sacrilege

See also: sacrilège

English

Alternative forms

• sacriledge (obsolete)

Etymology

Circa 1300, original sense “stealing something sacred”. From Middle English sacrilege, from Old French sacrilege, from Latin sacrilegium, from sacrilegus (“sacrilegious”), from phrase sacrum legere, from sacrum (from sacer (“sacred, holy”)) + legō (“gather; take, steal”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- and *leǵ-. Sense of “profanation” from late 14th century.

Unrelated to religion, which is ultimately from ligō (“I tie, bind, or bandage”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- (“to bind”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsækɹɪlɪd͡ʒ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsækɹəlɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sac‧ri‧lege

Noun

sacrilege (usually uncountable, plural sacrileges)

1. Desecration, profanation, misuse or violation of something regarded as sacred.
   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, pages 703-704:

     I recall the height of comfort attained by the green-cushioned "first" with starched white antimacassars and a pretentious grey floor mat on which it seemed a sacrilege to stand, as it was embellished with the North Western conception of Britannia, complete with trident.

Derived terms

• sacrilegious

Translations

desecration, profanation, misuse or violation of something sacred

• Arabic: تَدْنِيس m (tadnīs), تَرْجِيس m (tarjīs)
• Armenian: սրբապղծություն (hy) (srbapġcutʻyun)
• Asturian: sacrilexu m
• Belarusian: святата́цтва n (svjatatáctva), блюзне́рства n (bljuznjérstva), блюзьне́рства n (bljuzʹnjérstva) (Taraškievica)
• Bulgarian: кощу́нство (bg) n (koštúnstvo), светота́тство (bg) n (svetotátstvo)
• Catalan: sacrilegi m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冒瀆／冒渎 (zh) (màodú)

• Czech: svatokrádež (cs) m
• Danish: helligbrøde c
• Dutch: heiligschennis (nl)
• Esperanto: sakrilegio
• Estonian: pühaduseteotus
• Finnish: pyhäinhäväistys
• French: sacrilège (fr) m
• Galician: sacrilexio m
• German: Sakrileg (de) n
• Greek: ιεροσυλία (el) f (ierosylía)

  Ancient: ἱεροσυλία f (hierosulía)

• Hungarian: szentségtörés (hu)
• Ido: sakrilejo (io)
• Indonesian: sakrilegi (id)
• Italian: sacrilegio (it) m
• Japanese: 冒涜 (ja) (ぼうとく, bōtoku)
• Kazakh: ардақты нәрсені қорлаушылық (ardaqty närsenı qorlauşylyq), ерекше қадірлі нәрсені қорлаушылық (erekşe qadırlı närsenı qorlauşylyq), қасиетті нәрсені масқаралаушылық (qasiettı närsenı masqaralauşylyq)
• Korean: 모독 (ko) (modok)
• Latin: sacrilegium n
• Macedonian: сквернавење (skvernavenje)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: helligbrød n

• Occitan: sacrilègi (oc) m
• Polish: blasfemia (pl) f, bluźnierstwo (pl) n, profanacja (pl) f, świętokradztwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: sacrilégio (pt) m
• Romanian: sacrilegiu (ro) n
• Russian: кощу́нство (ru) n (koščúnstvo), святота́тство (ru) n (svjatotátstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: светогрђе n

  Roman: svetogrđe (sh) n

• Slovak: svätokrádež m
• Slovene: svetoskrunstvo n, bogokletstvo (sl) n
• Spanish: sacrilegio (es) m
• Swedish: helgerån (sv) n, skändlighet (sv) c, hädelse (sv) c
• Ukrainian: святота́тство n (svjatotátstvo), блюзнірство (uk) n (bljuznirstvo)

Anagrams

• Gilcrease

Latin

Etymology

From sacrilegus (“sacrilegious”) +‎ -ē (adverbial suffix).

Adverb

sacrilegē (not comparable)

1. sacrilegiously, impiously

Synonyms

• (impiously): irreligiōsē, nefāriē

Related terms

Related terms

• sacer
• sacerdōs
• sacerdōtālis
• sacerdōtium
• sacerdōtula
• sacrāmentālis
• sacrāmentum
• sacrārium
• sacrārius
• sacrātē
• sacrātiō
• sacrātor
• sacricola
• sacrifer
• sacrificālis
• sacrificātiō
• sacrificātor
• sacrificātus
• sacrificiolus
• sacrificium
• sacrificō
• sacrificulus
• sacrificus
• sacrilegium
• sacrilegus
• sacrō
• sacrōsanctus
• sacrum

References

• “sacrilege”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sacrilege”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]

Old French

Etymology

First attested at the end of the 12th century, borrowed from Latin sacrilegium.

Noun

sacrilege oblique singular, m (oblique plural sacrileges, nominative singular sacrileges, nominative plural sacrilege)

1. sacrilege

Descendants

• English: sacrilege
• French: sacrilège

Romanian

Adjective

sacrilege m or f or n (masculine plural sacrilegi, feminine and neuter plural sacrilege)

1. Obsolete form of sacrileg.

Declension

Declension of sacrilege

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	sacrilege		sacrilege	sacrilegi	sacrilege
	definite	sacrilegele		sacrilegea	sacrilegii	sacrilegele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	sacrilege		sacrilege	sacrilegi	sacrilege
	definite	sacrilegelui		sacrilegei	sacrilegilor	sacrilegelor

References

• sacrilege in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN