Some scholars believe the name is a variant of the nundines (nūndinae fēriae (“ninth-day festival”)), the Roman market days held every eight days (9 counting inclusively), which were likely announced for each coming month by the Roman kings on the first-quarter days.
As a time of day, via the plural form of Middle English, Anglo-Norman, & French none and Latin nōna (“ninth hour”) after the manner of earlier matins, vespers, etc. As a meal, from the time of day, whether from its plural, genitive, or the occasional adverbial sense of -s.

The Greek monks always listen to their reader recite Psalms 83, 84, and 85 from the Septuagint at nones.

(Christianity) The divine office appointed to the hour.


simar

Borrowed from French simarre (“type of robe”), from Italian cimarra, zimarra. Doublet of chimer.

(Christianity) A type of ecclesiastical vestment, similar to a cassock.


swami

Borrowed from Hindi स्वामी (svāmī), from Sanskrit स्वामिन् (svāmín).

(often used as a title) A Hindu ascetic or religious teacher.


lavabo

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

From the Christian ritual, which was traditionally accompanied in Catholicism by a recitation of Psalm 25:6 (Psalm 26:6, in the Hebrew and in most modern translations) which in Latin begins with the word lavābō (“I will wash”). The sense of "room with a toilet" developed under the influence of lavatory and lav.

(Christianity) A ritual involving the washing of one's hands at a church's offertory before handling the Eucharist.

These small liturgical towels got […] the name of Lavabo cloths or Lavaboes.

1870, Daniel Rock, Textile Fabrics, page 203:

(Christianity) The small towel used to dry the priest's hands following the ritual.

[…] the […] pontiff, as he […] moved his hands […] at the Lavabo, or at the various benedictions […]

1885, Walter Horatio Peter, Marius the Epicurean, Bk. iv, Ch. xxiii:

A washbasin, particularly (Christianity) the one in a church used in the ritual.


mullah

Derived from Classical Persian مُلَّا (mullā), from Arabic مَوْلًى (mawlan, “vicar, guardian”).

der

Leading Republicans do not sympathize with the mullahs, do not repeat their talking points, and do not seek to appease them when they make outrageous claims about other countries.

2024 April 15, Anne Applebaum, “Why Did U.S. Planes Defend Israel but Not Ukraine?”, in The Atlantic:

(Islam) A religious scholar and teacher of sharia law.


theist

From Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god”) + -ist.

af

The term stands in contradistinction to theism which, in its widest sense, means belief in a personal god, goddess, gods and /or goddesses.

1999, Jeaneane D. Fowler, Humanism: Beliefs & Practices, page 66

The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a Supreme Being as good as He is powerful, who has formed all beings with extension, vegetating, sentient and reflecting; who perpetuates their species, who punishes crimes without cruelty, and rewards virtuous actions with kindness.

1764, Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary:

[…] and I call him a theist who believes in any God.

1854, Theodore Parker, “Speculative Atheism”, in W. J. Linton, editors, The English Republic, volume 3, page 205:

No one is to be called a Theist, who does not believe in a Personal God, whatever difficulty there may be in defining the word "Personal."

1870, John Henry Newman, An Essay in aid of a Grammar of Assent, page 119:

One who believes in the existence of a god or gods.


mitre

From Middle English mytre, from Old French mitre, from Ancient Greek μίτρα (mítra, “headband, turban”). Its use in reference to a counterfeit coin derived from the bishop's mitre stamped upon it. Doublet of Mithras, Mithra, Mitra, and Mehr.


zazen

en-noun

zazen (usually uncountable, plural zazens)

Borrowed from Japanese 坐(ざ)禅(ぜん) (zazen), from 坐(ざ) (za, “sitting”) + 禅(ぜん) (zen, “meditation”).

If Professor Jaynes had extended his studies of introspection into zazen or yogic forms of meditation, he would understand that the ego is just such a construction that is extended over the gaps in time from moment to moment.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 269:

They had sent out scouts to try and locate the original cave where the practice of Zazen was first initiated.

1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, page 1226:

In the practice of Zen there is an exercise called zazen—similar, I think, to the Theravedic practice of vipassana. One sits facing a blank wall. No matter the emotion one feels, no matter how strong or violent, one remains motionless. Facing the wall. The discipline, of course, is in continuing to sit.

For everyone—everyone—who first takes it up, zazen is tedious and awful... Zazen isn't about blissing out or going into an alpha brainwave trance. It's about facing who and what you really are, in every single goddamn moment. And you aren't bliss, I'll tell you that right now. You're a mess. We all are.

2003, Brad Warner, Hardcore Zen, page 92:

(Buddhism) A form of seated meditation in Zen Buddhism.


schema

Unadapted borrowing from Latin schēma, from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “form, shape”). Doublet of scheme.

der

(Christianity) A monastic habit in the Greek Orthodox Church.


lien

And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done vnto vs? one of the people might lightly haue lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest haue brought guiltinesse vpon vs.”

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 26:10:

And the Priest shall charge her by an othe, and say vnto the woman, If no man haue lyen with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to vncleannesse with another in stead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 5:19:

(biblical, archaic) Alternative form of lain


mambo

en-noun

mambo (countable and uncountable, plural mambos or mamboes)

From Haitian Creole manbo (“voodoo priestess”) (ultimately from Yoruba mambo (“to talk”)), in later senses via Cuban Spanish mambo (“dance”).

der

The mambo next presented a container of water to the cardinal points, then poured libations to the centerpost of the peristyle, the axis along which the spirits were to enter.

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

The manbo showed her how to take small handfuls of liquid and spread it on her skin always moving in the upward direction.

1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 219

In the 1950s, Ukrainian American filmmaker Maya Deren traveled to Haiti and became initiated as a manbo (priestess) in Haitian Vodou.

May 2018, Kyrah Malika Daniels, Whiteness in the Ancestral Waters: Race, Religion, and Conversion within North American Buddhism and Haitian Vodou, The Journal of Interreligious Studies, Issue 23


beatification

en-noun

beatification (countable and uncountable, plural beatifications)

From Middle French béatification, from Medieval Latin beātificātiō.

Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; especially, in the Roman Catholic Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or has attained the second degree of sanctity, — usually a stage in the process of canonization.


synod

From Ancient Greek σύνοδος (súnodos, “assembly, meeting”) – from σύν (sún, “with”) (English syn-) + ὁδός (hodós, “way, path”).
Compare also with the term סַנְהֶדְרִין (“sunédrion”) common throughout Hebrew Talmudic literature.

bor

Addressing a number of previously taboo topics, this synod could result in several liberalizing reforms, though there is no guarantee that it will produce anything at all.

2023 October 2, Jason Horowitz, Elisabetta Povoledo, “What Is a Synod in the Catholic Church? And Why Does This One Matter?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(Christianity) An ecclesiastic council or meeting to consult on church matters.

(Christianity) An administrative division of churches, either the entire denomination, as in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, or a mid-level division (middle judicatory, district) as in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America


antinomian

From Medieval Latin Antinomi, from Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “against”) + νόμος (nómos, “custom, law”).

"He was called by many persons an antinomian, though his life was exemplary."

1886, J. H. Thorpe, "John Brine" entry in Dictionary of National Biography:

(Christianity, Judaism) One who embraces, encourages, or practices antinomianism.

antinomisti

one who embraces, encourages, or practices antinomianism


shalom

Borrowed from Hebrew שָׁלוֹם (šālóm, “peace, well-being; Hello, good-bye”). Doublet of salaam, the same word via Arabic.

(Judaism) A traditional Jewish greeting or farewell.

شَلُوم

transliteration of the Jewish greeting or farewell


shalom

en-noun

shalom (countable and uncountable, plural shaloms)


Christianization

Analyzable as Christianize + -ation or Christian + -ization.

The act or process of converting or being converted to Christianity.


canonization

canonization (countable and uncountable, plural canonizations)

(Christianity) The final process or decree (following beatification) by which the name of a deceased person is placed in the catalogue (canon) of saints and commended to perpetual veneration and invocation.


bauble

From Middle English bable, babel, babull, babulle, from Old French babel, baubel (“trinket, child's toy”), most likely a reduplication of bel, ultimately from Latin bellus (“pretty”).

A small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees.


consubstantiation

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

consubstanciación

the presence of the body of Christ with the bread and wine of the sacrament


commemoration

commemoration (countable and uncountable, plural commemorations)

From commemorate + -ion, from Old French commemoration (French commémoration), from Latin commemorātiōnem, verb commemorāre.

(religion) The specification of individual saints in the prayers for the dead.


Torah

From Hebrew תּוֹרָה (tōrā, “instruction, law or teaching”).

der

Tradition holds that the Torah was handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, attributed to Moses and therefore also known as the Five Books of Moses.

اَلتَّوْرَاة

the Five Books of Moses - the full body of Jewish law


valid

en-adj

valid (comparative more valid, superlative most valid)

more valid (comparative)
most valid (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French valide (“healthy, sound, in good order”), from Latin validus, from valeō (“I am strong, I am healthy, I am worth”) + -idus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“be strong”).

der

(Christianity, theology) Genuine - as distinguished from efficient or regular - sacrament.


pall

From Middle English pal, palle, from Old English pæl, pæll, from Old French paile and Latin pallium (“cloak; covering”) (and thus a doublet of pallium), probably from palla (“piece of cloth worn as apparel”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; hide, skin; cloth”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

(Christianity) A piece of cardboard, covered with linen and embroidered on one side, used to cover the chalice during the Eucharist.

(Christianity, obsolete) A cloth used for various purposes on the altar in a church, such as a corporal (“cloth on which elements of the Eucharist are placed”) or frontal (“drapery covering the front of an altar”).

By the way, a pall is a pontifical vestment, considerable for the matter, making, and mysteries thereof. […] But, to speak plainly, the mystery of mysteries in this pall was, that the archbishops' receiving it showed therein their dependence on Rome; and a mote, in this manner ceremoniously taken, was an acknowledgement of their subjection. And as it owned Rome's power, so in after-ages it increased their profit. For, though now such palls were freely given to archbishops, […] yet in after-ages the archbishop of Canterbury's pall was sold for five thousand florins: […]

1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section II. The Seventh Century.”, in The Church-history of Britain; from the Birth of Jesus Christ, untill the Year M.DC.XLVIII, London: Printed for Iohn Williams, →OCLC; The Church History of Britain, […] In Three Volumes, 3rd edition, volume I, London: Printed for Thomas Tegg, […], 1842, →OCLC, section 38 (What a Pall is), page 107:

Or it might be a magnificent pall, in the days in which this garment had lost its primitive character, that taxed the skill and the patience of the fair needlewoman. It was about the year a.d. 601 that Pope Gregory [I] sent two archbishop's palls into England; the one for London, which see was afterwards removed to Canterbury, and the other to York.

1840, [Elizabeth Stone], “Needlework of the Dark Ages”, in Countess of Wilton [i.e., Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton], editor, The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages; including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical Tapestries, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 66:

(Christianity) Especially in Roman Catholicism: a pallium (“liturgical vestment worn over the chasuble”).


deification

en-noun

deification (usually uncountable, plural deifications)

From Middle English deificacion, from Middle French deifier + -acion or borrowed directly from Latin deificātiō, from deificō (“deify”) + -tiō (noun suffix), from deus (“god”) + -ficō (“make”). Equivalent to deify + -ication. In the Christian theological sense influenced by the use of deificātiō as Latin translation of Byzantine Greek θέωσις (théōsis).

euhemerization

act of deifying; chiefly Chinese contexts

There is an experiential component to Maximos’ writings: he draws upon the reality of the contemplative life and in doing so secures deification as the goal of the monastic spiritual life in Orthodoxy.

2010, Paul M. Collins, Partaking in Divine Nature: Deification and Communion, page 108:

(Christianity, theology) Union with God; theosis.


damnation

damnation (countable and uncountable, plural damnations)

From Middle English dampnacioun, from Old French dampnacion, from Latin damnatio.

The state of being damned; condemnation; openly expressed disapprobation.

проклятие

(religion) Condemnation to everlasting punishment in the future state, or the punishment itself.


damnation

Oh damnation! The window doesn't shut!

Expressing annoyance or disappointment; damn; dammit.


denomination

denomination (countable and uncountable, plural denominations)

/dɪˌnɒmɪˈneɪʃən/

From Middle English denominacion, from Old French denominacion, from Latin dēnōminātiō.

She follows the Ahmadiyya denomination of Islam.

Denomination does more than create space in which to discern, however. It also provides a means for living out differing forms of a faithful Christian life.

2011, Paul M. Collins, Barry A. Ensign-George, Denomination: Assessing an Ecclesiological Category, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 6:

(countable, religion) A class, or society of individuals, called by the same name; a subdivision of a religion.

denominasie

class or society with the same name, a sect


crusader

1998, Osama Bin Ladenhttps://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm
Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) An American, especially a soldier or leader who wages war against Islamist militants.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism, religious slur) A Westerner; a Christian, especially of European descent or a missionary.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) (either attributively or in the plural) The United States and its Western allies.


dispensation

dispensation (countable and uncountable, plural dispensations)

From Old French despensacion, from Latin dispensātiō.

تَحِلَّة

[H]e had a dispensation for conforming in outward observances to the Protestant faith.

1822, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 5–6:

Why, there has gone already to Rome a messenger to crave a second dispensation from his Popeship, and the King himself hath signed the request, praying that you and I should graciously be permitted to wed!

1905, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, May Margaret: called "the fair maid of Galloway," - Page 184:

The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something enjoined; exemption.

(Catholicism) In the Roman Catholic Church, an exemption from some ecclesiastical law, or from an obligation to God which a person has incurred of his own free will (oaths, vows, etc.).


emanation

emanation (countable and uncountable, plural emanations)

/ˌɛməˈneɪʃən/

(theology) The generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit, as distinct from the origination of created beings.


domination

domination (countable and uncountable, plural dominations)

/ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/

/ˌdɑːməˈneɪʃən/

From Middle English domynacion, from Old French dominacion, from Latin dominātiō (“rule, dominion”), from dominor (“domineer; rule”); see dominate.

Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.

1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

The succession of orders given in this passage is not exactly the same as in the succeeding chapters, in which it is as follows: -- Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; Dominations, Virtues, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels.

1872, The Sacristy: A Quarterly Review of Ecclesiastical Art and Literature, page 20:

According to Dionysius, the dominations have the duty in the heavenly host of regulating the tasks of the angels and "through them the majesty of God is manifested." Through the efforts of the dominations - who are naturally seen only rarely by mortals -- the very order of the cosmos is maintained.

2010, Matthew Bunson, Angels A to Z: A Who's Who of the Heavenly Host, →ISBN, page 80:

(Christianity) A dominion; an angel from a high order of angels in the celestial hierarchy.


exaltation

exaltation (countable and uncountable, plural exaltations)

From Middle English exaltacioun, exaltatioun, from Old French exaltacion and Latin exaltātiō (“exaltation, elevation”), from exaltō (“raise, elevate, exalt”), from ex (“from, out of”) + altus (“high”).

der

Those who obtain exaltation will gain all power and thus themselves be omnipotent […]

1958, Bruce R. McConkie, “Omnipotence”, in Mormon Doctrine, 1st edition, page 492:

Mormon commentators have taken various position about whether people who have died could move from a lower degree of glory—what non-Mormons might call salvation—to a higher one and eventually reach exaltation and become gods.

2019, Thomas G. Alexander, Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith, →ISBN, page 209:

(Mormonism) Apotheosis; becoming a god in the highest degree of glory after death.


elevation

en-noun

elevation (countable and uncountable, plural elevations)

/ˌɛlɪˈveɪʃən/

From Old French elevation, from Latin elevatio, equal to elevate + -ion.

(Christianity, chiefly Roman Catholicism) The raising of the host—representing Christ’s body—in a mass or Holy Communion service.


excommunication

excommunication (countable and uncountable, plural excommunications)

From the Late Latin excommūnicātiō. Displaced native Old English āmǣnsumung.

The act of excommunicating, disfellowshipping or ejecting; especially an ecclesiastical censure whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is, for the time, cast out of the communication of the church; exclusion from fellowship in things spiritual.

отлъ́чване

от цъ́рквата


soma

Transliteration of Sanskrit सोम (soma). Doublet of haoma.

Once he had drunk the intoxicating soma, he experienced an ascent to the gods without having to die a violent death, as in the old ritual.

2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books, published 2007, page 82:

(Vedic religion) A ritual drink in ancient Vedic culture, obtained by pressing the Soma plant.


enlightenment

enlightenment (usually uncountable, plural enlightenments)

But the man who has attained enlightenment sees that the apparent reality is mere illusion, or, as was said a couple of thousand years later, that there is nothing good nor bad but thinking makes it so.

1893, Thomas Huxley, Evolution and Ethics:

Thus Django becomes the carrier of the “public use of one's reason”—the Kantian road to enlightenment given to him by the German “Forty-Eighter” dentist–turned-bounty hunter Dr. “King” Schultz, and represents the fictive, allohistorical beginning of the battle against slavery and racism in the United States.

2014 July 31, Oliver C. Speck, editor, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained: The Continuation of Metacinema, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 25:

A concept in spirituality, philosophy and psychology related to achieving clarity of perception, reason and knowledge.


fornication

fornication (countable and uncountable, plural fornications)

/ˌfɔɹnɪˈkeɪʃən/

From Middle English fornicacioun, from Old French fornicacion, from Latin fornicātiō, from fornix (“brothel”).

FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed—
BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country;
And besides, the wench is dead.

c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act IV:

I am the sister of one Claudio,
Condemned upon the act of fornication
To lose his head, condemned by Angelo

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Galatians 5:19–21:

Draw not near unto fornication; for it is wickedness, and an evil way

1734, George Sale, transl., Alcoran of Mohammed, 17:32:

In one case, where a man was sued for committing fornication with his wife before marriage, it appeared, that seven years after her death he was cited to stand as a prisoner at their bar, though he had lived with her for nine years,[…]

1816, Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England: From the Norman Conquest, in 1066, to the Year, 1803, page 623:

... that he was a married man at the time is a necessary allegation, as the allegation that he was an unmarried man would have been necessary had he been charged with the crime of incest, by having committed fornication with his daughter.

1893, The Southwestern Reporter, page 840:

Thus, at Roxbury, 1678, Hanna Hopkins was censured in the church for fornication with her husband before marriage and for fleeing from justice into Rhode Island.

2013, Arthur W. Calhoun, The American Family in the Colonial Period, Courier Corporation, →ISBN:

(religion, law) Sexual intercourse by people who are not married to each other, or which is considered illicit in another way.


fiduciary

From Latin fīdūciārius (“held in trust”), from fīdūcia (“trust”).

(theology) One who depends for salvation on faith, without works; an antinomian.


hermetic

en-adj

hermetic (comparative more hermetic, superlative most hermetic)

more hermetic (comparative)
most hermetic (superlative)

From Medieval Latin hermeticus, irregular derivation of Hermes Trismegistus, the god and mythological alchemist, said to possess a magic ability to seal treasure chests so that nothing could access their contents.

(chiefly capitalized, Greek mythology) Pertaining to ancient Greek Olympian God Hermes


invocation

en-noun

invocation (countable and uncountable, plural invocations)

From Middle English invocacioun, from Old French invocacion, from Latin invocatio, invocationem.

The act or form of calling for the assistance or presence of some superior being, especially prayer offered to a divine being.


planchette

(spiritualism) A type of Ouija board. (A small tablet of wood supported on casters and having a pencil attached. The characters produced by the pencil on paper, while the hand rests on the instrument and it is allowed to move, are sometimes interpreted as of oracular or supernatural import.)


invitation

invitation (countable and uncountable, plural invitations)

From Middle English invitacioun, ynvytacioun, from Latin invītātio, reinforced by Middle French invitation. Displaced native Middle English lathinge from Old English laþung (see dialectal English lathing).

(Christianity) The brief exhortation introducing the confession in the Anglican communion-office.


midweek

From mid- + week. Compare Saterland Frisian Midwiek (“Wednesday”, literally “midweek”), German Low German Middeweek (“Wednesday”, literally “midweek”), German Mittwoch (“Wednesday”, literally “midweek”).

cog

This Wednesday is churchwide midweek; men's is the next one.

(Christianity, Latter-Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, informal) Midweek worship service, held by many congregations and in addition to a Sunday morning service.


fain

en-verb

fain (third-person singular simple present fains, present participle faining, simple past and past participle fained)

fains (present singular third-person)
faining (participle present)
fained (participle past)
fained (past)
fain (infinitive)

From Middle English fainen (“to be glad or joyful, rejoice; to make happy, gladden; to welcome; of an animal: to show happiness, as by wagging the tail; to act fawningly or flatteringly”), from Old English fæġnian (“to be glad, rejoice; to celebrate; to be delighted with, applaud; to wish for”), from Proto-West Germanic *faginōn (“to be glad, rejoice; to make glad, gladden”), from Proto-Germanic *faginōną (“to be glad, rejoice”), from *faganaz (“glad”): see further at etymology 1. Doublet of fawn.

inh

(Germanic paganism) To celebrate or worship; specifically, to offer an oblation which is not a sacrificial blót (“ceremonial offering”).

juhlia

(Germanic paganism) to celebrate or worship; to offer an oblation which is not a sacrificial blót — see also celebrate, worship


irascible

en-adj

irascible (comparative more irascible, superlative most irascible)

more irascible (comparative)
most irascible (superlative)

From Middle English, from Old French irascible, from Late Latin īrāscibilis, from Latin īrāscī (“to be angry, enraged”) + -bilis.

The irascible and concupiscible appetites are distinguished by different aspects of their objects. The object of the concupiscible faculty "is sensible good or evil, simply apprehended as such" while good and evil considered as "arduous or difficult … is the object of the irascible faculty."

2015, Jeffrey Froula, “Aquinas on the Moral Neutrality of the Passion of Despair”, in New Blackfriars:

(theology) Relating to the irascible passions


parthenogenesis

en-noun

parthenogenesis (usually uncountable, plural parthenogeneses)

/ˌpɑːθɪnəʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/

/ˌpɑːθənəʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/

/ˌpɑɹθɪnoʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/

/ˌpɑɹθənoʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/

From parthen- + -o- + -genesis, from Ancient Greek παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin”) and γένεσις (génesis, “origin, creation, generation”).

der

So one might reasonably be led to hold, for instance, that the parthenogenesis of Christ does not beget faith in Christ […]

1927, James Samuel Stone, The cult of Santiago: traditions, myths, and pilgrimages, page 58:

His theology offers four objections on dogmatic grounds commonly adduced by contemporary Protestant criticism to cast doubt on Mary’s parthenogenesis.

1966, Thomas F. O’Meara, Mary in Protestant and Catholic Theology, page 227:

Christ’s parthenogenesis exalts woman.

1999, Carol V. Kaske, Spenser and Biblical poetics, →ISBN, page 177:

(theology) Virgin birth, in reference to the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.


primacy

en-noun

primacy (usually uncountable, plural primacies)

From Old French primacie, from Medieval Latin primatia (“office of a church primate”), from Latin primas plus a suffix corresponding to -acy.

der

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, emphasized the many areas of agreement between Pope Francis and himself in response to the social concerns of the day.

December 2 2016, Ecumenical Patriarch points to areas of agreement with Pope, Catholic World News:

(religion) The office, rank, or character of a primate, it being the chief ecclesiastical station or dignity in a national church.

նախագահ

the office, rank, or character of a primate

(religion) The office or dignity of an archbishop.


offend

en-verb

offend (third-person singular simple present offends, present participle offending, simple past and past participle offended)

offends (present singular third-person)
offending (participle present)
offended (participle past)
offended (past)

From Middle French offendre, from Latin offendō (“strike, blunder, commit an offense”), from ob- (“against”) + *fendō (“strike”).

uder

"If any man offend not (stumbles not, is not tripped up) in word, the same is a perfect man."

1896, Adolphus Frederick Schauffler, Select Notes on the International Sunday School Lessons, W. A. Wilde company, page 161:

"If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out."

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:29:

(obsolete, transitive, archaic, biblical) To cause to stumble; to cause to sin or to fall.


revival

en-noun

revival (countable and uncountable, plural revivals)

As the revivals died down in the 1740s, the revivalist camp made concessions to their opponents, admonished prorevivalists who continued with the hostilities, and generally sought to heal divisions.

2006, Michael P. Young, Bearing Witness Against Sin:

This book offers a view into a growing movement of Islamic revival as it is taking place in the small, historically Hindu kingdom of Nepal on the northern Himalayan edge of the Indian subcontinent.

2012, Megan Adamson Sijapati, Islamic Revival in Nepal: Religion and a New Nation, Routledge, →ISBN:

(religion) Renewed interest in religion, after indifference and decline; a period of religious awakening; special religious interest.

(Christianity) A Christian religious meeting held to inspire active members of a church body or to gain new converts.


shrive

en-verb

shrive (third-person singular simple present shrives, present participle shriving, simple past shrove or shrived, past participle shriven or shrived)

shrives (present singular third-person)
shriving (participle present)
shrove (past)
shrived (past)
shriven (participle past)
shrived (participle past)

From Middle English shryven, shriven, schrifen, from Old English sċrīfan (“1. to decree, pass judgement, prescribe, 2. (of a priest) to prescribe penance or absolution”), from Proto-West Germanic *skrīban, from late Proto-Germanic *skrībaną, a borrowing from Latin scrībō (“write”). Compare West Frisian skriuwe (“to write”), Low German schrieven (“to write”), Dutch schrijven (“to write”), German schreiben (“to write”), Danish skrive (“to write”), Swedish skriva (“to write”), Icelandic skrifa (“to write”). More at scribe and scribble.

inh

And thenne whan paper & ynke was broughte thenne Gawayn was set vp weykely by kynge Arthur for he was shryuen a lytel tofore and thenne he wrote thus as the Frensshe book maketh mencyon
"And then when paper and ink was brought, then Gawaine was set up weakly by King Arthur, for he was shriven a little to-fore; and then he wrote thus, as the French book maketh mention"

1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XXI, Chapter ii, leaf 421v:

If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

Doubtless he shrives this woman, […] / Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

(religion, transitive and intransitive) To hear or receive a confession (of sins etc.).

(religion, transitive) To prescribe penance or absolution.

c. 1798-1845, unknown author, The Croppy Boy
'Twas a good thought, boy, to come here and shrive.

(religion, intransitive or reflexive) To confess, and receive absolution.


victory

en-noun

victory (countable and uncountable, plural victories)

→ Maori: wikitōriatanga

The noun is derived from Middle English victory, victori, victorie (“supremacy, victory; a defeat or vanquishing, conquest; superior military force; might, power, strength; triumphal celebration or procession; monument commemorating a defeat; superior position, dominance; mastery; moral victory, vindication; success, triumph; redemption, salvation; resurrection of Jesus; means of achieving spiritual victory; reward for or token of perseverance in a spiritual struggle”) [and other forms], borrowed from Anglo-Norman victorie and Old French victorie, a variant of victoire (“victory, win”) (modern French victoire), from Latin victōria (“victory”), from victor (“champion, winner, victor; conqueror, vanquisher”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to contain, envelop; to overcome”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as victor + -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state), and displaced Middle English siȝe, sye.
The interjection is derived from the noun.
cognates
* French victoire
* Italian vittoria
* Portuguese vitoria
* Spanish victoria
* Romanian victorie

nb...

victorye, viktori, vitorie, vittori, vittorie, vyctory, vyktorye, (Kent) fictorie, fyctorye, (Northern England) wictori, wictorie, wictorrie

suffix

snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory

All along the Champs Elysées were […] statues of plaster representing nymphs, triumphs, victories, and other female personages painted in oil so as to represent marble; real marble could have had no better effect, and the appearance of the whole was lively and picturesque in the extreme.

1841, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Mr. Titmarsh to Miss Smith on the Second Funeral of Napoleon. Letter III. The Funeral Ceremony.”, in The Second Funeral of Napoleon: […] And The Chronicle of the Drum. […], London: Hugh Cunningham, […], →OCLC, page 63:

(Roman mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Victory (“(uncountable) the Roman goddess of victory, the counterpart of the Greek goddess Nike; also (countable), an artistic depiction of her, chiefly as a winged woman”)


revert

From Old French revertir, from Vulgar Latin *revertiō, variant of Latin revertō.

[...] Cyril III ibn Laqlaq’s correspondence which reflects genuine—if intentionally vague—concern for the secretive community of Christian converts and reverts [who had converted to Islam before].

2010, Kurt J. Werthmuller, Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt: 1218-1250, page 77:

(religion) One who reverts to that religion which one had adhered to before having converted to another.

Zeba Siddiqui, herself a revert and editor of the Parent's Manual: A Guide for Muslim Parents Living in North America, contributed to this book as a consultant.

1997, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons, page 27:

Parents should not reject a proposal without good reason — and being a revert with a past is not an acceptable one.

2001, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons:

(Islam, due to the belief that all people are born Muslim) A convert to Islam.


revert

en-verb

revert (third-person singular simple present reverts, present participle reverting, simple past and past participle reverted)

reverts (present singular third-person)
reverting (participle present)
reverted (participle past)
reverted (past)

връщам

to cause to return to the previous owner

He added that Islam is the religion of justice which rejects injustice, referring to the case of Mike Tyson and how he has become a real problem to the West since he reverted to Islam.

1995, Wizārat al-Iʻlām wa-al-Thaqāfah, “Sudanow”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 20:

The mission of 'translating' the Qur'an had preoccupied Pickthall's mind since he reverted to Islam.

1997, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons:

But once he reverted to Islam, he attended as many lectures as he could, listened to Islamic tapes and the recitations of Qur'an. Subtly and gradually his moods were stabilized, and he started to have positive outlook on life.

2003, Islamic Revival Association, Al Jumuʻah: Volume 15, Issues 7-12:

(intransitive, Islam) To convert to Islam.


subsistence

en-noun

subsistence (countable and uncountable, plural subsistences)

From Middle English subsistence; partly from Middle French subsistence (modern French subsistance) and partly from its etymon Late Latin subsistentia (“substance, reality, in Medieval Latin also stability”), from Latin subsistēns, present participle of subsistere (“to continue, subsist”). Perhaps also partly from subsist + -ence.

der

(theology) Embodiment or personification or hypostasis of an underlying principle or quality.


stang

From Middle English stang, stong, from Old Norse stǫng, from Proto-Germanic *stangiz, *stangō (“bar, rod”), from Proto-Indo-European *stengʰ-, *stegʰ- (“to stick, sting, prick, be stiff”).

The stang represents the horned god and the masculine force of nature. Much like the wand or athame, the stang is used for raising or directing power[…]

2006 January 7, Lady Sabrina, Exploring Wicca, Updated Edition, →ISBN, page 87:

In more common (and private) Wiccan circles, the stang is replaced by the athame (black handled knife) and the cauldron replaced with the chalice but its^([sic]) pretty much /whatever works for you/.

2009 June 22, Yowie, “Sikh Quaker?”, in soc.religion.quaker:

These stangs can be used as natural altars in outdoor rituals or simply as walking staffs.

2014 January 8, Ann Moura, Green Witchcraft: Folk Magic, Fairy Lore & Herb Craft, →ISBN, page 7:

(Wicca, paganism) A forked ritual staff.


proud

en-adj

proud (comparative prouder or more proud, superlative proudest or most proud)

prouder (comparative)
more proud (comparative)
proudest (superlative)
most proud (superlative)

From Middle English proud, prout, prut, from Old English prūd, prūt (“proud, arrogant, haughty”) (compare Old English prȳtung (“pride”); prȳde, prȳte (“pride”)), probably from Old French prod, prud (“brave, gallant”) (modern French preux), from Late Latin prōde (“useful”), derived from Latin prōdesse (“to be of value”); however, the Old English umlaut derivatives prȳte, prȳtian, etc. suggest the word may be older and possibly native. Compare Old Norse prýði (“ornament; gallantry, bravery”). See also pride.
Cognate with German Low German praud, Old Norse prúðr (“gallant, brave, magnificent, stately, handsome, fine”) (Icelandic prúður, Middle Swedish prudh, Danish prud).

فَخُور

gratified, feeling honoured, feeling satisfied

嬉しい

happy, usually used with a sense of honour

Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand ioyne in hand, he ſhall not be vnpuniſhed.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 16:5:

Death be not proud; though ſome have called thee / Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not foe, [...]

1609 February–August (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “[Holy Sonnets] Sonnet VI [Death Be Not Proud]”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 35:

Godolphin Horne was Nobly Born; / He held the human race in scorn, / And lived with all his sisters where / His father lived, in Berkeley Square. / And oh! The lad was deathly proud! / He never shook your hand or bowed, / But merely smirked and nodded thus: / How perfectly ridiculous! / Alas! That such Affected Tricks / Should flourish in a child of six!

1907, Hilaire Belloc, Cautionary Tales for Children, Godolphin Horne Who was cursed with the Sin of Pride, and Became a Boot-Black:

(chiefly biblical) Having too high an opinion of oneself; arrogant, supercilious, prideful.

مَغْرُور

having a too high opinion of oneself; arrogant, supercilious, prideful


clergyman

Holonym: clergy

Coordinate term: clergywoman

I think if post commanders of the unchaplained posts could employ acceptable clergymen […] then the needs might be met.

1883, United States. War Department, Annual Reports of the War Department, volume 1, page 128:

The king experienced his first attack in autumn 1788, and as his condition worsened and the physicians-in-ordinary proved unable to cope or cure, the Reverend Dr Francis Willis (1717–1807), a clergyman doctor who ran a madhouse in Lincolnshire, was called in.

1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 263:

A male member of a clergy; especially, an ordained (male) Christian minister.

قِسِّيس

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


Sterculius

(Roman mythology) The god of manure or fertilizer.


ordain

en-verb

ordain (third-person singular simple present ordains, present participle ordaining, simple past and past participle ordained)

ordains (present singular third-person)
ordaining (participle present)
ordained (participle past)
ordained (past)

From Middle English ordeynen, from Old French ordiner, from Latin ordinare (“to order”), from ordo (“order”). Doublet of ordinate.

(religion) To admit into the ministry, for example as a priest, bishop, minister or Buddhist monk, or to authorize as a rabbi.


psalm

From Middle English salm or psalme, from Old English psealm, later reinforced from Old French psalme (modern French psaume), both from Latin psalmus, from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “the sound emanating from twitching or twanging perhaps with the hands or fingers, mostly of musical strings”) (from ψάλλω (psállō, “to make a sound by striking, touching, plucking, rubbing, twanging, or vibrating”)), but later in New Testament times the meaning of ψαλμός (psalmós) evolved from its Classical meaning of "a tune played to the harp" to a more general tune that could be played with any instrument; even a song sung with or without musical accompaniment. By the Byzantine Period, it lost all of its instrumental nuances.

Psalms

of the book of the Bible in which the psalms are collected

(religion, music) A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God.


Yule

From Middle English yol, youle, from Old English ġeōl (“Christmas, Yule”), either cognate with or from Old Norse jól, from Proto-Germanic *jehwlą. Cognate with Gothic 𐌾𐌹𐌿𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍃 (jiuleis); see also Old English ġēola and Old Norse ýlir.

Twelve Days of Christmas
Twelve Days of Christmas

Christmastide, the Christmas season, the Twelve Days of Christmas (between December 25ᵗʰ and January 5ᵗʰ).

A pagan wintertime holiday celebrated by Germanic peoples, particularly the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon peoples, or a modern reconstruction of this holiday celebrated by neo-pagans.


Yule

In the Countrey churches, at Christmas in the Holy-daies after Prayers, they will dance in the Church, and as they doe dance, they cry (or sing) Yole, Yole, Yole etc.

1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 5:

(obsolete) A proclamation of joy at Christmas.


leech

From Middle English leche (“physician”), from Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”), from Proto-West Germanic *lākī, from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz (“doctor”), of disputed origin, but usually thought to be connected with Proto-Celtic (compare Old Irish líaig (“charmer, exorcist, physician”)) and Serbo-Croatian ljèkār, Polish lekarz (“physician, doctor”); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”).
Cognate with Old Frisian lētza (“physician”), Old Saxon lāki (“physician”), Old High German lāhhi (“doctor, healer”), Danish læge (“doctor, surgeon”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lēkeis, “physician”).

cog

Their functions are threefold, those of the medicine-man (the leech, or healer by supernatural means); of the soothsayer (the prophet through communion with the invisible world); and of the priest, especially in his capacity as exorcist

1900, Augustus Henry Keane, Man, Past and Present, Cambridge: The University Press:

In ancient times runesters were a specialized class separate from that of the witch or ordinary spell caster (much as the other specialists such as the leech or healer and the seithkona were different from a witch), and even today many believe it takes years of training to become adept at using the runes in spell work.

1996, Swain Wodening, “Scandinavian Craft Lesson 6: Runic Divination”, Theod Magazine 3 (4)

"Leech?" "Not another doctor".

2003, Brian Froud, Ari Berk, The Runes of Elfland, Pavillion Books, →ISBN, page 22:

There are many kinds of "Leech" or "healer" as there are healing techniques, some are more powerful than others and some are very specific to certain illnesses and complaints; some use potions and unguents, others crystals and stones, others galdr and some work their healing from within the hidden realms themselves.

2004, Runic John, The Book of Seidr, Capall Bann Publishing, →ISBN, page 282:


server

→ Danish: server

→ Dutch: server

→ German: Server

→ Hindi: सर्वर (sarvar)

→ Hungarian: szerver

→ Italian: server m

→ Japanese: サーバー (sābā)

→ Korean: 서버 (seobeo)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: server, sørver

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: server, sørvar

→ Persian: سرور

→ Polish: serwer

→ Portuguese: server

→ Romanian: server n

→ Russian: се́рвер (sérver)

desc

→ Thai: เซิร์ฟเวอร์ (sə́əp-wə̂ə)

→ Thai: เซิร์ฟเวอร์ (sə́əp-wə̂ə)

→ Turkish: server

From Middle English servere, equivalent to serve + -er.

(Christianity) A priest's attendant at the celebration of the Eucharist.


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

My humble Service to you, Sir Roger — Mr. Worthy, your good Health. And a merry Chriſtmas and a happy New Year to us all.

1740, Joseph Dorman, “Scene 1”, in Sir Roger de Coverly; or, The Merry Christmas, act 1, page 17:

A traditional greeting for Christmas and the new year.

traditional greeting for the Christmas and the new year

Geseënde Kersfees en 'n voorspoedige Nuwejaar!

maugmang pasko asin magayagayang bagong taon

Maayong Pasko og Mabungahong Bag-ong Tuig!

ᎤᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ ᎱᎾᏕᏘᏱᎲᏍᎬᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎤᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ ᎠᏤ ᎭᏕᏘᏱᎲ

ulihelisdi hunadetiyihvsgvi ale ulihelisdi atse hadetiyihv

Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr!

mele Kalikimaka me ka hauʻoli makahiki hou!

kellemes karácsonyi ünnepeket és boldog új évet!

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Duit!

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh!

Ngwi pyaw ai X'mas hte shaning ningnan rai u ga!

Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus un laimīgu Jauno gadu!

Linksmų Šv. Kalėdų ir Laimingų Naujųjų Metų!

Schei Chreschtdeeg an e gudde Rutsch an d'neit Joer!

Selamat Hari Natal dan Selamat Tahun Baru!

Selamat Hari Krismas dan Selamat Tahun Baru!

တ္ၚဲခရေတ်သမာတ်ကဵုတ္ၚဲသၞာံတၟိကဵုဂွံမိပ်ဇြိပ်အာညိအဴ။

Yáʼátʼééh Késhmish dóó Baa Hózhǫ́ǫgo Nee Nínáadoohah!

laanaa yáʼátʼéehgo Késhmish, nił hózhǫ́ǫgo chʼídoohah!

Maabig ya Pasko tan Maaliguas ya Balon Taon!

wesołych Świąt i szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!

С Рождество́м Христо́вым и с Но́вым го́дом!

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!

maligayang Pasko at manigong Bagong Taon

kiṟistumas maṟṟum iṉiya puttāṇṭu vāḻttukkaḷ

கிறிஸ்துமஸ் மற்றும் இனிய புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்

Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!


moderate

From Middle English moderat, from Latin moderātus, perfect active participle of moderor (“regulate, restrain, moderate”), from moder-, modes-, a stem appearing also in modestus (“moderate, discreet, modest”), from modus (“measure”); see mode and modest. Doublet of moderato. Displaced native Old English ġemetlīċ (“moderate”) and metegian (“to moderate”).

(Christianity, historical) One of a party in Scottish Church history dominant in the 18th century, lax in doctrine and discipline, but intolerant of evangelicalism and popular rights. It caused the secessions of 1733 and 1761, and its final resultant was the Disruption of 1843.


trope

Japanese: トロープ (torōpu)

Korean: 트로프 (teuropeu)

From Latin tropus, from Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “a manner, style, turn, way; a trope or figure of speech; a mode in music; a mode or mood in logic”), related to τροπή (tropḗ, “solstice; trope; turn”) and τρέπειν (trépein, “to turn”); compare turn of phrase. The verb is derived from the noun.

der

Usually known as 'tropes,' these interpolations consisted at first of but a few words; those of the Introit at the beginning of Mass on great festivals, however, often took the form of dialogues.

1918, Paul Studer, Le mystère d'Adam, an Anglo-Norman drama of the twelfth century:

In the broadest sense tropes are all the later musical and textual accretions to the Franco-Roman nucleus of antiphonal and responsorial chants for mass and offices that we call Gregorian chant, a repertoire primarily fixed by the early 9th century. A trope might be a newly added textless melody (a melisma), text added to a preexistent melisma (a prosula), or newly composed text and melody added to an older item as an introduction or interpolation (a trope per se).

1998, Peter M. Lefferts, “trope”, in Paul E. Szarmach, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal, editors, Medieval England: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages; 3), New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN; republished Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2016, →ISBN, page 743, column 1:

(medieval Christianity) An addition (of dialogue, song, music, etc.) to a standard element of the liturgy, serving as an embellishment.

The Torah was chanted in a loud and strong voice so that all could hear. This cantillation of the Torah—trope—is shown by musical notation which serves grammatical and exegetical functions, ta'amay hamikra or ta'amay n'ginah. They put down in a final form an oral tradition that had been maintained for centuries. The Ashkenazim today have six systems of cantillation, each reflective of the texts and time of chanting. For example, on Tishah B'av the tunes are sad and doleful; on Purim the trope resembles a speedy narrative; the readings of Yamim Nora'im are quite majestic, and so on.

1985, Steven M. Brown, “The Languages of Prayer”, in Stephen Garfinkel, editor, Higher and Higher: Making Jewish Prayer Part of Us, Department of Youth Activities, United Synagogue of America, →OCLC, section 3 (The Language of Music), page 45:

The trope does not appear on the handwritten Torah scroll, but the assignment of notes for each word was fixed long ago and is accepted by Jewish communities around the world; the trope now appears in nearly every Jewish printed Bible. […] The symbols that signify the trope for the Hebrew text were introduced at the end of the 10th century of the Common Era.

2006, Sara E. Karesh, Mitchell M. Hurvitz, “trope”, in Encyclopedia of Judaism (Encyclopedia of World Religions), New York, N.Y.: Facts On File, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 526, column 1:

(Judaism) A cantillation pattern, or one of the marks that represents it.

troop

music, Judaism: cantillation pattern or mark


aeon

From Latin aeon, from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age, era”).

(Gnosticism) A spirit being emanating from the Godhead.


MILF

Moro Islamic Liberation Front
w:Moro Islamic Liberation Front

(Philippines) Initialism of Moro Islamic Liberation Front.


