"to cut off by an ecclesiastical sentence either from the sacraments of the church or from all fellowship and intercourse with its members," early 15c., from Late Latin excommunicatus, past participle of excommunicare "put out of the community," in Church Latin "to expel from communion," from ex "out" (see ex-) + communicare "to share, communicate," related to communis "common" (see common (adj.)). Related: Excommunicated; excommunicating.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to change, go, move," "with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services within a society as regulated by custom or law" [Watkins].
It forms all or part of: amiss; amoeba; azimuth; common; commune; communicate; communication; communism; commute; congee; demean; emigrate; emigration; excommunicate; excommunication; immune; immutable; incommunicado; mad; mean (adj.1) "low-quality;" mew (n.2) "cage;" mews; migrate; migration; mis- (1) "bad, wrong;" mistake; Mithras; molt; Mstislav; municipal; munificent; mutable; mutant; mutate; mutation; mutatis mutandis; mutual; permeable; permeate; permutation; permute; remunerate; remuneration; transmutation; transmute; zenith.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit methati "changes, alternates, joins, meets;" Avestan mitho "perverted, false;" Hittite mutai- "be changed into;" Latin mutare "to change," meare "to go, pass," migrare "to move from one place to another," mutuus "done in exchange;" Old Church Slavonic mite "alternately;" Czech mijim "to go by, pass by," Polish mijać "avoid;" Gothic maidjan "to change."
c. 1300, enterditen, "to place under ban of the Church, excommunicate," from Old French entredit (Modern French interdit), past participle of entredire "forbid by decree, excommunicate," from Latin interdicere "interpose by speech, prohibit, forbid," from inter "between" (see inter-) + dicere "to speak, to say" (from PIE root *deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"). General sense "forbid, prohibit" in English is from early 15c. Related: Interdicted; interdicting; interdictory.
"to pronounce an anathema against, denounce, curse," 1560s, from French anathématiser (Old French anatemer), from Late Latin anathematizare, from Ecclesiastical Greek anathematizein "to devote (to evil); excommunicate," from stem of anathema (q.v.). Alternative anathemize (1670s) is less correct and more rare. Related: Anathematized; anathematizing.
Middle English cursen, from Old English cursian, "to wish evil to; to excommunicate," from the source of curse (n.). Intransitive meaning "swear profanely, use blasphemous or profane language" is from early 13c. (compare swear (v.)). The sense of "blight with malignant evils" is from 1590s. Related: Cursed; cursing.
also accurst, early 13c., acursede "being under a curse," past-participle adjective from obsolete verb acursen "pronounce a curse upon, excommunicate" (late 12c.), from a- intensive prefix (see a- (1)) + cursein "to curse" (see curse (v.)). The unetymological -c- is 15c., a mistaken Latinism in imitation of words in acc-. The weakened sense of "worthy of a curse, damnable" is from 1590s. Related: Accursedly; accursedness.
late 14c., sequestren, transitive, "remove (something), set aside; quarantine, isolate (someone); excommunicate;" also intransitive, "separate oneself from," from Old French sequestrer (14c.) and directly from Late Latin sequestrare "to place in safekeeping," from Latin sequester "trustee, mediator," noun use of an adjective meaning "intermediate," which probably is related to sequi "to follow" (from PIE root *sekw- (1) "to follow").
The legal meaning "seize by authority, confiscate" is attested from 1510s. The alternative verb sequestrate is early 15c. (Chauliac), from the Latin past participle sequestratus. Related: Sequestered; sequestering.
