hagio | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

6 entries found.

"branch of literature consisting of saints' lives and legends," 1807, from hagio- "holy" + -ology. Related: Hagiologist (1805).

hagiolatry (n.)

"worship of saints," 1798, from hagio- + -latry "worship of." Related: Hagiolatrous.

hagiography (n.)

"sacred writing," especially of saints' lives, 1821, from hagio- "holy" + -graphy. Related: Hagiographic (1809); hagiographical (1580s); hagiographer (1650s).

hagiarchy (n.)

"government by persons in holy orders," 1826 (Southey, "Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae"); see hagio- "holy" + -archy "rule." Not to be confused with hagiocracy "government by persons considered holy" (1816), with -cracy.

hagio-

before vowels hagi-, word-forming element meaning "of a saint, saintly, holy," from Greek hagios "sacred, devoted to the gods" (of things), "holy, pure" (of persons), in Ecclesiastical Greek, "a saint," which is perhaps from PIE *yag- "to worship, reverence" (source also of Greek agnos "chaste," Sanskrit yajati "reveres (a god) with sacrifices, worships," Old Persian ayadana "temple").

jejune (adj.)

1610s, "dull in the mind, flat, insipid, wanting in interest," from Latin ieiunus "empty, dry, barren," literally "fasting, hungry," a word of obscure origin. De Vaan finds it to be from a PIE root meaning "to worship, reverence," hence "to sacrifice" (with cognates including Sanskrit yajati "to honor, worship, sacrifice," Avestan yaza- "to worship," Greek agios, agnos "holy;" see hagio-), and writes that the Latin word and its relatives "would be based on the habit to perform the first sacrifice of the day on an empty stomach." Related: jejunal; jejunally.

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