pagan, n. and a.
(ˈpeɪgən)
Forms: 4 paygane, 5 pagayne, 5–6 pagane, 5– pagan.
[ad. L. pāgān-us, orig. ‘villager, rustic; civilian, non-militant’, opposed to mīlēs ‘soldier, one of the army’, in Christian L. (Tertullian, Augustine) ‘heathen’ as opposed to Christian or Jewish. The Christians called themselves mīlitēs ‘enrolled soldiers’ of Christ, members of his militant church, and applied to non-Christians the term applied by soldiers to all who were ‘not enrolled in the army’. Cf. Tertullian De Corona Militis xi, ‘Apud hunc [Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles infidelis’. See also Gibbon xxi. note.
Cf. payen.
The explanation of L. pāgānus in the sense ‘non-Christian, heathen’, as arising out of that of ‘villager, rustic’, (supposedly indicating the fact that the ancient idolatry lingered on in the rural villages and hamlets after Christianity had been generally accepted in the towns and cities of the Roman Empire: see Trench Study of Words 102, and cf. Orosius i Præf. ‘Ex locorum agrestium compitis et pagis pagani vocantur’) has been shown to be chronologically and historically untenable, for this use of the word goes back to Tertullian c 202, when paganism was still the public and dominant religion, and even appears, according to Lanciani, in an epitaph of the 2nd cent.]
A. n.
1. One of a nation or community which does not hold the true religion, or does not worship the true God; a heathen. († In earlier use practically = non-Christian, and so including Muslims and, sometimes, Jews.)
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints viii. (Philepus) 6 Payganis, þat war dwelland þare. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 281 The goddes, that paganes do worshippe, were men some tyme. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 8 The hard hertis, and untrewe treuth of the pagans. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 95 Streaming the Ensigne of the Christian Crosse, Against black Pagans, Turkes, and Saracens. 1596 ― Merch. V. ii. iii. 11 Adue,..most beautifull Pagan, most sweete Iew. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 69 The emperor Julian..was perverted from Christianity, and confirmed a pagan, by Maximus a Magician. 1805 Southey Metr. T., Yng. Dragon i. i, Pithyrian was a Pagan, An easy-hearted man, And Pagan sure he thought to end As Pagan he began. 1846 Wright Ess. Mid. Ages I. iii. 99 The later Saxons, after the crusade, used the word ‘Saracen’ in the sense of ‘pagan’, and..applied it to the pagans of the north. |
2. fig. or allusively. A person of heathenish character or habits, or one who holds a position analogous to that of a heathen in relation to Christian society.
| 1841 Emerson Lect., Man Reformer Wks. (Bohn) II. 247 Love would put a new face on this weary old world in which we dwell as pagans and enemies too long. 1877 Black Green Past. xv. (1878) 122 ‘But what are his politics?’ said the Lady Sylvia to this political pagan. 1879 ― Macleod of D. xv, That bloodless old Pagan, her father. |
† b. spec. A paramour, prostitute. Obs.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV ii. ii. 168 What Pagan may that be? 1632 Massinger City Madam ii. i, In all these places I have had my several pagans billeted For my own tooth. |
3. Comb., as pagan-like adj.
| 1608 H. Clapham Errour Left Hand 34 The formes of them be Pagan-like. 1668 H. More Div. Dial. iv. xxxv. (1713) 387 A wicked Apostacy into Pagan-like Superstitions. |
B. adj.
1. a. Not belonging to a nation or community that acknowledges the true God; worshipping idols; heathen.
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xliv. i, Thy hand the Pagan foe Rooting hence,..Leaveless made that braunch to growe. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 200 The women here [Sumatra] (not differing from all other parts of the Pagan World) are much vnchast. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 93 The antient and christian inhabitants..retired to those natural intrenchments, for protection from their pagan visitants. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vi. 201 The ideal, cheerful, sensuous, pagan life. 1894 J. T. Fowler Adamnan Introd. 39 The first Christian architecture was..a continuation of the pagan work. |
b. Nature-worshipping, pantheistic.
| 1908 E. F. Benson Climber vi. 107 She had read the account of the projected fair to them all two days before; it was a sort of pagan harvest festival, full of folk-lore, and was tremendously picturesque. 1953 L. Wilkinson Seven Friends 115 In all three brothers humour is rich and deep, as is love of Nature: but Llewelyn, more than John, much more than Theodore, found joy—a Pagan joy—in all his sensibilities and responses. 1973 R. Williams Country & City xxii. 270 The spiritual feeling for the land and for labour, the ‘pagan’ emphasis which is always latent in the imagery of the earth. 1987 Church Times 6 Nov. 12/4 Water—pond, river, or well—has a deep pagan appeal. |
2. fig. Of heathen character, heathenish.
| 1550 W. Lynne Carion's Cron. 279 To the pagane Papistes, arrogant Anabaptistes, licenciouse lybertines. 1606 Chapman Monsieur D'Olive Plays 1873 I. 215 Said t'was a pagan plant, a prophane weede And a most sinful smoke [i.e. tobacco]. a 1704 T. Brown Sat. Marriage Wks. 1730 I. 58 This pagan confinement..Suits no order, nor age, nor degree. |