collegiality

en-noun

collegiality (countable and uncountable, plural collegialities)

But collegiality does refer to a kind of sharing of authority between Rome and all the other local churches. Each bishop represents his own local church, and the pope represents the local church of Rome which, by tradition, exercises a primacy of love over all the other local churches and has become the church-of-last-resort in disputed questions.

2002, Maureen Sullivan, 101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II, Paulist Press, →ISBN, page 45:

For all the criticisms of John Paul's practice of collegiality, there is no doubt that he spoke often and highly of its importance. From his very first Urbi et Orbi address, given the day after his election, where he spoke of the “special bond, that is, collegiality” which “binds together the sacred pastors” [..] the collegiality of the bishops was a thread running through his pontificate.

2008, Gerard Mannion, The Vision of John Paul II: Assessing His Thought and Influence, Liturgical Press, →ISBN, page 184:

power and authority that is shared among peers, especially the sharing of collegiate power among Roman Catholic bishops.


numerary

From Latin numerarius, from numerus (“number”). Doublet of numéraire.

Like numeraries, assistant numeraries are celibates who live in Opus Dei centres.

2024 March 16, Antonia Cundy, “The Opus Dei diaries”, in FT Weekend, page 17:

(Roman Catholicism) A celibate lay member of Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic religious institution.


soutane

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

Borrowed from French soutane, from Italian sottana, from Latin subtana, from subtus (“below, beneath”), from sub (“under”).

The long, skimpy soutane accentuated the tallness of his stature; […] and the straight, black bar of his joined eyebrows[…] suggested something unlawful behind his priesthood, the idea of a chaplain of bandits.

1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC:

Then at the door of the castle the rector had shaken hands with his father and mother, his soutane fluttering in the breeze, and the car had driven off with his father and mother on it.

1916 December 29, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:

A long gown with sleeves and buttons at the front, particularly when worn by Roman Catholic clerics.


Maia

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes.

(Roman mythology) The goddess of growth after whom the month May (Latin maius) was named.


Kali Yuga

Unadapted borrowing from Sanskrit कलियुग (kaliyuga, “age of darkness”), from कलि (kali, “Kali”) + युग (yuga, “yuga”)

ubor

In Hinduism, the fourth and most evil of four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas, traditionally thought to have begun at midnight (00:00) on 18 February, 3102 B.C.E. under the Julian calendar (23 January under the Gregorian calendar), and lasts for 432,000 years.


directorium

From Latin dīrēctōrium (literally “guide”). Doublet of directory.

(Christianity, historical) In the later Middle Ages, a Catholic liturgical guide for praying the Divine Office and Holy Mass.


deanery

From Middle English denerye; equivalent to dean + -ery.


communicant

1706 August 30, Francis Atterbury, a sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Bennett
a never-failing monthly communicant

Meanwhile, the lass grew up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I have heard Dr. Chrystal say that he never had a communicant more full of the things of the Spirit.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

The folded hands and submissive posture of the orderly line of communicants.

1986 December 14, Don Hill, “For Gay and Lesbian Catholics, Perseverance Means Carving Their Own Niche”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 22, page 8:

(Christianity) A person who receives (or is allowed to receive) the elements (i.e., bread and wine) of the sacrament of Holy Communion. (Compare also these terms: communion, Communion, Lord's Supper, Mass, Eucharist, Divine Liturgy.)


protomartyr

From Middle English prothomartir, prothomartyr, from Middle French prothomartir and Medieval Latin prōtomartyr, from Koine Greek πρωτομάρτυς (prōtomártus). By surface analysis, proto- + martyr.


canon law

en-noun

canon law (countable and uncountable, plural canon laws)

The canon law on this matter conflicts with several other canon laws.


Mormonism

en-proper noun

Mormonism (countable and uncountable, plural Mormonisms)

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

A religion that evolved out of Christianity and was founded by prophet Joseph Smith, whose members believe that the Book of Mormon is scripture and worship God.


cosmological argument

en-noun

cosmological argument (plural cosmological arguments)

(theology, philosophy) A type of argument for the existence of God arguing that since every thing and event that begins at a point in time has a cause, there must be an uncaused first cause.


tricenary

From Medieval Latin trīcēnārium, from Latin trīcēnārius + -ium.

(Christianity) Synonym of trental, a set of 30 requiem masses.


yid

yidden (plural)
yidn (plural)
yids (plural)


Reform Judaism

(Judaism) A movement in Judaism, characterized by the loosening of the strictures of much of traditional Jewish law that is seen as irrelevant to modern society, and by the shortening, simplification, and translation to the vernacular of Jewish ritual.


balefire

From Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (“balefire, funeral or sacrificial fire”); equivalent to bale (“funeral pyre”) + fire.

inh

Rites done on a lakeshore or seashore can be illuminated with balefires of dried driftwood collected prior to the rite.

2002, Marilyn F. Daniel, Kitchen Witchery, Weiser, →ISBN, page 236:

A bonfire, any large outdoor fire (for example those used in a funeral pyre, or in witches' rituals).


divine polity

en-noun

divine polity (usually uncountable, plural divine polities)

But it cannot be expected that the Clergy […] should upon this Revolution by contented to cry peccavi [I have sinned], and openly recant all their former Doctrines of Divine Polity by a hearty active Conformity to your Majesty’s rightful Title and Government.

1698, William Stephens, “A Letter to his most excellent Majesty King William III. […]”, in A Collection of State Tracts, Published During the Reign of King William III, volume 2, published 1706, page 634:

The Divine polity, under which they had hitherto lived, was distasteful to the carnal affections of man: they reject the Lord God of Israel, and exclaim, “Nay, but set a king over us.”

1849, Alfred J. Carver, The Divine Attribute of Mercy as Deduced from the Old Testament, published 1851, page 49:

Let them affirm their unyielding determination to stand, firmly and unreservedly, for the way of Bahá’u’lláh, to avoid the entanglements and bickerings inseparable from the pursuits of the politician, and to become worthy agencies of the Divine Polity which incarnates God’s immutable Purpose for all men.

1936 March 11, Shoghi Effendi, “The Divine Polity”, in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: Selected Letters, published 1991, →ISBN, page 65:

(chiefly Christianity, theology) A government or system of governance (especially of a church) said to be instituted by God.


Divine Providence

(theology) The sovereignty, superintendence, or agency of God over events in people's lives and throughout history.


Quakerism

Quakerism (countable and uncountable, plural Quakerisms)

Rorem befuddled Robert J. by proclaiming himself a devout Quaker who "does not believe in God," explaining that his Quakerism lies in his devotion to humanity and that he "envies" those who are able to believe in God.

1984 April 21, Richard Knisely, “Ned Rorem on His Art”, in Gay Community News, page 17:

The belief system of the members of the Religious Society of Friends, an ostensibly Christian religious denomination that began in England in the 17th century.

kveekarismi

belief system of the Religious Society of Friends


pharisaical

en-adj

pharisaical (comparative more pharisaical, superlative most pharisaical)

more pharisaical (comparative)
most pharisaical (superlative)

Perhaps no man in the world had less than Douglas the pharisaical precision of Methodism; he was totally averse to their sudden and evanescent flights of enthusiasm, their frantic ravings of intemperate zeal in devotion, as if invoking a vindictive and implacable Deity;[…]

1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XVIII, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 235:

Thus Aurobindo Ghose stated that the puritanical, pharisaical British conquered in the name of liberty and usurped under the cloak of altruism.

2012, Piers Brendon, ‘Beginning the Dissent’, Literary Review, volume 401:

(chiefly Christianity) Emphasizing the observance of ritual or practice over the meaning; self-righteous, hypocritical.


pharisaic

pharisaic (comparative more pharisaic, superlative most pharisaic)

more pharisaic (comparative)
most pharisaic (superlative)

/ˈfɛɹɪˌseɪjɪk/

The church clock strikes the second quarter. / higgins [hearing in it the voice of God, rebuking him for his Pharisaic want of charity for the poor girl] A reminder.

1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act I, page 115:

(chiefly Christianity) Emphasizing the observance of ritual or practice over the meaning.

farisæisk

of or pertaining to observance of ritual over meaning


desacralize

en-verb

desacralize (third-person singular simple present desacralizes, present participle desacralizing, simple past and past participle desacralized)

desacralizes (present singular third-person)
desacralizing (participle present)
desacralized (participle past)
desacralized (past)

If whiteness bespoke purity and godliness, then poor white trash implied an ungodly, desacralized, polluted whiteness.

2006, Matt Wray, Not Quite White, page 47:

Still, certain programmatic commitments [of avant-garde art] can be identified: championing the volatile eventness of corporeal performances, […] consciously embracing the desacralizing and subversive, and disrupting conventional norms by placing the strange and unexpected in otherwise banal places.

2013, Isher-Paul Sahni, “More than Horseplay”, in Studies in Popular Culture, volume 35, page 74:

(religion, transitive) To remove the sacredness of.


Druze

(religion) A secretive religious community based mainly in the Middle East, specifically Lebanon, Syria, and Israel.


bone fire

A fire lit with bones instead of wood, so that when livestock were driven between two such fires the acrid smoke drove off parasites.


sacralize

sacralize (third-person singular simple present sacralizes, present participle sacralizing, simple past and past participle sacralized)

sacralizes (present singular third-person)
sacralizing (participle present)
sacralized (participle past)
sacralized (past)

Bishop Daniel Flores of the Brownsville Diocese in Texas recently wrote on Twitter that Americans “sacralize death’s instruments, and then are surprised that death uses them.” [...] Bishop Flores told the Catholic website The Pillar, “[...] To say something is sacralized is to say it’s almost taken out of any possibility for conversation.”

2022 June 6, Patrick Jonsson, Noah Robertson, “Has the gun become a sacred object in America?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:


kasher

kasher (third-person singular simple present kashers, present participle kashering, simple past and past participle kashered)

kashers (present singular third-person)
kashering (participle present)
kashered (participle past)
kashered (past)

Borrowed from Yiddish כּשרן (kashern), from כּשר (kosher, “kosher”).

“Kosher salt” is called thus, not because it is any more kosher than other types of salt, but because it is used in the kashering process of meat.

(of meat) to remove excess blood from by washing and salting

David moved into his new apartment, put up mezuzahs, and kashered his new kitchen.

(of kitchenware) to remove traces of non-kosher substances from by cleaning, heating, etc.


Pascha

en-noun

Pascha (countable and uncountable, plural Paschas)

From Latin pascha (“Passover”), from Ancient Greek πάσχα (páskha, “Passover”), from Aramaic פַּסְחָא (paskha), from Hebrew פֶּסַח (pésakh). Doublet of Pasch, paskha, and Pesach.

crucifixional Pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα σταυρώσιμον

crucifixional pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα σταυρώσιμον

resurrectional Pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα ἀναστάσιμον

resurrectional pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα ἀναστάσιμον

Easter, the most important Christian religious holy day or feast.

Orthodox Christian church services during the week succeeding Easter.


Pascha

In the Orthodox Christian church, Pascha week is the week succeeding Easter.

(attributive) Pertaining to either Passover or Easter (Pascha is an ambiguous term and its meaning depends on context).


blameshift

en-verb

blameshift (third-person singular simple present blameshifts, present participle blameshifting, simple past and past participle blameshifted)

blameshifts (present singular third-person)
blameshifting (participle present)
blameshifted (participle past)
blameshifted (past)

(biblical) To blame another for one's own wrong-doing. Blameshifting can be caused by pointing the finger at another when trying to save one's own skin.


Rebekah

From Hebrew רִבְקָה (Riḇqāh, “enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”).

bor

And Isaac was fortie yeeres old when hee tooke Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the ſiſter to Laban the Syrian.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 25:20:

(biblical) The sister of Laban; Isaac's wife; the mother of Jacob and Esau.


postlapsarian

/ˌpəʊstlæpˈsɛəɹɪən/

From post- (“after”) + lapsus (“of the fall”) + -arian (“of or pertaining to”).

confix

(Judaism, Christianity) The state of being which followed The Fall (the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden).


Sahabi

Borrowed from Arabic صَحَابِيّ (ṣaḥābiyy, “companion”), from صَحِبَ (ṣaḥiba, “to be a companion”).

bor

(historical) A (usually male) companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.


two-spirit

Paul's grasp of the Spirit as the sign of the erupting messianic age is at odds with the two-spirit thought of Qumran which never became incompatible with law observance.

1957, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, Harvard University Press, page 133:

(theology) Involving two spirits; especially, pertaining to the doctrine of dualism espoused in the so-called Treatise on the Two Spirits in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

«с двумя́ ду́шами»

involving two spirits; pertaining to the doctrine of dualism


Holy of Holies

Calque of Biblical Hebrew קודש הקודשים \ קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים (kódesh hakodashím).

cal

קודש הקודשים

קודש הקודשים \ קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים

The holy of holies, a cubical space of ten cubits on the side, was separated from the larger antechamber by four columns, which were also covered with gold and stood upon silver sockets; they bore a second curtain of four colors.

1882, . Franz von Reber, Joseph Thacher Clarke, History of Ancient Art, page 146:

The inner sanctum of the Temple in Jerusalem.


apostolicness

(Christianity) The state or quality of being apostolic.


apostolicalness

[…] for the Question is not about the Succession, but the Regularity and Apostolicalness of it.

1735, The London Magazine, volume 4, page 352:

And this wild and extravagant opinion has not wanted its patrons and defenders; but herein deserted by the more modest and moderate of their own party; besides that their apostolicalness (in this sense) is by the learned Daillé everlastingly shattered and broken.

1834, William Cave, Primitive Christianity: Or, The Religion of the Ancient Christians in the First Ages of the Gospel:

[…] for their not regarding the Apostolicalness of his see was no matter of special consideration, seeing that other sees were also called Apostolical […]

1851, Isaac Barrow, A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, page 544:

(Christianity, obsolete) The state or quality of being apostolical.


paho

(religion) A sacred prayer stick in the Hopi religion.


beingness

en-noun

beingness (usually uncountable, plural beingnesses)

Calque of German Seiendheit, equivalent to English being + -ness. Occasionally also used to translate German Sein (“being”).

Thus, from every example, we may see that Quantity always concerns a Beingness, which is indifferent to the very determinateness which it now, or at any time, has.

1865, James Hutchison Stirling, The Secret of Hegel, page 263:

In the good painting the stone is no longer a stone, i.e., something which we could not possibly be: in the good painting the stone has become visible in its beingness; only in the work of art is the stone truly.

1988, Leo Strauss, What is Political Philosophy?, →ISBN, page 253:

The two approaches remain distinct ways of knowing: mystics are interested in the changeless beingness outside of time, while scientists are only interested in understanding the causes of the changes within the world of time.

2004, Richard H. Jones, Mysticism and Morality: A New Look at Old Questions, →ISBN, page 391:

Existence; the condition of a thing that is.


calvary

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

A life-size representation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on a piece of raised ground.

calvaire

a life-size representation of the crucifixion


Elohim

From Hebrew אֱלֹהִים/אֱלוֹהִים (ʾélôhím, “god(s), heavenly power”), plural of אֱלוֹהַּ (ʾélôah, “god”), often taken to be an expanded form of אֵל (ʾēl, “god”) (whence El).

bor

Hebrew אֱלֹהִים

Elohim (Elohim)
 I shall not forgive
 Adonai (Adonai)
 I shall not forgive
 Living God (Living God)
 I shall not the forgive
 Jesus Christ (Jesus Christ)
 I forgive Thee not

2018, “God = Dog”, performed by Behemoth:

Latter-day Saint
Latter-day Saint#English

(Judaism) God; the name used for God in Hebrew scriptures, and used for the Father by Latter-day Saints.

(Raëlism, in the plural) The extraterrestrial creators of humans; the Raelian gods.


lebkuchen

en-noun

lebkuchen (plural lebkuchen or lebkuchens)

Borrowed from German Lebkuchen, from Middle High German lebekuoche. The origin of the first component is uncertain: it might come from Latin libum (“flat bread”) or Germanic Laib, loaf, or Leb-Honig, crystallized honey often used in baking.

The kettle was coming to the boil, and the tray was ready with two teacups and the little sweet lebkuchen that Rachel liked.

2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

A traditional German Christmas biscuit form of gingerbread.


Notre Dame

/ˌnɒ.tɹə ˈdɑːm/

/ˌnɔ.tɹə ˈdäːm/

ノートルダム大聖堂

ノートルダムだいせいどう


Sunyavadi

Sunyavadi (plural Sunyavadis or Sunyavadi)

(colloquial, derogatory, Hindu, India, religious slur) A Buddhist, Taoist, or other impersonal worshipper.


thabilitho

Syrian Orthodox Church
Syrian Orthodox Church

(Christianity) A wooden slab, covered with a cloth, placed on the altar in the Syrian Orthodox Church, and symbolizing the Cross.


Tasbeha

(Eastern Orthodoxy) A worship service in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, consisting of praises glorifying God taken from the Psalms and other Biblical sources and often chanted with a simple musical accompaniment of cymbals and triangle.


Shem

From Ancient Greek Σήμ (Sḗm), from Hebrew שם (Šēm).

(biblical) The oldest son of Noah, brother to Ham and Japheth.


Japheth

Aelfric of Eynsham
James Tissot
Wycliffe's Bible

From Middle English Jafeth (as attested in Wycliffe's Bible), from Old English Iafeth (see e.g. Aelfric of Eynsham) and Middle French Japhet, both from Late Latin Iaphet, Iafeth, from Koine Greek Ἰάφεθ (Iápheth), from Hebrew יֶפֶת (yépheth). Further origin uncertain; folk etymology as well as rabbinical and patristic claims usually point to a meaning like "enlarged", in reference to Genesis 9:27, or "fair" (pale, in reference to complexion).

To the sons of Japheth; Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Asia Minor, Circassia, and Europe in general...Gomer: his numerous descendants spread themselves over a considerable part of Asia Minor, and the north of Europe.

1856, Sir John Stoddart, The student's handbook of ancient history: from the earliest records to the fall of the western empire, page 6:

The name Japheth (Yahpheth) the extender, or fair, has also been given by one who knows the character from the beginning. Japheth's posterity was to be fair, and spread over the world. Two derivations are given to the name...

1897, Jonathan Perkins Weethee, The Eastern Question, in Its Various Phases: Egyptian, British, Russian, Ottoman, Hebrew, American, and Messianic, page 164:

The Septuagint (LXX) Greek was considered by the rabbis as the only language capable of serving as a translation of the Hebrew...In rabbinic interpretation, Japheth represented the Greeks, Shem the Hebrews.

2004, Charles Kannengiesser, Handbook of patristic exegesis: the Bible in ancient Christianity, →ISBN:

Now, in 1620, the Orthodox group took advantage of a visit by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophanes, who in October of that year [said] of the Cossacks: "We all know about the Cossacks, that these chivalrous men are of our race, are of our kin, and are true Orthodox Christians...They are the descendants of the glorious Rus', of the seed of Japheth who fought Byzantine Greece on land and on sea."

2010, Paul Robert Magocsi, A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples, Second Edition, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 202:

(biblical) The third son of Noah, brother to Shem and Ham, who received a blessing from God with Shem, considered to be the ancestor of the Japhetic people(s) (associated approx. with Indo-Europeans).


vicar apostolic

vicar apostolic (plural vicars apostolic)

(Christianity) A Roman Catholic prelate who is ordained (titular) bishop and administers a missionary jurisdiction that is not (yet) a diocese, but ranks higher than an apostolic prefecture.


prayer rug

She got up, pulled the prayer rug out from under her bed, and knelt down on it.

2017, Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire, Bloomsbury (2018), page 43:

A small rug on which Muslims kneel to pray.


Sarai

From Hebrew שרי (Saráy), from the plural form of שר (“master, chief”).

And Abram tooke Sarai his wife, and Lot his brothers sonne, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the soules that they had gotten in Haran, and they went foorth to goe into the land of Canaan: and into the land of Canaan they came.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 12:5:

A female given name from Hebrew, most famously borne by Sarah, the wife of Abram and mother of Isaac in the Bible, prior to her name change.


Enoch

From Late Latin Enoch, from Ancient Greek Ἑνώχ (Henṓkh), from Hebrew חֲנוֹךְ (Ḥănôḵ).

der

Hebrew חֲנוֹךְ (Ḥănôḵ)

Enoch was the son of Jared, and was Noah’s great grandfather.

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 5:24:

(biblical) In the Bible, one of the few people recorded as being taken by God before death.

And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 4:17:


Melchizedek

From Hebrew מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק (malkî-ṣed̠eq). The name literally means “righteousness is my king”.

uder

מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק

Hebrew מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק (malkî-ṣed̠eq)

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

1611, King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 14:18:

(biblical) A king and priest mentioned in the book of Genesis; contemporary of Abraham.


Tabitha

From Aramaic טביתא (Ṭabītā’, “doe, roe, gazelle”), translated as Dorcas in the Bible.

Now there was at Ioppa a certain disciple, named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: This woman was full of good works, and almes deeds, which she did.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 9:36:

(biblical) A woman who was, according to the Bible, restored to life by Peter.


Tikkun Leil Shavuot

From Hebrew; literally, "rectification for Shavuot Night".

(Judaism) A special service for the evening of Shavuot, involving the study of Jewish sources, particularly the Jewish bible and postbiblical law materials all night on the holiday of Shavuot.

תִּקּוּן לֵיל שָׁבוּעוֹת

a special service for the evening of Shavuot

tiqqûn lêl šāḇû‘ôṯ


wu

From the Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin Chinese 巫 (wū, “shaman”).


Adonai

/əˈdəʊ.neɪˌʌɪ/

From Hebrew אֲדֹנָי (ādônay, “My Lord”); used in place of the Tetragrammaton YHWH as a name of the deity of abrahamic religion during prayer recitation.

This not the last empire to crumble / I bore witness to rise and fall of tribes of Adonai / And I have fallen short of a glory of God

(Judaism, Christianity) The Lord: a Hebrew title of God.


federalist

/ˈfɛdəɹəlˌɪst/


yuga

From Sanskrit युग (yuga). Doublet of yoke.

To Biardeau the linear nature of the declining dharma and the cyclical nature of the yugas make an unhappy marriage, and she ultimately rejects the idea of a true correspondence or rapport between the appearance of Vișņu as avatāra and the yuga cycle.

1991, Deborah A. Soifer, The Myths of Narasimha and Vamana: Two Avatars in Cosmological Perspective, page 147:

There is, you will note, a pattern of decreased duration in the yugas. Moving from the Krta Yuga, the yuga closest to primordial perfection, each progressive yuga grows shorter and shorter, as chaos and decrepitude increase in prominence.

1998, Sean M. O'Shea, Meryl A. Walker, The Millennium Myth: The Ever-Ending Story, page 39:

To explain further, there are four ages or millenniums called yugas. The duration of Satya-yuga is 1,728,000 years. The duration of Treta-yuga is 1,296,000 years. The duration of Dvapara-yuga is 864,000 years. The duration of Kali-yuga, the present age, is 432,000 years, and began around 5,000 years ago. These four yugas make one cycle, and one thousand cycles equal one day of Brahma, after which there is a partial annihilation of the universe during Brahma's night. Lord Brahma lives for 100 years, 360 days in each year.

2005, Stephen Knapp, The Heart of Hinduism: The Eastern Path to Freedom, Empowerment and Illumination, pages 386, 489:

(Hinduism) In Hindu theology, a period of a few hundred or thousand years, or an epoch or era within a cycle of four ages: the Satya Yuga (or Krita Yuga), the Dvapara Yuga, the Treta Yuga and finally the Kali Yuga, with lengths ranging from 432,000 to 1,728,000 years.


Uniate

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Uniate.


faqih

Ayatollah Muntazeri, in contrast to Ayatollah Khomeini, states that the argument that the faqih or fuqaha (plural of faqih) are responsible for the establishment and running of the government at the time of occulation does not have a strong base in Islamic sources and cannot withstand a vigorous examination.⁶⁰

1997, Jamal S. Suwaidi, Iran and the Gulf: A Search for Stability, I.B.Tauris Publishers, →ISBN, page 35:


scandal of particularity

Calque of German Ärgernis der Einmaligkeit

calque

1994: A materialism […] was supposed to be what science favoured: and the ‘scandal of particularity’, God becoming incarnate in Christ in human history, was indeed regarded as a scandal — that is, absurd — by contemporary intellectuals. — Richard Swinburne, Reason and the Christian Religion (Oxford 1994, p. 1)

2006: Reformed theologians look to the scandal of particularity as a way of naming how the unknowable God is known to us. — Cynthia L Rigby, ‘Scandalous Presence’, Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics (John Knox 2006, p. 59)

(theology) The paradox inherent in the idea of a particular individual human (Jesus of Nazareth) incarnating the eternal divine God.


Lazarist

From French lazariste, from Lazare + -iste (“-ist”), from the order's first large headquarters, the Enclos Saint-Lazare (“St Lazarus Enclosure”) in Paris, derived from its former use as a Hospitaller leprosarium.

A member of the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission founded by St Vincent de Paul.

lazariste

member of the Congregation of the Mission


Olympian

From Late Middle English Olympyan, from Latin Olympius (“of or relating to Mount Olympus”) and its etymon Ancient Greek Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olúmpios, “of or relating to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus; Olympian”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olúmpios) is derived from Ὄλῠμπος (Ólumpos, “Mount Olympus”) (from Pre-Greek) + -ῐος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).

affix

(philosophy and theology) In the Platonist theology of Plethon, a god in one group of supercelestial gods, the other group of such gods being the Tartareans or Titans.


noble eightfold path

(Buddhism) The path to the end of suffering, involving eight steps: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.


spiritualistic

en-adj

spiritualistic (comparative more spiritualistic, superlative most spiritualistic)

more spiritualistic (comparative)
most spiritualistic (superlative)

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of spiritualism.

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of spiritism; spiritistic.


presbytera

From Latin presbytera, a feminized form of presbyter (“priest”).


propitiation

en-noun

propitiation (countable and uncountable, plural propitiations)

From Latin propitiātiō. By surface analysis, propitiate + -ion.

(theology) The death of Christ as a basis for the forgiveness of sin.


potter's field

This phrase derives from the reference to the potter's field in the New Testament, Matthew 27:7: ‘And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.’ (King James Version; spelling modernized).

The despised pauper, most likely a foreigner, when his spirit has gone to its final resting-place, is probably carried to the Potter's Field.

1862. David W. Mitchell, Ten Years in the United States (Elder Smith, p. 157)

There was a Potter's Field, a cemetery for the poor and friendless, far out in the country.

1917. Anna Alice Chapin, Greenwich Village (Mead Dodd, p. 10)

Hart's Island has been used for the past 50 years as a potter's field for the burial of the paupers.

1925. Hastings Hornell Hart, Two Reports on the Reorganization and Reconstruction of the New York Prison System (Prison Association of New York 1925, p. 30)

Potter's field. The commissioner shall have charge of the Potter's Fields, and when the necessity therefor shall arise, shall have power to lay out additional Potter's Fields or other public burial places for the poor and strangers and from time to time enclose and extend the same to make enclosures therein and to build vaults therein, and to provide all necessary labor and for interments therein. The Potter's Field on Hart's island, however, shall remain under the control of the department of correction, and the burial of deceased paupers therein shall continue under rules and regulations established by the joint action of the departments of social services and correction, or in case of disagreement between such departments, under such regulations as may be established by the mayor.

1941 (amendment): Administrative Code of the City of New York, 21-110, originally chapter 24, Department of Public Welfare, Title A, 603-10.0 (also 1953; this is the current, 2007, version)

Humboldt had been buried not in potter's field but far out in Deathsille, New Jersey, one of those vast, necropolitan developments …

1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 467:

The old, helpless, bedridden inmates lying often in their own filth awaiting death and burial in potters field, alone and unknown.

1984 December 29, Raymond Latham, “The Plight of a Lover”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 5:

(idiomatic) A public place where strangers, paupers, and criminals are buried.


potter's clay

potter's clay (countable and uncountable, plural potter's clays)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-potter's clay.wav

I am the potter’s clay.

We are but potter’s clay.

(idiomatic, biblical) A person or people created and shaped by God.

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 2:41:

In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom.

1971. Old Testament, NASB Version, Daniel 2:41

(idiomatic, biblical) A nation or kingdom.


broken vessel

From Old Testament symbolism that people are like clay vessels.

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 31:12:

I am a broken vessel, Lord
rubble where a soul should be.

2000. Jill Alexander Essbaum, Kenosis (poem). Published in Heaven, University Press of New England, p. 48:http://books.google.com/books?id=vDQpQ8AzLPAC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22i+am+a+broken+vessel%22&source=web&ots=ZTM7SmiZUK&sig=sfLc4PEUu7-tAY4q63i8dIofxsE#PPA48,M1

2005. Kara Williamson, quote in Undisguised, the new project by singer/songwriter Kara Williamson, Your Guide to Christian Music, Gospel, Feb 4 2005.https://web.archive.org/web/20060529091348/http://christianmusic.about.com/od/upcomingreleases/a/aakaraWundisg.htm
I’m a broken vessel—thankfully, God uses broken vessels.

(idiomatic, biblical) A person who is destroyed or forgotten, or who feels flawed or broken.


Eli

From Hebrew עֵלִי (“ascent”); cognate to the Arabic-derived Ali.

(biblical) The priest who brought up Samuel.


Cistercian

en-adj

Cistercian (comparative more Cistercian, superlative most Cistercian)

more Cistercian (comparative)
most Cistercian (superlative)

From French cistercien, from Latin Cistercium (“Cîteaux”), after the place where the order was founded.

Of, pertaining to or characteristic of the Cistercian Order and its members.


Tir

Transliteration of Old Armenian Տիր (Tir), which is related to the Persian month name.

translit

(Armenian mythology) A scribe/writer god, in Hellenistic times identified with the Greek Apollo.


Lois

From Ancient Greek Λωΐς (Lōḯs), of obscure meaning. Unrelated to Louise or Louisa.

When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

(biblical) The grandmother of Timothy who is mentioned in an epistle to him.


decretal

/dɪˈkɹiːtəɫ/

From Middle French decretal, from Late Latin dēcrētālis, from Latin decretum.

Or els is thys Goddis law,
Decrees or decretals,
Or holy sinodals,
Or els provincyals,
Thus within the wals
Of holy church to deale[…]?

c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65, lines 130–135:

DECRETALS... are the answers sent by the Pope to applications made to him as head of the church, chiefly by bishops, but also by synods, and even private individuals, for guidance in cases involving points of doctrine or discipline... From the 4th century onwards they formed the most prolific source of canon law. Decretals... ought, properly speaking, to be distinguished, on the one hand from constitutions... enacted by the Pope sua sponte without reference to any particular case, and on the other hand from rescripts... which apply only to special circumstances or individuals, and constitute no general precedent. But this nomenclature is not strictly observed.

1878, "Decretals" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. VII, p. 22

ecclesiastical letter
ecclesiastical letter

(Roman Catholicism) A papal decree, particularly one derived from an ecclesiastical letter.


Star of David

equilateral triangle
equilateral triangle

(Judaism) A symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism, having the shape of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles.


epikeia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐπιείκεια (epieíkeia, “reasonableness”).

bor

(philosophy, theology) The principle in ethics that a law can be broken to achieve a greater good.


Invisible Pink Unicorn

en-proper noun

Invisible Pink Unicorn (plural Invisible Pink Unicorns)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Invisible Pink Unicorn.wav

If you feel it is the duty of others to refute the claim, and not of yourself to support it, then how about refuting the existence of invisible pink unicorns?

1990 July 17, je kanker moeder, “Re: 'Proof' of God's Existence”, in alt.atheism (Usenet), retrieved 2010-09-30, message-ID <3704@qip.UUCP>:

Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.

From a quite opposite perspective, an interesting departure of the 1990s (largely on the internet, and still flourishing) is the cult of the Invisible Pink Unicorn, which is at least in part a philosophical tool for examining the nature of religious faith from a skeptical point of view.

2007, Nigel Suckling, Unicorns, Facts, Figures, & Fun, →ISBN, page 94:

(Internet slang, humorous) A unicorn goddess who is simultaneously invisible and pink, used in arguments against faith in an unprovable deity.


dominus vobiscum

From Latin dominus vōbīscum ‘the lord be with you’, apparently taken from the Bible (e.g. Ruth 2:4 ‘And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee’).

(Roman Catholicism) A devout salutation often used as a prelude to certain set prayers; the traditional response is Et cum spīritū tuō.


Flying Spaghetti Monster

the Flying Spaghetti Monster (canonical)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Flying Spaghetti Monster.wav

I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster.

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

Is the super-intelligent, super-popular god known as the Flying Spaghetti Monster any match for the prophets of intelligent design?

2005 August 29, Sarah Boxer, “But Is There Intelligent Spaghetti Out There?”, in New York Times, →ISSN, retrieved 2011-10-28:

And now, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is demanding equal teaching time for its theory that the world was created by an FSM.

2006 May 24, Jack Huberman, “#75: Kansas State Board of Education”, in 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America, Nation Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC P95.82.U6 H83 2006, page 76:

A popular deity on the Internet at present — and as undisprovable as Yahweh or any other — is the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who, many claim, has touched them with his noodly appendage.

2006 September 18, Richard Dawkins, “The God Hypothesis”, in The God Delusion, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC BL2775.3.D39 2006, page 76:

Call it what you want — God, Buddha, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Prime Mover Unmoved. The totality of everything. I don't care.

2008 April 29, Neil Gaiman with Michael Reeves, InterWorld, 1st edition, New York: HarperCollins, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC PZ7.G1273 Int 2007, page 73:

All rooms, no matter how tough, have someone who hates you the least. Even if you're a Flying Spaghetti Monster disciple speaking at the Vatican, someone in that room will hate you less than everyone else.

2009 October, Scott Berkun, “How to work a tough room”, in Confessions of a Public Speaker, 1st edition, Sebastapol: O'Reilly, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC PN4129.15.B47 2010, page 51:

(humorous) A deity consisting of spaghetti and meatballs, the creator of the universe according to the religion of Pastafarianism.


lustration

en-noun

lustration (countable and uncountable, plural lustrations)

It will be remembered, that this beautiful Island was sacred to the ancient Greeks, from having been the birth-place of Apollo and Diana. None were born or died there—the mothers and the dying were carried to the neighbouring islet of Rhane. Solemn expeditions, with much priestly pomp, were frequently made from Athens to enforce this ordinance, particularly to propitiate the Gods in time of public calamity. Our era refers to the celebrated lustration, at the time of the Peloponnesian war, during the plague of Athens.

1830, Felicia Hemans, A Song of Delos, footnote, from The Winter's Wreath, 1831, page 49:

(religion) A rite of purification, especially washing.

пречистване

a rite of purification, especially washing


Garden of Eden

en-proper noun

the Garden of Eden (plural Gardens of Eden)

the Garden of Eden (canonical)
Gardens of Eden (plural)

Calque of Biblical Hebrew גַּן עֵדֶן (gan ʿḗḏen).

calque

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:23–24:

Latter-day Saints know, through modern revelation, that the Garden of Eden was on the North American continent and that Adam and Eve began their conquest of the earth in the upper part of what is now the state of Missouri.

1943, John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, ch. 22, page 127:

Up until two decades ago, the Garden of Eden was, we thought, in Eastern Ontario, where the McIntosh variety happened along. Probably Americans feel you had two Gardens of Eden, the first one being where the Red Delicious was discovered, and the second one, where the Golden Delicious was discovered. The Australians must have thought the Garden of Eden was somewhere in Australia, where the Granny Smith appeared. According to the Bible, however, there was only one Garden of Eden and probably the population explosion started there, but from that time onward, all control was lost of both apple production and population.

1971, Western Fruit Grower, volume 25/26, Western Farm Publications:

“Were there many Gardens of Eden?” Surely! To read only of the biblical Adam and Eve is to grasp the story in this one way. In the hills they speak of the beginning as the time of the giants, another utopia. In eastern heathen lands, surely giants reigned in many Edens.

2001, George Szanto, The Condesa of M., Cormorant Books Inc., →ISBN, page 173:

For religious thinkers like William Warren and Landon West, the whole point of Eden was to unify mankind. To have two Gardens of Eden was worse than having none at all.

2011, Brook Wilensky-Lanford, “Practically Paradise”, in Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden, Grove Press, →ISBN:

(Abrahamism) In the Book of Genesis of the Bible and Surat Sad of the Qur'an, a garden at the source of the Gihon, Pishon, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers, where Adam and Eve first lived after being created.

Edens lustgård n (the most well-known, older translation)


nontheism

en-noun

nontheism (usually uncountable, plural nontheisms)

From non- + theism. Intended as a generalization of atheism, non-theist was coined in the 1850s. Nontheism is not recorded in notable dictionaries as of 2024.

It is our conviction that piecemeal critiques of nontheisms will not suffice. The theist must enter the arena with a positive and comprehensive case of his own.

2003, Norman L. Geisler, Winfried Corduan, Philosophy of Religion: Second Edition, page 9:

Any of a range of concepts regarding spirituality and religion which do not include the idea of a deity in the form of a theistic god or gods.


nondualism

From non- + dualism, to translate the Sanskrit term अद्बैत (advaita, “not two”).

The belief that dualism and dichotomy are illusory phenomena, that things such as mind and body may remain distinct while not actually being separate.


sensi

In Westmoreland, where the sensi come from / Me put it in a crocus barrel, upon the mini van

1985, Wayne Smith (lyrics and music), “Under Me Sleng Teng”:

[AK The Savior]: Smoking sensi, high sensei in your membrane.

2013, “Herb Shuttles”, in Indigoism, performed by Underachievers:

Yeah, man used to move that white, yeah, we be them old school dealers. She’s lighting up some sensis, he’s lighting up amnesias.

2015, “Man Don’t Care”, in Integrity, performed by Jme and Giggs:

That’s why me haffi lead and set the trend fi dem. Dash ‘way the coke dem and go sensi dem.

2018, “Help The Weak”performed by Capleton and Sizzla:

(Rastafari, Jamaica, slang) Clipping of sensimilla.


indeterminism

indeterminism (countable and uncountable, plural indeterminisms)

Borrowed from French indéterminisme, equivalent to in- + determinism.

(ethics, religion, uncountable) The doctrine that all human actions are not so much determined by the preceding events, conditions, causes or karma as by deliberate choice or free will.


demoniac

From Middle English demoniak et al., from Old French demoniaque, from Late Latin daemoniacus.

The exorcism was dropped from the second Edwardian Prayer Book, because of its implication that unbaptised infants were demoniacs […].

1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 53:


affirming

en-adj

affirming (comparative more affirming, superlative most affirming)

more affirming (comparative)
most affirming (superlative)

From Middle English affermynge; equivalent to affirm + -ing.

We remain because we are not without hope that the liberating spirit of Christ will make itself known through our insistence upon sharing fully in the life of the church as lesbian and gay Christians. We also stay because of the vital experiences of community with other lesbian, gay, bisexual and affirming Christians — community made possible by our mutual willingness to become visible to, and vulnerable with, one another.

1992, William R. Johnson, “Protestantism and Gay and Lesbian Freedom”, in Betty Berzon, editor, Positively Gay: New Approaches to Gay and Lesbian Life, updated and expanded edition, Berkeley, California: Celestial Arts, →ISBN, page 150:

For Paul would readily admit that as a Christian who is gay he knows first-hand what it means to experience the grace of God, divine grace that is received in the context of a welcoming—but not automatically affirming—church.

1998, Stanley J. Grenz, Welcoming but Not Affirming: An Evangelical Response to Homosexuality, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, →ISBN, page xii:

The majority of Episcopal churches that you’re visiting will be fairly affirming.

2018, Carol A. Shepherd, quoting Connor Gwyn, Bisexuality and the Western Christian Church: The Damage of Silence, Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 245:

The Church of the Nazarene should be an affirming church because, as Wesleyans, we believe the Spirit shapes us and can even help us enter the process of reconciliation when we have been wrong.

2023, Katie A. Donaldson, “The Spirit Transforms”, in Thomas Jay Oord and Alexa Oord, editors, Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming, [United States]: SacraSage Press, →ISBN:

(Christianity) Accepting of same-sex/same-gender sexual relationships – or, more broadly, the gender identities, sexual orientations, and sexual relationships of LGBTQ people – on the same terms as those of cisgender, heterosexual people.


cargo cult

From cargo (“Western material goods”) + cult. First used in print by N. M. Bird in a 1945 article.

culte du cargo

Melanesian religion based upon Western manufactured goods

Any of several religious movements among the people of Melanesia that anticipate the arrival of material cargo or cultural restoration, typically through the ritual imitation of the activities of colonial or technological cultures.


higher power

God or a god; a deity; a supernatural force capable of affecting outcomes in the material world.

至高存在者 (zhìgāo cúnzài zhě) (no exact equivalent exists; literal translation given)


cautel

en-noun

cautel (countable and uncountable, plural cautels)

From Latin cautēla, from cautus, past participle of caveō.

(Christianity) A traditional caution or written direction about the proper manner of administering the sacraments.


Naphtali

From Biblical Hebrew נַפְתָּלִי (naftalí), a son of Jacob. Compare Arabic نافس (“to compete with”).