Santa Claus

Borrowed from Dutch Sinterklaas (“Saint Nicholas”).


decree

From Middle English decre, decree, from Old French decré (French décret), from Latin dēcrētum.

(religion) A predetermination made by God; an act of providence.


peregrination

en-noun

peregrination (countable and uncountable, plural peregrinations)

/ˌpɛɹɪɡɹɪˈneɪʃn̩/

/ˌpɛɹəɡɹəˈneɪʃ(ə)n/

From Late Middle English peregrinacioun, peregrinacion (“journey; pilgrimage; (figuratively) human journey through life”), from Anglo-Norman peregrinaciun (“human journey through life”), peregrination (“pilgrimage; overseas travel”), and Old French peregrinacion, peregrination (“pilgrimage; overseas travel”) (modern French pérégrination), and from their etymon Latin peregrīnātiō (“overseas sojourn or travel; (Late Latin) pilgrimage; sojourn; human journey through life”), from peregrīnātus (“living or travelling overseas”) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns). Peregrīnātus is the perfect passive participle of peregrīnor (“to live or travel overseas; to be overseas; to roam, rove; to be a stranger”), from peregrīnus (“alien, foreign; exotic”) (from peregrē̆ (“abroad; from abroad; heading abroad”) + -īnus (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’)) + -or (suffix forming first-person singular present passive indicative verbs).

der

It is true our life in this world is not called a baniſhment any where in the Scripture: but a pilgrimage, a peregrination, a travell; but perigrinatio cum ignominia conjunctu, exilium; he that leaves his Countrey becauſe he was aſhamed, or afraid to return to it, or to ſtay in it, is a baniſhed man.

1618 April 22, John Donne, “A Sermon Preached at White-hall Aprill 12. 1618.”, in XXVI. Sermons (Never before Publish’d) Preached by that Learned and Reverend Divine John Donne, […], London: […] Thomas Newcomb, […], published 1661, →OCLC, page 179:

(countable, chiefly theology, archaic) A person's life regarded as a temporary stay on earth and a journey to the afterlife.


Holy Bread

From Middle English holy brede, holibrede, halibred, equivalent to holy + bread.

The consecrated bread used in the Eucharist.


diptych

From Late Latin diptycha, plural, from Ancient Greek, neuter plural of δίπτυχος (díptukhos, “folded, doubled”), from δι- (di-) + πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “fold, layer”).

(Christianity) A double catalogue, containing in one part the names of living, and in the other of deceased, ecclesiastics and benefactors of a church.

díptic

double catalogue of ecclesiastics and benefactors of the church


agnosticism

en-noun

agnosticism (countable and uncountable, plural agnosticisms)

Coined by Thomas Henry Huxley. From a- + gnostic + -ism (see also agnostic).

Holonyms: epistemology, cosmology, ontology, philosophy

The view that the existence of God or of all deities is unknown, unknowable, unproven, or unprovable.

لَاأَدْرِيَّة

view that the existence of a God or gods is unknown, unknowable, unproven, or unprovable


panentheism

Borrowed from German Panentheismus, coined by Karl Christian Friedrich Krause in 1828 from Ancient Greek πᾶν ἐν θεῷ (pân en theôi, “all in god”) + -ismus (“-ism”).

der

The third great age of humanity (das Reifalter) is that in which all its powers are fully and harmoniously developed... and in which panentheism is universally and cordially accepted as the only true and adequate doctrine either of science or of society.

1874, Robert Flint, The Philosophy of History in France and Germany, page 484:

Pantheism or panentheism... is condemned by the Church, as well as by the teachings of Schopenhauer and of the modern Hartmann.

1895, Benito Pérez Galdós, Doña perfecta, page 84:

This panentheistic doctrine contains all of deism and pandeism except their arbitrary negations. Thus ARCW, or absolute-relative panentheism, is the one doctrine that really states the whole of what all theists, if not all atheists as well, are implicitly talking about.

1964, Charles Hartshorne, Man's Vision of God and the Logic of Theism, page 348:

(philosophy, religion) A doctrine that the universe subsists within God, but that God nevertheless transcends or has some existence separate from the universe.

panenteisme

a doctrine that the universe is within God


autotheism

Belief that one is possessed by a divine power.

The doctrine of the self-subsistence of God, especially of the second person in the Trinity.


pantheist

en-adj

pantheist (comparative more pantheist, superlative most pantheist)

more pantheist (comparative)
most pantheist (superlative)

[S]ome pragmatists (such as William James) took a more pantheist or pandeist approach by rejecting views of God as separate from the world.

2007, John Lachs, Robert Talisse, American Philosophy: An Encyclopedia, page 310:


pantheism

en-noun

pantheism (countable and uncountable, plural pantheisms)

From pan- + Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god, divine”) + -ism. The term "pantheist" - of which "pantheism" is a variation - was purportedly first used by Irish writer John Toland in his 1705 work, Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist. A critic of Toland, J. Fay, was the first to use the term "pantheism" in 1709, in Defensio Religionis.

der

(religion) The belief that the Universe is in some sense divine and should be revered. Pantheism identifies the universe with God but denies any personality or transcendence of such a God.

(rare, religion) The belief in all gods; omnitheism.


mend

en-noun

mend (countable and uncountable, plural mends)

Partly:
* (chiefly sense 2 (“recompense; restoration or reparation”)) from Middle English mend, mende (“cure, remedy; damages, recompense; atonement; penance; relief”), the aphetic form of amende, amendes (“retribution, amends; a fine; atonement; penance”) (though attested slightly earlier); or directly from its etymon Anglo-Norman amende, Middle French amende, and Old French amende (“a fine”) (modern French amende), from amender (verb) (see etymology 1); and
* from mend (verb).

(obsolete, uncountable) Recompense; restoration or reparation, especially (Christianity) from sin.


Baalist

A worshiper of Baal; a member of the pagan religion of Baalism.


Holy Land

(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) That part of the Middle East, consisting mostly of Israel and Palestine, in which most Biblical events are set.

اَلْأَرْض اَلْمُقَدَّسَة

that part of Asia in which most Biblical events are set


Baalism

A pagan religion centred on the worship of Baal.


Babism

From Bab (Persian باب (“a gate”)), the title assumed by the founder, Siyyid `Alí Muhammad, + -ism.

The doctrine of a pantheistical religious sect, founded in Persia in 1844 by Mirza Ali Mohammed ibn Rabhik (1820-1850), who assumed the title of Bab-ed-Din ("Gate of the Faith"). It combines Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Parsi elements, and forbids concubinage, polygamy, mendicancy, slave-dealing, and the use of intoxicating liquors and drugs. Precursor to the Baháʼí Faith.

Babisme

19th-century Persian pantheistical religious sect


merit

merit (countable and uncountable, plural merits)

The noun is derived from Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving of reward or punishment; such reward or punishment; excellence, worthiness; benefit; right to be rewarded for spiritual service; retribution at doomsday; virtue through which Jesus Christ brings about salvation; virtue possessed by a holy person; power of a pagan deity”), from Anglo-Norman merit, merite, Old French merite (“moral worth, reward; merit”) (modern French mérite), from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves, deserts; benefit, reward, merit; service; kindness; importance, value, worth; blame, demerit, fault; grounds, reason”), neuter of meritus (“deserved, earned, obtained; due, proper, right; deserving, meritorious”), perfect passive participle of mereō (“to deserve, earn, obtain, merit; to earn a living”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot, assign”). The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.
The verb is derived from Middle French meriter, Old French meriter (“to deserve, merit”) (modern French mériter), from merite: see further above. The word is cognate with Italian meritare (“to deserve, merit; to be worth; to earn”), Latin meritāre (“to earn regularly; to serve as a soldier”), Spanish meritar (“to deserve, merit; to earn”).

cog

to acquire or make merit

It is no small tax upon the people to support their [Buddhist] priests, but they do it with a willing heart. When I was once at the old capital, I saw a woman, from her own stock, feed more than fifty priests, who came to her in his turn, and received his portion. [...] If I had asked her why she thus spent so much of her living, her answer would have been, 'To make merit.'

1855 October, “Siamese Merit-making”, in The Church Missionary Gleaner, volume V (New Series), London: Seeley, Jackson and Halliday […], →OCLC, page 118:

At funerals, acts of sharing religious merit are central and relatives of the deceased make merit in order to ensure that the departed family member will have a favourable rebirth.

2015, Monica Lindberg Falk, “Communication across Boundaries”, in Post-Tsunami Recovery in Thailand: Socio-cultural Responses (The Modern Anthropology of Southeast Asia), Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 90:

(uncountable, Buddhism, Jainism) The sum of all the good deeds that a person does which determines the quality of the person's next state of existence and contributes to the person's growth towards enlightenment.

ကုသိုလ်

(Buddhism, Jainism) sum of all the good deeds that a person does


adultery

en-noun

adultery (countable and uncountable, plural adulteries)

With change of suffix, from the Old French adultere (“violation of conjugal faith”) (in Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons, 12c.), a learnèd borrowing from Latin adulterium, from adulterō. Replaced the older form avoutrie, from the inherited Old French forms avouterie or aoulterie, while keeping its suffix. Compare French adultère (“adultery”). Displaced Old English ǣwbryċe. Not related to adult.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

(biblical, broadly) Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the sixth/seventh commandment; sinful sexual behavior as a category.

زِنىً

lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment

And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 3:9:

aviorikos

faithlessness in religion; as used in Jeremiah 3:9


eon

(Gnosticism, usually spelled aeon or æon) A spirit being emanating from the Godhead.


enclosure

enclosure (countable and uncountable, plural enclosures)

/ɛnˈkloʊʒəɹ/

/ɪnˈkloʊʒəɹ/

From Middle English enclosure, from Old French enclosure, from enclore, from Latin inclūdere, inclūdō, from in- (“in”) + claudō (“to shut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“key, hook, nail”). Alike to inclusion.

inclosure

was as common as or more common until the early 1800s; now uncommon

(religion) The area of a convent, monastery, etc where access is restricted to community members.


Sheol

Borrowed from Hebrew שְׁאוֹל, שְׁאֹל (sheól, “abode of the dead, underworld, netherworld, etc.”).

bor

Hebrew שְׁאוֹל

(Old Testament) The realm of the dead, the common grave of mankind, Hell. In older English translations of the Bible, notably the Authorized Version or King James Bible, this word sheol is translated inconsistently and variously as grave (31 times), pit (3 times) or hell (31 times: e.g., De. 32:22; 2Sa. 22:6; Job 11:8; Ps. 9:17).


Tetragrammaton

en-noun

Tetragrammaton (plural Tetragrammata or Tetragrammatons)

Tetragrammata (plural)
Tetragrammatons (plural)

From Ancient Greek τετραγράμματον (tetragrámmaton, “four-letter word”), neuter gender of τετραγράμματος (tetragrámmatos, “having four letters”), formed from a combining form of τέτταρες (téttares, “four”) and γράμμα (grámma, “letter”).

uder

τετραγράμματον

The starting point of this discussion was Origen’s much-debated comment to Psalm 2:2 concerning the Tetragrammaton in “ancient” Hebrew characters. A very approximate terminus a quo for this practice in LXX texts is the first century b. c. e., the date of the Cairo Papyrus Fouad 266, a revision of the Greek Torah from the second century b. c. e., in which the Tetragrammata are written in square Hebrew characters.

1971, Jonathan P. Siegel, “The Employment of Palaeo-Hebrew Characters for the Divine Names at Qumran in the Light of Tannaitic Sources”, in Hebrew Union College Annual, volume 42, page 160:

The Tetragrammatons are written out in such a way that the names of single letters are inscribed.

According to to R. Nehemiah, the double Tetragrammaton is one of Metatron’s 70 names: In gematria the consonants YHWH WHYH amount to 52. The two Tetragrammata do not leave any doubt as to the divine nature of the entities referenced here.

2007, Moshe Idel, Ben: Sonship and Jewish Mysticism, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN, page 202:

A few coins and medals with Tetragrammata are found from the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century, but most are from the 17th century, with examples from Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as proud towns in the Holy Roman Empire (Nuremberg, Hamburg, Magdeburg) and several from Saxony.

2015, Robert J. Wilkinson, “The Tetragrammaton in Vernacular Bibles, Popular Print, and Illustration”, in Tetragrammaton: Western Christians and the Hebrew Name of God: From the Beginnings to the Seventeenth Century, Leiden, S.H., Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, part 3 (The Rediscovery of the Name), page 377:

יהוה יהוה#Hebrew

(Judaism) The word in four Hebrew letters יהוה (in transliteration as YHWH or JHVH) used as the ineffable name of God in the Hebrew Bible, variously rendered as Yahweh or Jehovah.

քառագիր

the four Hebrew letters י-ה-ו-ה, used as the ineffable name of God

הַשֵּׁם הַמְפוֹרָשׁ m (haššēm hamfōrāš, literally “the explicit name”)


ignorance

en-noun

ignorance (countable and uncountable, plural ignorances)

From Middle English ignoraunce, ignorance, from
From Old French ignorance, from Latin ignōrantia. By surface analysis, ignor(e) + -ance.

(religion, in the plural) Sins committed through ignorance.


Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures

en-proper noun

the Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures pl (plural only)

the Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures (canonical plural)


Hebrew Scriptures

the Hebrew Scriptures (canonical plural)


Odin

→ Chinese: 奧丁／奥丁 (Àodīng)

→ Japanese: オーディン

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Óðinn (whence Icelandic Óðinn, Norwegian Nynorsk Oden), akin to Old High German Wodan and Old English Wōden. From Proto-Germanic *Wōdanaz, derived from Proto-Germanic *wōdaz (“rage, manic inspiration, furor poeticus”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t- (“to be excited”). Compare Old Norse óðr (“rage”) and Dutch woede (“rage”) and woeden (“to rage”), Irish fáidh, Latin vātēs. Doublet of Woden and Wotan. Related to English wode.

der

interpretatio germanica
interpretatio germanica

(Norse mythology and paganism) A major Germanic god, often described as chief of the pantheon, in his Norse form a member of the Æsir, married to Frigg and associated with knowledge, poetry and war. Wednesday refers to him by way of interpretatio germanica.


Jove

From Middle English Joves, from Latin Iuppiter, Iovis, from Proto-Italic *djowe-, ablative case of *djous, from Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws. Doublet of Dyeus and Zeus.

BEAT on, proud billows; Boreas blow; / Swell, curled waves, high as Jove’s roof; / Your incivility doth ſhow, / That innocence is tempeſt proof; / Though ſurly Nereus frown, my thoughts are calm; / Then ſtrike, Affliction, for thy wounds are balm. [Attributed to Roger L'Estrange (1616–1704).]

1781, [Mostyn John Armstrong], History and Antiquities of the County of Norfolk. Volume IX. Containing the Hundreds of Smithdon, Taverham, Tunstead, Walsham, and Wayland, volume IX, Norwich: Printed by J. Crouse, for M. Booth, bookseller, →OCLC, page 51:

(Roman mythology) Jupiter, god of the sky.


concordance

en-noun

concordance (countable and uncountable, plural concordances)

From Old French concordance, from Late Latin concordantia.

c. 1857, Thomas Macaulay, "Paul Bunyan", contribution to the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
His knowledge of the Bible was such, that he might have been called a living concordance.

(chiefly biblical) An alphabetical verbal index showing the places in the text of a book where each principal word may be found, with its immediate context in each place.


Orthodox Judaism

(Judaism) The most traditional Rabbinic branch of Judaism, characterized by the belief in the continued relevance and binding nature of the Rabbinic interpretation of Jewish law.


Tartarus

From Latin Tartarus, from Ancient Greek Τάρταρος (Tártaros).

[…] them with Fire and hoſtile Arms / Fearleſs aſſault, and to the brow of Heav'n / Purſuing, drive them out from God and bliſs, / Into thir place of puniſhment, the Gulf / Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide / His fiery Chaos to receave thir fall.

1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 50–55:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A dark and gloomy part of the realm of Hades, reserved for the damned and the wicked, such as the Titans; an equivalent of hell in Greek and Roman mythology.


cherubim

From Hebrew כרֻבִים (keruvím), from כְּרוּב (kerúv) + ־ים (-im) masculine plural suffix.

As he looks up at the organ, Miss Tox in the gallery shrinks behind the fat leg of a cherubim on a monument, with cheeks like a young Wind, Captain Cuttle, on the contrary, stands up and waves his hook, in token of welcome and encouragement.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

Again, if we put the two cherubims on each side but still on the lid, the size of the Ark doesn't allow enough space for a King, […]

2014, Rebecca Tourniaire, King of the Ark, page 44:


Old Testament

From Middle English [Term?], calqued from Latin Vetus Testāmentum. Old refers to ancientness, not to obsolescence. Equivalent to a retronym, by comparison with the New Testament.

The Old Testament says that eating shellfish is a sin.

(religion, chiefly Christianity) The first major part of the Christian Bible, covering events before the coming of Christ, corresponding roughly to the Jewish Tanakh. Usually subdivided into the categories of law, history, poetry (or wisdom books), and prophecy.


G-d

הַשֵּׁם

the name; literally a Hebrew phrase used for the same reasons

My first acknowledgement is to G-d. […] This book could never have been compiled without G-d’s help, and so thanking Him is most important.

2020, Aden Friedman, “Acknowledgements”, in My Yiddishe Mama: A Collection of Heritage Recipes and Haimishe Stories from South Africa’s Yiddishe Mamas, [Texture Publishing], →ISBN:

(Judaism) A deliberately incomplete spelling of God.

