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Origin and history of sacrifice

sacrifice(n.)

late 13c., "the offering of something (especially a life) to a deity as an act of propitiation, homage, etc.;" mid-14c., "that which is offered (to a deity) in sacrifice," from Old French sacrifise "sacrifice, offering" (12c.), from Latin sacrificium, from sacrificus "performing priestly functions or sacrifices," etymologically "a making sacred," from sacra "sacred rites" (properly neuter plural of sacer "sacred;" see sacred) + combining form of facere "to make, to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").

Originally especially of Christ's propitiatory offering of himself for the world. Latin sacrificium is glossed in Old English by ansegdniss. The general sense of "act of giving up a desirable thing for a higher object or to a more pressing claim," also "something given up for the sake of another" is recorded from 1590s. Baseball sense of "hit made by the batter not to get himself to base but to enable another player to advance" is by 1880.

also from late 13c.

sacrifice(v.)

c. 1300, "to offer (something, to a deity) as an expression of thanks, devotion, penitence, etc., from sacrifice (n.). The meaning "surrender, give up, suffer to be lost for the sake of something else" is from 1706. The intransitive sense of "offer a sacrifice, make offerings to a deity" is from late 13c. Related: Sacrificed; sacrificing.

It has driven out sacrify "offer a sacrifice to a deity, perform sacrificial rites" (Middle English sacrifien, c. 1300), from Old French sacrefier, sacrifier. Ruskin, meeting sacrify in Philip Sidney, called this form "the right one, and to be restored to pure English, as we say magnify, glorify, and not magnifice, glorifice."

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to sacrifice

sacred(adj.)

late 14c., "hallowed, consecrated, or made holy by association with divinity or divine things or by religious ceremony or sanction," past-participle adjective from a now-obsolete verb sacren "to make holy" (c. 1200), from Old French sacrer "consecrate, anoint, dedicate" (12c.) or directly from Latin sacrare "to make sacred, consecrate; hold sacred; immortalize; set apart, dedicate," from sacer (genitive sacri) "sacred, dedicated, holy, accursed." OED (1989) writes that, in sacred, "the original ppl. notion (as pronunciation indicates) disappeared from the use of the word, which is now nearly synonymous with L. sacer."

This is from Old Latin saceres, from PIE root *sak- "to sanctify." Buck groups it with Oscan sakrim, Umbrian sacra and calls it "a distinctive Italic group, without any clear outside connections." De Vaan has it from a PIE root *shnk- "to make sacred, sanctify," and finds cognates in Hittite šaklai "custom, rites," zankila "to fine, punish." Related: Sacredness.

The Latin nasalized form is sancire "make sacred, confirm, ratify, ordain" (as in saint, sanction). An Old English word for "sacred" was godcund.

The meaning "of or pertaining to religion or divine things" (opposed to secular or profane) is by c. 1600. The transferred sense of "entitled to respect or reverence" is from 1550s.

Sacred cow as an object of Hindu veneration is by 1793; its figurative sense of "one who or that which must not be criticized" is in use by 1910 in U.S. journalism, reflecting Western views of Hinduism. Sacred Heart "the heart of Jesus as an object of religious veneration" is by 1823, short for Sacred Heart of Jesus or Mary.

sacrificant(n.)

"one who offers a sacrifice," 1660s, from Latin sacrificantem (nominative sacrificans), from Late Latin sacrificium (see sacrifice (n.)). Other agent nouns in English were sacrificer (16c.), sacrificator (16c., from the classical Latin agent noun), sacrificulist (17c.).