(biblical) Sixth son of Jacob, by his wife's handmaid Bilhah.

(biblical) One of the Israelite tribes, descended from Naphtali.


Edomite

[ˈiɾɪ̈mʌɪ̯t̚]

And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 36:9:

(biblical) A person descended from Esau (Edom).


Laban

From Middle English Laban, from Latin Laban, from Koine Greek Λάβαν (Lában), from Biblical Hebrew לָבָן (Lāḇān).

And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 25:20:

(biblical) The brother of Rebekah and uncle of Jacob and Esau.


Bilhah

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram.

1611, King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 35:22b-26:

(biblical) A handmaid of Rachel and mother of Dan and Naphtali.


Zilpah

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: ²³ The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: ²⁴ The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: ²⁵ And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: ²⁶ And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 35:22-26:

(biblical) Handmaid of Leah and mother of Gad and Asher.


Zebulun

Old Testament Hebrew זְבֻלוּן (zebulun), a son of Jacob.

(biblical) Tenth son of Jacob, by his wife Leah.

(biblical) One of the Israelite tribes, descended from Zebulun.


Asher

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 35:22b-26::

(biblical) The eighth son of Jacob, by his wife's handmaid Zilpah.

And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs,

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 21:30:

(biblical) One of the Israelite tribes, descended from Asher.


Issachar

/ˈɪ.səˌkɑː(ɹ)/

From Biblical Hebrew יִשָּׂשׁכָר (“Issachar”), a son of Jacob.

der

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 35:22b-26:

And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs,

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 21:28:

(biblical) Ninth son of Jacob, by his wife Leah.

(biblical) One of the Israelite tribes, descended from Issachar.


Simeon

From Middle English Simeon, from Latin Simeon, from Ancient Greek Σῠμεών (Sumeṓn), from Biblical Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן (šimʿôn, “hearkening, listening”), originally referring to Simeon, a son of Jacob. Doublet of Simon.

Now the ſonnes of Iacob were twelue. 23 The ſonnes of Leah: Reuben Iacobs firſt borne, and Simeon, and Leui, and Iudah, and Iſſachar, and Zebulun. 24 The ſonnes of Rachel: Ioſeph, and Beniamin. 25 And the ſonnes of Bilhah, Rachels handmaid: Dan and Naphtali. 26 And the ſonnes of Zilpah, Leahs handmaid: Gad, and Aſher. Theſe are the ſonnes of Iacob, which were borne to him in Padan Aram.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 35:22–26, column 2:

(biblical) Second son of Jacob, by his wife Leah.

And the ſecond lot came foorth to Simeon, euen for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families: and their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Iudah.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 19:1, column 2:

(biblical) One of the Israelite tribes, descended from Simeon.


wayside pulpit

A roadside sign fronting churches and other religious worship centers, whose message is changed regularly, often weekly, and is typically welcoming or scriptural, philosophical, spiritual, or otherwise uplifting quotations.


Gilead

Is there no balme in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recouered?

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 8:22:

Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!

1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:

(biblical) A region east of the Jordan river.


Kharijite

en-noun

Kharijite (plural Kharijites or Khawarij)

From Arabic خَارِجِي (ḵārijī, “one who split off, one who departed”), from the root خ ر ج (ḵ-r-j).

bor

(Islam, historical) A member of a reactionary Islamic sect in the 7th and 8th centuries.

خَارِجِيّ

members of a reactionary Islamic sect in the 7th and 8th centuries


round robin

/ˌɹaʊnd ˈɹɒbɪn/

From round (adjective) + robin. Sense 1 (“senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around”) is connected with the word round, while sense 2 (“senses relating to people, animals, or plants”) is connected with some English regional senses of the word robin where it is used in the names of various fish and plants which are not related to the red-breasted bird. However, apart from the alliteration, it is not clear why the two words came to be linked together in compounds. It is possible that the term was first used to refer to sense 1.13.1 (“consecrated host”) which appears to be the earliest attested sense, and then extended to other senses either having the sense of round or robin.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a corruption of French ruban rond (literally “round ribbon”), referring to the practice in 17th-century France of signing on ribbons which were then attached to petitions of grievances in a circular manner: see sense 1.1. However, this etymology does not explain the senses of the term unrelated to a signed document.

der

[T]he Sacrament of the Altar, is nothing elſe but a piece of bread, or a little predie Round-Robin.

1659, Thomas Fuller, “The Fifth Book. Relating to the Time of King Henry the Eighth.”, in The Appeal of Iniured Innocence: Unto the Religious Learned and Ingenious Reader: In a Controversie betwixt the Animadvertor Dr. Peter Heylyn and the Author Thomas Fuller, London: […] W. Godbid, and are to be sold by John Williams […], →OCLC, part II, page 60:

(also attributive) Senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around.

(Christianity, derogatory) The consecrated host used in the Eucharist.

Senses relating to people, animals, or plants.

(Canada, US, rare) A freshwater sunfish native to eastern North America, either the pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) or the redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus).


mercy seat

From mercy + seat, after German Gnadenstuhl, translating Hebrew כַּפֹּרֶת (kappóreth) (= Hellenistic Greek ἱλαστήριον (hilastḗrion) (Septuagint)/Latin propitiatorium (Vulgate)).

And thou shalt make a Mercieseat of pure gold: two cubites and a halfe shalbe the length thereof, and a cubite and a halfe the breadth thereof.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 25:17:

The greatest mystery of Religion is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of Jewish Types, we finde the Cherubims shadowing the Mercy-seat.

1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 2007, page 206:

(Judaism, Christianity) The lid of the Ark of the Covenant, on which God is said to have been enthroned; taken to represent the throne in heaven.


mensa

Learned borrowing from Latin mēnsa (“table, altar”). Doublet of mesa.

lbor

Some churches also have an altar stone, a separate stone set into the mensa containing a relic of a saint, although this is becoming extremely rare.

1993, B. Don Taylor, The Complete Training Course for Altar Guilds, →ISBN, page 32:

(Roman Catholicism) The upper surface of an altar.


jnana

en-noun

jnana (countable and uncountable, plural jnanas)

/dʒəˈnɑː.nə/

From Sanskrit ज्ञान (jñāna, “knowledge”).

1969, Swami Rāmānandasarasvatī, The Hindu Ideal, Sri Ramananda Centenary Memorial Committee, page 291,
The dualists, Sri Vaishnavas in particular, seem to entertain a strong opinion that Bhakti alone is the cause of Moksha, and that Jnana is but a step towards Bhakti.

1986, The Vedanta Kesari, Ramakrishna Math, page 316,
The knower of Atman realizes Him by Jnana Yoga (the path of knowledge).

Jnana is a direct knowing of things as they really are.

2004, M. G. Chitkara, Vedic Religious Tradition, APH Publishing Corporation, page 375:

(Hinduism) The knowledge, acquired through meditation, that one's self (atman) is identical with Ultimate Reality (Brahman).

(Buddhism) Pure awareness that is free of conceptual encumbrances.


Londonistan

The term “Londonistan” apparently originated with a sarcastic remark by a French intelligence officer frustrated by Britain’s failure to crack down on radical Islamists in their midst.

2017 April 6, Leela Jacinto, “Is Londonistan calling jihadists back to the fold?”, in France 24:

(informal, derogatory, ethnic slur) London, perceived as having been culturally conquered by Muslims.


Sabbatianism

Sabbateanism is the matrix of every significant movement to have emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, from Hasidism, to Reform Judaism, to the earliest Masonic circles and revolutionary idealism.

1971, Gershom Scholem, translated by unknown, The Messianic Idea in Judaism and other Essays on Jewish Spirituality:

(Judaism) A Jewish messianic movement of the 17th century, centred around Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676).


raita

From the Hindi idiom रायता फैलाना (rāytā phailānā), which means to "spill the raita" or "make a mess".

(India, derogatory, politics, online slang) A Hindu who does not support Hindutva, a liberal Hindu, especially (highly derogatory) as considered a traitor to India or race traitor towards Indians.


Sermon on the Mount

A well-known public discourse given by Jesus in the first year of his ministry, around 30 C.E..


humanistic

en-adj

humanistic (comparative more humanistic, superlative most humanistic)

more humanistic (comparative)
most humanistic (superlative)

I recognize thee, Satan, and I spit in thine face
Whatever happened to the human race?
What happened to the humanistic faith?
What happens to human waste?

1985, J. G. Thirlwell (lyrics and music), “Descent into the Inferno”, in Nail, performed by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel:

“The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” Apple is a humanistic tech company. It’s also the largest company in the world.

2022 December 6, Stephen Marche, quoting Steve Jobs, “The College Essay Is Dead”, in The Atlantic:


kalpa

From Sanskrit कल्प (kalpa, literally “formation”).

bor

(Hinduism, Buddhism) A period of 4.32 billion years (1000 chatur-yugas or cycles of the four yugas).


NWT

w:New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

(biblical) Initialism of New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.


meet one's maker

en-verb

meet one's maker (third-person singular simple present meets one's maker, present participle meeting one's maker, simple past and past participle met one's maker)

meets one's maker (present singular third-person)
meeting one's maker (participle present)
met one's maker (participle past)
met one's maker (past)

In various religions, when a person dies, they go to a supernatural place like heaven where they may meet their creator deity.

On the gallows high he has met his Maker...Your victim waits for you to meet your Maker

1871, Unknown (Execution ballad), “Execution of Frederick Baker.”, in Curiosities of Street Literature, Comprising "cocks," Or "catch Pennies", page 205:

He didn't die for a half-hour after that; nor did he speak again—aloud; but just a few seconds before he went to meet his Maker, his lips moved in a faint whisper.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!

1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese):

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To die or to pass into the afterlife.


living dead

This “living dead” industry has been written off time and time again, yet it continues to clamber back to its feet and lumber blindly onward.

Venture's investment in Black Hawk could turn out to be a complete failure (black hole), barely surviving (living dead), or wildly successful (venture utopia).

2014, J. Chris Leach, Ronald W. Melicher, Entrepreneurial Finance, page 423:

Existing in stasis, without meaningful activity or development.


veve

From Haitian Creole vèvè, from Portuguese viver (“to live”).

The vever, as a cabbala-like method of invoking the gods, was included as a primary ceremonial device in Rada.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 69:

The vèvè for Simbi, lord of healing, bristles with all sorts of allusions to the Kongo medicines of God, leaves, horns, water, and stars.

1995, Robert Farris Thompson, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 103

The indigenous practice of sand painting was preserved in the practice of creating vévés, intricate drawings in cornmeal that were used to call various spirits.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 15:

(voodoo) Any of various symbols, like line diagrams, that have religious significance in voodoo, serving as a representation of the loa.


crystal ball

The psychic looked into the crystal ball and saw into the future.

A globe of glass or crystal used to foretell the future.

If her past is a crystal ball to her future, she will perhaps never be rich, even though she is a kind, hard-working person.

(by extension) A way of seeing into the future.

One of the magickal tools of Wicca, used for divination and altar purposes


muni

Disguising himself, he ventured into the countryside, where he spied a muni meditating beneath a plane tree.

1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XVII, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 158:

(Jainism, Buddhism) A holy man; a sage or ascetic.


Caspar

A name given to one of the Magi in Western church tradition, from Biblical Hebrew גִּזְבָּר (gizbar), ultimately from Old Median *ganǰabarah; see it for more. Compare Hatran Aramaic 𐣢𐣦𐣡𐣣𐣩 (gzbry /Gazzabray/, “a given name”), also from Iranian.


Job's comforter

en-noun

Job's comforter (plural Job's comforters)

From the Bible Job 16.2 where Job's supposed friends offered advice that was not helpful.

Only a Job's comforter would try to argue that yesterday's stock fall announcement could bring anything good.

A person who, in trying to offer help or advice, says something that aggravates the distress.

pocieszyciel Hioba

person who aggravates someone's distress under the guise of consoling them


cast the first stone

en-verb

cast the first stone (third-person singular simple present casts the first stone, present participle casting the first stone, simple past and past participle cast the first stone)

casts the first stone (present singular third-person)
casting the first stone (participle present)
cast the first stone (participle past)
cast the first stone (past)

From the Bible John 8.7 where Jesus tells the accusers of a woman of adultery, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

2007, March 10, Mr Gingrich, on the impeachment proceedings in 1999. Reported in The Guardian
I knew I couldn't cast the first stone as I knew I had weaknesses. ... (But) as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law I have no choice but to move forward and say you cannot accept perjury in your highest officials.

(idiomatic) To act self-righteously in accusing another person, believing oneself to be blameless.

people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones


monastically

en-adv

monastically (comparative more monastically, superlative most monastically)

more monastically (comparative)
most monastically (superlative)


Jada

(biblical) A male given name, David's second cousin five times removed according to 1 Chronicles 2.


kufr

From Arabic كُفْر (kufr), from the root ك ف ر (k-f-r).


Islamophobic

en-adj

Islamophobic (comparative more Islamophobic, superlative most Islamophobic)

more Islamophobic (comparative)
most Islamophobic (superlative)

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

Having a fear or hatred of Islam or Muslims.


Islamofascist

So it is with the highly ideological term "Islamofascist," a label that is being wielded as a blunt weapon in a left-right debate and has been carelessly bandied about by some presidential candidates.

2007 June 11, “A lazy, simplistic analogy”, in The New York Times:

Political candidates appeal to those Christians by defining the ambition of Islamofascists in language that makes prior threats from, say, Hitler or Stalin seem benign.

2008 January 21, James Carroll, “Carroll: Islamofascism's ill political wind”, in The New York Times:


Islamofascist

Islamofascist (comparative more Islamofascist, superlative most Islamofascist)

more Islamofascist (comparative)
most Islamofascist (superlative)

(chiefly US, derogatory, offensive) Of or pertaining to Islamofascism


Islamophobe

A person who fears or hates Islam and Muslims.


Laverna

(Roman mythology) A goddess of thieves and impostors.


metta

(Buddhism) Lovingkindness or compassion, especially if developed through meditation or mindfulness.


Islamophobia

en-noun

Islamophobia (usually uncountable, plural Islamophobias)


particularity

particularity (countable and uncountable, plural particularities)

From Middle French particularité (“part of a whole; something particular, particularity”) (modern French particularité), and from its etymon Late Latin particularitas (“fact or quality of being particular; something particular, particularity”), from Latin particulāris (“particular; partial”) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). Particulāris is derived from particula (“particle, small part”) (from pars (“a part, piece, portion, share”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to sell; to go through; to carry forth, fare”)) + -cula (diminutive suffix)) + -āris (suffix denoting a relationship, forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as particular + -ity (suffix forming nouns from adjectives, referring to the properties, qualities, or states of what is denoted by the adjectives).

suffix

The condition of being particular rather than general or universal; specificity.

(Christianity, theology) The doctrine of the incarnation of God as Jesus occurring at a particular place and time.

partikularismi

(Christianity, Judaism, theology, obsolete) Synonym of particularism (“the principle that only certain people are chosen by God for salvation”)


piscatory ring

(Roman Catholicism) A ring worn by popes, representing the first pope and Christian apostle Peter, who had been a fisherman.


zen

From Zen. In more general use, popularized by Eugen Herrigel's 1948 Zen in the Art of Archery and Robert M. Pirsig's 1974 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

(religion) Synonym of enlightenment, particularly the kind acquired through Zen meditation.


zen

en-adj

zen (comparative more zen, superlative most zen)

more zen (comparative)
most zen (superlative)

Greggs: You hung over? Just sayin', you look like shit.
Moreland: You know what you need at a crime scene?
Greggs: Rubber glove?
Moreland: Soft eyes.
Greggs: Like I'm s'posed to cry an' shit?
Moreland: You got soft eyes, you can see the whole thing. You got hard eyes? You starin' at the same tree, missin' the forest.
Greggs: Ah. Zen shit.
Moreland: Soft eyes, grasshopper.

2006 Oct. 1, Dennis Lehane, "Refugees", The Wire, 00:37:10

(religion) Alternative letter-case form of Zen: of or related to Zen Buddhism, particularly its focus on indirect teaching of wisdom through riddles and stories.


heathendom

en-noun

heathendom (usually uncountable, plural heathendoms)

From Middle English hæthendom, from Old English hǣþendōm; equivalent to heathen + -dom. OED records a single attestation in the period between 1230 and 1840, a (nonce?) occurrence in J. Law, Proposals and reasons for constituting a council of trade in Scotland (1701, p. 233). Otherwise replaced by Middle English hethenesse in the later Middle English period and heathenism in the 17th and 18th centuries. Cognate with Dutch heidendom, Old High German heidentuom (German Heidentum), Old Norse heiðindómr (Swedish hedendom).

Ziegenbalg mentioned some major forms of heathendom (African, American, old European)[…]

2011, Urs App, The Birth of Orientalism, page 102:

(Germanic paganism, sometimes capitalized) The collection of people who follow Heathenry, a modern pagan faith inspired by the pre-Abrahamic religions of Germanic tribes, Anglo-Saxons and Norse peoples.

heidendom

worldwide community that follows Heathenry


washing of feet

(religion) A ritual washing of churchgoers' feet by clergy practised by some Christians, especially associated with Maundy Thursday.


real presence

(theology) The actual presence of Christ's body and blood in the Eucharistic sacrament.


wuzu

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish [script needed] (vuzu).

bor+

1885: So they ceased to urge her; and the trader rose from amongst them and repaired to an out house to perform Wuzu ablution, and he purposed thereafter to return and to tell them his secret and to die. — Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, vol. 1

(Islam) Alternative form of wudu (“the minor ablution in Islam”)


pellegrina

A short cape worn by some Roman Catholic clergy.


ecclesiarchy

(religion, politics) A government ruled by or in conjunction with a religion; a church-state.


theurgist

One who claims or is alleged to perform magic with the aid of beneficent spirits.

теу́рг

one who claims to perform magic with the aid of beneficent spirits


Shrovetide

The three days immediately preceding Lent; Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday, preceding Ash Wednesday.


commendam

(religion, obsolete) A vacant benefice commended to a cleric until an incumbent was provided.


chantry

From Middle English chaunterie, from Old French chanterie, from chanter (“to sing”).


minster

From Middle English menstre (see mynisterie), from Old English mynster, from Latin monastērium (“monastery”), from Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion, “monastery; solitary dwelling”). Doublet of monastery.

derived

A cathedral church without any monastic connection.


Islāmic

en-adj

Islāmic (comparative more Islāmic, superlative most Islāmic)

more Islāmic (comparative)
most Islāmic (superlative)

2003, Jaʻfar Subḥānī, The Islāmic Moral System: Commentary of Sūrah Al-Hujarāt:

For many Muslim scholars and mystics, however, the Ṣūfism of al-Ḥallāj clearly steps out of the bounds of Islāmic orthodoxy, entering the abode of heterodoxy and even heresy.

2012, John Andrew Morrow, Religion and Revolution, page 212:

I was born into a Muslim family, and my ancestors were described as well learned in Islāmic jurisprudence.

2012, Allama Dr. Sani Salih Mustapha, A Contemporary, Rational Examination of the Sciences of the Holy Qur’ān, page xxv:


postulant

From French postulant, present participle of postuler.

After their six-month postulancies are over and they have mastered all the chants and books of monastic regulations, the postulants are finally ready to ordain as novice monks […]

2020, Robert E. Buswell Jr., The Zen Monastic Experience, page 81:

(religion) A person seeking admission to a religious order.


Quasimodo

Quasimodo (disambiguation)
Tridentine Mass

From the opening of the introit of the day’s Tridentine Mass in Ecclesiastical Latin: quasi modo genitī īnfāntēs (“as newborn babes …”).

(Christianity) The first Sunday after Easter.


credobaptist

(religion) One who holds that baptism should only be performed on those who have professed faith in the Christian religion and understand the significance of the rite.


Apostle

(Christianity) Any of the group of twelve disciples chosen by Jesus to preach and spread the Gospel.


Pascal's wager

After French theologian Blaise Pascal, who formulated the wager.

In the unlikely event of losing Pascal's Wager, I intend to saunter in to Judgement Day with a bookshelf full of grievances, a flaming sword of my own devising, and a serious attitude problem.

1997 October 11, Rick Moen, “TAN: Mormons”, in rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (Usenet), message-ID <61ohd0$sgr@myrddin.imat.com>:

I have always considered "Pascal's Wager" a questionable bet to place, since any God worth believing in would prefer an honest agnostic to a calculating hypocrite.

2001 October 17, Alan Dershowitz, Letters to a Young Lawyer, New York: Basic Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 194:

Moreover, since we have now reached an extreme point in the development of consciousness, and know our own selves through and through, no 'ultimate self-doubt' remains which would allow us to ruse with death – as when, in Pascal's wager, it is the doubt about the afterlife which determines the choice.

2012, Paul de Man, “Mallarmé (1960)”, in Martin McQuillan, editor, The Post-Romantic Predicament, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, part II (Igitur), page 73:

(religion) An argument for theism (and specifically Christianity, according to the writer) maintaining that belief in the divine ensures happiness in this life and offers the possibility of eternal happiness (should God or divine beings exist), whereas atheism, even if it brings happiness in this life, offers no hope of eternal happiness and carries the risk of eternal damnation.


mindfulness

en-noun

mindfulness (countable and uncountable, plural mindfulnesses)

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

(Buddhism, psychology) Paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.

正念

paying attention on purpose in the present moment


meaning of life

The meaning of life here on earth might be defined as consisting in this: To unfold your self, to work what thing you have the faculty for. It is a necessity for the human being, the first law of our existence.

1840 May 22, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture VI. The Hero as King. Cromwell, Napoleon: Modern Revolutionism.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 207:

I asked myself if this were the meaning of life—to be a work-beast? I knew of no horse in the city of Oakland that worked the hours I worked.

1913 August, Jack London, chapter VII, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 63:

But he was no nearer to the meaning of life than he had been before. Why the world was there and what men had come into existence for at all was as inexplicable as ever.

1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 274:

(philosophy, religion) A hypothetical answer to all of life's ultimate questions; the purpose or raison d'être of human life.

مَعْنَى اَلْحَيَاة

hypothetical answer to life’s ultimate questions


Asa

en-proper noun

Asa (countable and uncountable, plural Asas)

Via Late Latin Asa from Koine Greek Ἀσά (Asá) from Biblical Hebrew אָסָא (ʾĀsāʾ), from Aramaic אָסְיָא (ʾāsyā, “physician, doctor, healer”), from Akkadian 𒀀𒍪 (A.ZU /asû/) from Sumerian 𒀀𒍪 (A.ZU /azu/, “physician, healer”); compare Classical Syriac ܐܵܣܝܵܐ (ʾāsyā, “healer, physician, medical doctor”) whence Arabic آسٍ (ʔāsin).

cog

And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 15:9-11:

(biblical) The third king of Judah mentioned in the Books of Kings who succeeded his father Abijah; the father of King Jehoshaphat. (Matthew calls him "Asaph" in Matthew 1:7.)


canonical hour

The three-hour intervals of daytime religious services appointed by canon law.

(Christianity) The divine office or prayers appointed to each of these times of day.


terce

en-noun

terce (countable and uncountable, plural terces)

Late Middle English, from Old French terce, from Latin tertia (“third; the third hour”).

(chiefly Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy) The service appointed for this hour.


eternal return

(cosmology, religion, philosophy) Eternal recurrence.


noonday devil

ακηδία ακηδία#Greek

A demon, thought to be active at the noon hour, that inclines its victims (usually monastics) to restlessness, excitability and inattention to their duties. Used as a synonym for acedia (Greek ακηδία (akidía)).


eternal recurrence

The concept dates from ancient times and was popularized by the philosopher Nietzsche (1844-1900).

(cosmology, religion, philosophy) The belief or theory that all the events in cosmic history repeat in an endless cycle.


processional

[47] Item that the Churchwardens of euery paryshe shall delyuer vnto our visitours the inuentories of vestmentes, copes, and other ornamentes, plate, bookes, and specyallye of Grayles, Couchers, Legendes, Processionalles, Hymnalles, Manuelles, Portuesses, and suche lyke apperteynyng to theyr Church.

1559, Iniunctions geven by the Quenes Maiestie anno Domini MD.LIX, the fyrst yeare of the raigne of our Soueraigne Lady Quene Elizabeth, London:

c. 1640s, John Gregory, “Episcopus Puerorum In Die Innocentium: Or, A Discovery of an Ancient Custom in the Church of Sarum, making an Anniversary Bishop among the Choristers” in The Works of the Reverend and Learned Mr. John Gregory, London: R. Royston and T. Williams, 1671, p. 114,
By the Use of Sarum (for ’tis almost the only place where I can hear any thing of this; that of York in their Processional seems to take no notice of it) upon the Eve to Innocents Day the Chorister-Bishop was to go in solemn Procession with his fellows […]

(Roman Catholicism) A service book relating to ecclesiastical processions.


mithqal

From Persian or Urdu مثقال (mesqâl), and their source, Arabic مِثْقَال (miṯqāl, “weight, unit of weight”), from ثَقَلَ (ṯaqala, “to weigh”). Doublet of metical

bor

The Wazir brought him and the King said, "Give him a thousand miskals of gold from the treasury, and load him ten camels with goods for trade, and send him under escort to his own town."

1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 13”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

A unit of weight in the Islamic world, usually taken as equivalent to 4.25 grams, used especially to weigh precious metals.


Castellite

Possibly from a very brief 19th-century Mormon settlement in Castell, Texas, which, like all Mormon communities, sent out missionaries. Identifying "Utah" as the source of the Castellite missionaries in the quote below may have been based on the common contemporaneous assumption that all Mormons were based in Utah.

Of late years Mormon missionaries from Utah have reaped a rich harvest in this region, and in parts of Swain and Haywood counties a peculiar sect, known as Castellites, has arisen whose exercises seem to be of a highly emotional character, as it is a common remark that every one who joins the Castellites goes crazy.

1913, Horace Kephart, Our Southern Highlanders:

A religious group in western North Carolina during the late 19th century. Mormon missionaries encountered them and found that they were enemies, not converts.

Life here was not easy. For the first couple of years, Castellites depended heavily on supplies and support from the people of Fredericksburg, who had problems enough of their own. A round trip to Fredericksburg—about 50 miles—took 4 days.


C of E

Lasdun’s parents were Jews who converted to the C of E, and Nasreen’s communications quickly became virulently anti-semitic […]

2013, Nick Richardson, “Internet-Enabled”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 8:

Church of England
Church of England#English


Huitzilopochtli

Borrowed from Spanish Huitzilopochtli, from a Nahuatl language; compare Classical Nahuatl Huitzilopochtli.

after Sacrifice made to the Goddes of warre, called Tezcatlipuca and Vitzilopuchtli of their carkaſſes, then is theyr fleſhe eaten in banquet

1578, Thomas Nicholas, transl., The Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the VVeast India, London: Henry Bynneman, translation of Historia general de las Indias by Francisco López de Gómara, page 78:

They did worſhip the Idoll Vitzliputzli, the Deuill that was in this Idoll ſpake, and gouerned this Nation eaſily.

1625, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, volume 3, London: William Stansby, page 1002:


Latin cross

A cross consisting of a vertical bar intersected by a shorter horizontal one above its midpoint; the form of the Christian cross: ✝


Ebenezer

From Hebrew אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר (éven ha`ézer, “stone of help”).

der

אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר

Then Samuel tooke a ſtone, and ſet it betweene Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-Ezer, ſaying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped vs.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 7:12:

Here I raiſe my Eben-ezer,
Hither by thy Grace I'm come;
So I hope by thy good Pleaſure,
Shortly to arrive at Home:

1759, Robert Robinson, “Hymn I”, in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Church of Christ: Meeting in Angel-Alley, page 3:

(biblical) The stone memorial in Israel erected by Samuel.


Hesychast

From Medieval Latin hesychasta, from ecclesiastical Greek ἡσυχαστής (hēsukhastḗs), from ἡσυχάζειν (hēsukházein, “to be quiet”), from ἥσυχος (hḗsukhos, “quiet”).

(ecclesiastical history) A monk of the Orthodox Catholic Church that engages in noetic prayer.


Jaredite

(Mormonism) Any of the descendants of Jared, mentioned in the Book of Mormon (specifically, the Book of Ether).


smudging

One of the most common forms of purification is done with smoke, using some kind of smoking or smudging.

2002, Raven Kaldera, Tannin Schwartzstein, The Urban Primitive: Paganism in the Concrete Jungle, page 36:


amice

From Middle English amit, from Old French emit, from Latin amictus, from amiciō (see there for more). Compare French amict, Italian amitto, Portuguese amicto.

A hood, or cape with a hood, made of or lined with grey fur, formerly worn by the clergy.

amitu

hood, or cape with a hood, formerly worn by the clergy


Confucian

One who follows the teachings of Confucius.

confucià

one who follows the teachings of Confucius


Amalec

Via Late Latin Amālēc from Koine Greek Ἀμᾱλήκ (Amālḗk) from Biblical Hebrew עֲמָלֵק (ʾĂmālēq).

(biblical) The grandson of Esau through his eldest son, in the Hebrew Bible.


Moab

From Ancient Greek Μωάβ (Mōáb), from Biblical Hebrew מוֹאָב (môʾāḇ). Attested to as Moabite 𐤌𐤀𐤁 (mʾb) and Ancient Egyptian mwjbw N35A-M17-D58-G43-N25

(biblical) The son of Lot through his eldest daughter, in the Hebrew Bible.


nontrinitarianism

(theology) The religious belief that rejects the Christian concept of the trinity.


Unitarianism

The religious belief that God is a single Person.

unitarisme

the religious belief that God is a single person

unitarismo

often political, related to the Partido Unitario in Argentina


Unitarianism

Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism

The religion known as Unitarian Universalism

Any of various Christian denominations such as the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches and American Unitarian Association


Balthazar

/ˈbælθəˌzɔɹ/

From Middle English Balthasar, from Latin Baltassar, from Ancient Greek Βαλτασαρ (Baltasar), from Hebrew בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר (bēlšaṣṣar), attested in the Tanakh and the Old Testament (Daniel 5:1), from Akkadian 𒂗𒈗𒋀 (bēl-šarra-uṣṣur, literally “May Bel protect the king”). Doublet of Belshazzar.

בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר

Hebrew בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר (bēlšaṣṣar)

(biblical, historical) a Babylonian king mentioned in the Book of Daniel.


Gog

Gog and Magog, a figure (or two figures) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and variously identified by later writers with Satan or certain hostile nations. (See Revelation 20:8.)


original sin

en-noun

original sin (countable and uncountable, plural original sins)

Calque of Latin peccātum orīgināle, a phrase used by 4th-century Berber theologian and saint Augustine of Hippo in his interpretations of the Bible.

(Christianity) Adam's disobedience to God.

You have to give director Colm McCarthy, a Scottish TV veteran making his feature film debut, and writer Mike Carey, adapting his own novel, credit for attempting the seemingly impossible task of doing something new with the zombie subgenre. And by blending it with the common YA trope of a young female protagonist who leads the world into a new revolutionary era, they almost get there—largely thanks to newcomer Nanua, who presents her character’s grappling with complex themes of identity and original sin with a childlike guilelessness.

2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club:

(Christianity) The state of sinfulness, present in each human from birth, which is a result of Adam's disobedience.


Seventh-day Adventist Church

A Protestant Christian denomination that observes Saturday as the Sabbath


pronoia

pronoia (countable and uncountable, plural pronoiae or pronoiai or pronoias)

pronoiae (plural)
pronoiai (plural)
pronoias (plural)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόνοιᾰ (prónoia, “foreknowledge, foresight; providence; form of land grant”), from πρόνοος (prónoos, “careful, prudent”) + -ῐᾰ (-ia, suffix forming nouns). πρόνοος is derived from προ- (pro-, prefix indicating a coming forth) + νόος (nóos, “the mind; act of the mind”). The English word is cognate with Latin pronoea (“providence”).
The plural form pronoiae is probably a modification of Latin pronoeae, while pronoiai is from Ancient Greek πρόνοιαι (prónoiai).

der

Now Providence (which the Greekes call Pronoia) is an intellectuall knowledge, both fore-ſeeing, caring for, and ordering all things, and doth not onely behold all paſt, all present, and all to come, but is the cauſe of their ſo being, which Preſcience (ſimply taken) is not: and therefore Providence by the Philoſophers (ſaith S. Auguſtine) is divided into Memory, Knowledge, and Care: […]

1614, Walter Raleigh, “Of the Creation, and Preservation of the World”, in The Historie of the World. In Five Bookes. […], London: Printed for Walter Bvrre, →OCLC, § XIII (Of Providence), page 15:

[page 320] 'And make no provision for the flesh.' [Romans 13:14] 'Provision.' [footnote: Προνοια.] The word implies a forecasting of the mind; and the prohibition therefore is against all deliberation or devising of means or expedients for the gratification of our lusts. […] [page 321] He is a confirmed and advanced learner in the school of wickedness, who can thus in his cooler moments bestow care and calculation on such an enterprise, and in short make a study of the likeliest methods for securing to himself te enjoyment of unhallowed pleasures; and this is the pronoia, the unholy providence, if it may be so termed, on which our text lays its interdict. But it is not against all pronoia, all respect to things future, even though the futurities of this life, that the Bible warns us.

1836–1842, Thomas Chalmers, “Lecture XCIV: Romans, xiii, 11–14”, in Lectures on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (The Works of Thomas Chalmers; 25), volume IV, Glasgow: William Collins, […]; London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., →OCLC, pages 320–321:

The development of the Roman State, therefore, a world-process whose magnitude is truly wonderful, was not brought about as though a drifting mass of elements, by some outward force or inherent affinity became consolidated to revolve at random without any end or aim in that divine pronoia under which the ages move.

1869 January, E. E. Higbee, “Art IV.—The Christian Conception of History.”, in T. G. Apple, editor, The Mercersburg Review; an Organ for Christological, Historical and Positive Theology, volume XVI, Philadelphia, Pa.: Reformed Church Publication Board, […], →OCLC, page 101:

The earlier history of the concept of providence is to be seen in the emergence, from Diogenes to Aristotle, of a notion of an intelligent purpose (telos, q.v.) operating in the universe. In all of these thinker it is clearly associated with the intelligent God whose features begin to appear in the later Plato (see Laws 899 where the denial of pronoia is reckoned blasphemy) and in Aristotle. For the Stoics the immanent Logos governs all by nous and pronoia (D.L. vii, 138; SVF i, 176).

1967, F[rancis] E[dward] Peters, “prónoia: forethought, providence”, in Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon, New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, →OCLC, paragraph 1, page 164:

(philosophy, theology) Divine providence, foreknowledge, foresight.

πρόνοια

divine providence, foreknowledge, foresight — see also foreknowledge, providence


novice

From Middle English novice, novys, from Anglo-Norman novice, Middle French novice, itself borrowed from Latin novīcius, later novitius (“new, newly arrived”) (in Late Latin as a noun, masculine novicius, feminine novicia (“one who has newly entered a monastery or a convent”)), from novus (“new”).

Nor had it been difficult to find a Coptic priest who, together with his youthful novice, chanted the seemingly interminable Egyptian service of the dead […]

1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 1137

(religion) A new member of a religious order accepted on a conditional basis, prior to confirmation.


Beltane

From the Celtic *belo-tanos "bright fire".

And quhair it be tainted that they big, and the Birdes be flowin, and the nest be funden in the Trees at Beltane the trees sal be foirfaulted to the King (bot gif they be redeemed fra him, throw them that they first perteined to) and hewin downe, and siue schillings to the King is unlaw.

1424, James I of Scotland, The lawes and actes of parliament maid be King James the first and his successours kinges of Scotland, Edinburgh edition, Robert Waldegrave, published 1597, page A3:

The first day of May (since 1752); May Day, a Scottish quarter day, sometimes associated by Christians with the nearest Church Feast, the Invention of the Cross (3 May), and Whitsunday (15 May).


hellhound

From Middle English helle hound; equivalent to hell + hound.

From forth the kennell of thy wombe hath crept / A Hell-hound that doth hunt vs all to death:

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 195, column 2:

Barricading serves not: fly fast, ye Bodyguards; rabid Insurrection, like the hellhound Chase, uproaring at your heels!

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter X, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book VII (The Insurrection of Women):

(mythology) A demonic dog of hell, typically of unnatural size, strength or speed, with black fur, glowing eyes, and ghostly or phantom characteristics.


Chartreux

Borrowed from French Chartreux. Compare chartreuse.

A member of a breed of large, blue, short-haired domestic cats, originating in France.


Mazda

Transliteration of Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬰𐬛𐬁 (mazdā, “wisdom”).

translit

(Zoroastrianism) Ahura Mazda, the supreme and transcendental god of Zoroastrianism.


teraphim

From ecclesiastical Latin theraphim, from Ancient Greek θεραφίν (theraphín), from Hebrew תְּרָפִים (t'rafím, “household gods”).

uder

And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 18:20:

1658, And … the Statuæ Isiacæ, Teraphims, and little Idols, found about the Mummies, do make a decussation or Jacobs Crosse with their armes — Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus (Folio Society 2007, p. 191)

Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.

2000, World English Bible, Genesis 31:19:

Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with the clothes.

2000, World English Bible, 1 Samuel 19:13

An idol or other image of reverence and divination among the ancient Hebrews; apparently especially a kind of household god.


Roman Catholicism

Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The beliefs or religion of the Roman Catholic Church.

compare also Roman Catholic [adj] § Synonyms and Roman Catholic [noun] § Synonyms


hominization

en-noun

hominization (usually uncountable, plural hominizations)

From Latin homo (“human being”) + -ization.

(theology) The beginning of human life, or of a deity's life in human form.


last trump

From the Bible, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians: "We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52, KJV), referring to the last of seven trumpets to be sounded at the Last Judgement. The term used for the instrument in the original Koine Greek is σάλπιγξ (sálpinx), often translated as “war-trumpet”, but not resembling the modern instrument (see Seven trumpets on Wikipedia).

(Christianity) The moment of God's final judgement on Earth.


Eostre

A learned borrowing from Old English Ēostre, the Northumbrian variant of West Saxon Ēastre (“a word referring to "the rising dawn" to indicate the season of Spring”) and ēastre (“Easter”), from Proto-West Germanic *austrā, from Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ (“Easter, springtime”). Doublet of Easter.

der

(paganism) A neopagan festival celebrated either in March or April to welcome the Spring, also called Ostara or Easter.


Ancestor Night

This is Ancestor Night, the Feast of the Dead, the night strongest for communication with those gone into the shadow lands, those who now dwell over Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard.

1991, D J Conway, Norse Magic, Llewellyn Publications, page 51:

Other names are the Festival of Remembrance, the Feast of Apples, Ancestor Night or the Feast of the Dead.

1999, Gail Duff, The Wheel of the Wiccan Year, page 23:

(Germanic paganism) A festival celebrated by followers of Heathenry in late October or early November and based on the Germanic tradition of ancestor worship.


sakkos

From Byzantine Greek σάκκος (sákkos). Doublet of sac, saccus, sack, and saco.

When in 1411 Emperor John VIII Palaeologos married a daughter of Vasilii II, Grand Prince of Muscovy, he sent Moscow a splendid specimen of the liturgical vestment known as a sakkos as a gift for Metropolitan Photios.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 515:

(Eastern Orthodoxy) A richly decorated vestment worn by Orthodox bishops, instead of a priest's phelonion (chasuble in western church).


Panchen Lama

Tibetan པན་ཆེན་བླ་མ (pan chen bla ma). From Sanskrit पण्डित (paṇḍita, “scholar”) + Tibetan ཆེན་པོ (chen po, “big”) + Tibetan བླ་མ (bla ma).

Hastings sent two embassies to Tibet, those of George Bogle in 1774-5 and Samuel Turner in 1783. Both envoys went to the Panchen Lama’s residence near Shigatse (Jihkatse), but neither visited the Dalai Lama at Lhasa.

1985, Alastair Lamb, “Introduction”, in India and Tibet, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page v:

(Tibetan Buddhism) The second-highest-ranking lama of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, after the Dalai Lama.

Panchen Lama

second-highest ranking lama of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism


Spy Wednesday

From the idea that Judas Iscariot was spying on Jesus before betraying him. The Middle Irish equivalent, Cédaín in Braith ["Wednesday of Betrayal" or "Spy Wednesday"], is attested in the 15th-century Leabhar Breac.

CATHEDRAL. Spy-Wednesday—Evening Office of Tenebrae, at 5½ o'clock.

1844 March 30, “Order of Service in Holy Week.”, in Bengal Catholic Herald, Vol.VI No.13 p.174:

On Spy Wednesday 1916 Thomas McDonagh gave B Company, 2nd Battalion, Irish Volunteers a pep talk.

1974 January 23, Seamus de Burca, "Peadar Kearney (1883–1942)" Dublin Historical Record (Old Dublin Society) Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 42–56 : 49


Holy Wednesday

The Wednesday of Holy Week; the day before Maundy Thursday.


Buddhahood

(Buddhism) The state of being a buddha, or being spiritually enlightened by Buddhist or other teachings.

佛境

state of being enlightened by Buddhist teachings