[…] after ſome pauſe, his rage for a while depriving him of utterance, he took out his pen-knife, and opening it, vehemently ſwore, with this very pen-knife, by G—d, will I cut off his ears.

1784, Thomas Sheridan, “Section VII.”, in The Life of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, London: […] C[harles] Bathurst, W[illiam] Strahan, B. Collins, […], pages 438–439:

[…] having made a cross cut, so as to ascertain the depth of the fat upon the chest, exclaimed, in a sort of rapture, “Three inches of white fat on the brisket!—prime—prime, as I am a crowded sinner—and de’il ane o’ the lazy loons in but mysell! Seven—aught—aught tines on the antlers. By G—d, a hart of aught tines, and the first of the season![…]”

1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 85:

The designer, in essence, is G-d--it is s/he who creates the geography of the world (It took me six months to design the world for Lords and Wizards ((Adam's fantasy boardgame, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited-tpg))...guess I'm a slow worker, because it took you-know-how six days.).

1978 May 29, Adam L. Gruen, “Fantasy Game Design”, in Thomas Philip Gould, editor, Lilaf, number 9, New York, N.Y.: FWS Publications, page 3:

(dated, Christianity) Censored spelling of God in contexts perceived as blasphemous.


rebbe

Borrowed from Yiddish רבי (rebe). Doublet of rabbi.

Born in Riga in 1909 into a vast cousinage that included the Lubavitcher rebbes, Isaiah Mendelevich Berlin was taken to Petrograd as a small boy, and then to London in 1921 when the Bolsheviks allowed his prosperous (and fortunate) parents to leave.

2004 June 27, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, “The Book of Isaiah”, in The New York Times:

But two men who said they spoke with some of those who broke through the synagogue wall said the motive was to hasten an expansion of 770 — a move that they say the Lubavitcher movement’s leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the rebbe, called for more than three decades ago.

2024 September 1, Eliza Shapiro and Katherine Rosman, “Secret Synagogue Tunnel Sets Off Altercation That Leads to 9 Arrests”, in The New York Times:

(Judaism) The spiritual leader of a Hasidic Jewish community.


pantheon

(mythology) All the gods of a particular people or religion, particularly the ancient Greek gods residing on Olympus, considered as a group.


Xmas

en-proper noun

Xmas (countable and uncountable, plural Xmases or Xmasses)

Attested in this form since 1755, and preceded by earlier forms such as X'temmas (1551) and Old English Χp̃es mæssa (1100), from Cristes mæsse, with abbreviation of Cristes by the symbol X, orthographic borrowing from Ancient Greek Χ (Kh, letter chi), from Χριστός (Khristós, “Christ”). By surface analysis, X (“Christ”) + -mas (“holiday”). In popular use since late 19th century. See Wikipedia for more information.

surf

In ye Xmas and Whitsuntide Vacations, ye Scholars study at a rate of an hour and a Quarter each day & all yt go home have proportionable Tasks set them...

c. 1755, Bernard Ward, History of St. Edmund's college, Old Hall, page 303:

A thousand thanks, merry Xmasses & happy New Years to you for yʳ delightful letter: […]

1774 December 20, David Garrick, “Letters from David Garrick, to George Colman, the Elder”, in George Colman, the Younger, editor, Posthumous Letters, from Various Celebrated Men; Addressed to Francis Colman, and George Colman, the Elder: […], London: T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […]; and W[illiam] Blackwood, Edinburgh, published 1820, page 302:

On Xmas Day I breakfasted with Davy, with the intention of dining with you...

1801 December 31, Samuel Coleridge, “letter to R. Southey”, Ten Letters from Coleridge to Southey, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 73, number 435, published 1894 January, page 66:

[…]but if you won't come here before Xmas, I very much fear we shall not meet here at all[…]

1811 September 9, George Gordon Byron, “To the Hon. Augusta Leigh”, in Rowland E. Prothero, editor, The Works of Lord Byron, volume 9, London: John Murray, published 1898, page 31:

My dear Wilkie,—we will arrange our Xmas No., please God, under the shade of the Oak Trees.

1861 June 23, Charles Dickens, “Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent”, in Laurence Hutton, editor, Letters of Charles Dickens to Wilkie Collins, New York: Harper & Brothers, published 1892, page 100:

I should be very glad if you could help me in fixing on a name for my fairy-tale, which Mr. Tenniel (in consequence of your kind introduction) is now illustrating for me, and which I hope to get published before Xmas.

1864 June 10, Lewis Carroll, edited by Morton N. Cohen, The Letters of Lewis Carroll, volume 1, London: Macmillan, published 1979, page 65:

A Xmas card is a pleasant memento of a season of good will and kindly sentiment. It is a reminiscence of Xmas time. With Xmas we associate happy gatherings of friends, wintry skies without and cheerful hearths within, ice and snow to be kept in subjugation by warmth of disposition and genial affection. The Xmas cards ought to embody such traits, physical and mental.

1879 November 13, W. F. C., “Our London Letter”, in The American Stationer, volume 7, number 46, page 2:

They used to keep merry Xmasses with us in the old days when Xmas was merry, and now they come back and we share our Christmas dainties with them against our will.

1884, Louise Chandler Moulton, “John Jay’s Journey. A New Year’s Story.”, in Christian Advocate, volume 31, number 1 (whole 1483), New Orleans, La.: […] [T]he Louisiana, Mississippi and North Mississippi Conferences, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, published 1885 January 1, page 2, column 2:

[…]as well as give the Imperial spree a notice next to reading matter in the Xmas issue[…]

1885 December 10, Carlyle Smith, “Our Xmas at Windsor”, in Life, volume 6, number 154, New York, page 338:

I was greatly pleased at receiving yours, and those of your sisters, and I did not think them at all too late; for as several of the Church Festivals have their ‘Octave’ so the chief mysteries of the Faith carry a glory around their heads that sends their light in a wide circle, like the halo round the head of a pictured Saint; and so I send my ‘Many Happy Xmasses’ and ‘Many Happy New Years’ to you and yours.

1897 January 10, Aubrey [Thomas] de Vere, “[Last Years, 1886-1902] Aubrey de Vere to Walter George Smith”, in Wilfrid Ward, Aubrey de Vere: A Memoir, Based on His Unpublished Diaries and Correspondence, London, New York, N.Y., Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], published 1904, page 400:

1897 December, Standard American Publishing Co., “A Xmas gift for one dollar [advertisement]”, in The American Monthly Illustrated Review of Reviews, volume 16, number 95, page 49:

Don't let us spoil the Xmas holidays by a chore as colossal as it is disagreeable, and as disagreeable as it is unnecessary.

1913 November 18, C. S. Lewis, edited by Walter Hooper, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Family Letters, 1905-1931, New York: HarperCollins, published 2004, →ISBN, page 41:

We’re off to Gstaad today until the sth of Jan. We have chartered a large plane, I’m not quite sure what it is but it seats about 16 and is a turbo-jet. The reason is that we have so many people coming with us: Sarah, Michael, Chris, Liza, Maria, Caroline, John Something-or-other who is Simmy’s boy friend from Hawaii, and our two bad selves. Otherwise it’s going to be one of those quiet, pipe-smoking, slippered, log-fired Xmasses with a well-loved and well-remembered volume of Dickens.

1968 December 21, Richard Burton, journal; quoted in Melvyn Bragg, “1968”, in Richard Burton: A Life, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, →ISBN, pages 278–279:


Ares

From Latin Arēs, from Ancient Greek Ἄρης (Árēs).

(Greek mythology) The Greek god of war, considered equivalent to the Roman Mars and usually described as a son of Zeus and Hera, companion of Eris and Enyo, and by Aphrodite father of Deimos and Phobos.


Jewry

en-noun

Jewry (countable and uncountable, plural Jewries)

From Middle English Jewery, from Old French juerie. By surface analysis, Jew + -ry.


Judaism

en-proper noun

Judaism (usually uncountable, plural Judaisms)

From Middle English Iudaisme, from Late Latin iūdaismus, from Ancient Greek Ἰουδαισμός (Ioudaismós), from Ῐ̓ουδαῖος (Ioudaîos) + -ισμός (-ismós), from Ἰουδά (Ioudá) + -ιος (-ios), from Biblical Hebrew יְהוּדָה (Yəhūḏā(h), “Judah”). Doublet of Judezmo.

der

I am a person of faith, and I am proud of my Judaism, its culture, its traditions and most importantly its belief in the family.

2021, Dr Philippa Kaye, Doctors Get Cancer Too, Vie Books, page 216:

An Abrahamic religion tracing its origin to the Hebrew people of the ancient Middle East, as documented in their religious writings, the Tanakh.


New Testament

Holonym: Bible

Muslims believe that the Final Testament, the Quran, is a continuation of the New Testament.

(biblical, Christianity) The second half of the Christian Bible, which includes the four Gospels, the Book of Acts, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation.