heathenism

noun

Etymology

From heathen + -ism, coined in the 17th century in place of the then-obsolete heathendom. First attested in Francis Bacon's Of the advancement of learning (1605), II. xiv. §9: "The heresy of the Anthropomorphites … and the opinion of Epicurus, answerable to the same in heathenism, who supposed the gods to be in human shape" (OED).

  1. inherited from *haiþīnaz — “heathen, pagan
  2. inherited from *haiþin
  3. inherited from hǣþen
  4. inherited from hethen
  5. formed as heathenism — “heathen + -ism

Definitions

  1. The state of being, or behavior and thought, of heathens.

    • Near-synonym: paganism
    • Meanwhile the Christian Church from these speculations has kept itself severely apart - as of course representing a unique and divine revelation little concerned or interested in such heathenisms[.]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at heathenism. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01heathenism02thought03taste04consists05consist06lineup07newcomers08newcomer09neophyte

A definitional loop anchored at heathenism. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at heathenism

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA