Christianity
(krɪstɪˈænɪtɪ)
Forms: α. 4 cristiente, 4–5 -iante, -yante, 4–6 crystyente, -yante, 5 cristiantee, 6 christiantie. β. 4–5 cristente (-ante), 5–6 crystente, 6 christente, -tie, -tee, -tye, (7 christinty, 9 arch. -entie, -ty). γ. 4–5 crystyanyte, 4–6 cristianite, 5 -yanite, 6 christianite, 6–7 -itie, 6– -ity.
[Represents (originally through OF. crestienté), L. chrīstiānitāt-em, noun of state f. chrīstiān-us Christian; having taken the place in whole or part of the native formations ME. cristenhode and cristendom. Apart from the merely graphic refashioning of cr- as chr- at the Renascence, the word has had three types, cristienté the most French, cristentie the most English, and christianity the most Latinized, which might fairly be treated as distinct words, except that, being connected by intermediate links, their relations are more clearly shown by considering them together. The type cristienté was a direct adoption of Anglo-Fr. cristienté, OF. crestienté: see Christian. By further assimilation to the English cristen, cristendom, etc. (aided probably by the phonetic obscurity of the -ien-), arose cristenté, which was the most frequent ME. type. After 1500 both types were spelt with ch-. Already in the 14th c., familiarity with the Latin form as a word of the clergy, led to the occasional use of the 5-syllabic cristianite. With the Renascence this became christianite, -itie, -ity, which in the course of the 16th c. entirely supplanted the two earlier forms, though christentie lingered dialectally, and appears as christendie in Burns. Christianity and Christendom were originally synonyms, but are now differentiated.]
† 1. The whole body of Christians, the Christian part of the world, Christendom. Obs.
(α) cristiente, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor H. 2126 Rome.. þat now es ouer all cristiante. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 192 Ne no þing suld it greue vnto þe Cristiente. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 890 There ys no man in Crystyante, More welcome. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. 71 Thurgh out al Crystyente. 15.. Elderton K. of Scotts & A. Browne in Percy Reliq. (1823) III. 36 I will not be a traitour for all Christiantie. |
(
β)
cristentie, etc.
| c 1320 Sir Beues 2690 Schel hit neuer aslawe be For noman in cristente. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3925 Alle þe men of cristante. 1474 Caxton Chesse 58 Other parties of cristente. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys 212 Rome the hede and chefe of Christentye. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 34 His lande is twyes as grete as all Crystente and Turkey. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 105 a, Saide of some publique officers of Christentee. c 1650 R. Hood & Q. Katherine 48 in Percy Folio I. 39 Shee wold not misse your companie for all the gold in cristinty. [1875 Veitch Tweed 84 The feudal claims of all the Kings In Christenty.] |
(
γ)
Christianity (
cristianite, etc.).
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne (MS. c 1375) 11237 Seynt Iame stable[de] hyt for to be A sacrament þurge crystyanyte [altered from Crystiente]. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 446 To Walys fledde the Cristyanytee [v.r. 2 cristianite, 2 cristianyte(e, Cristiante, cristeante] Of olde Britons, dwellynge in this Ile. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 170 Comprehendyng..in our prayer all the chirche of christianite. 1549 Compl. Scot. Ep. Q. Mary 6 To compel al cristianite tyl adhere to ther peruerst opinione. a 1628 F. Greville Poems, Humane Learn. lxxxiv, To make one Church of Christianitie. 1631 Heylin St. George 349 The Guardian of the distressed affaires of Christianitie. |
2. The religion of Christ; the Christian faith; the system of doctrines and precepts taught by Christ and his apostles.
| α 1303 [see γ below]. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) i. iii. 36 To be baptysed and to lyue from youth in crystyente. |
| β 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. vi. 32 Yf ne were theyre..good prechynge and techyng, Cristente shold be exyled by errour. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 108 Bethleem betokeneth the Christentie, which in the eies of the world is little and vile, but in the eies of God is great and precious. 1821 J. Baillie Met. Leg. lviii, Had, in cause of Christentie, Fought with bold Saracens. |
| γ 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne (MS. c 1375) 11706 Yn þe begynnyng of crystyanyte [altered from crystyente] Þe apostoles wente aboute to preche. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 189 All y{supt} we byleue expresly and distinctly in Christianite. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. vi. ¶22 Christianitie doeth not consist in lowde and shrill crying, Lord, Lord. 1601 H. Timberley in Purchas Pilgrimes ix. xvii, Hee maruelled that I should so much erre from Christianitie. 1611 Bible Pref. The professours and teachers of Christianitie. 1773 Burke Sp. Relief of Dissen. Wks. (1826) X. 25 I am persuaded that toleration, so far from being an attack upon Christianity, becomes the best and surest support to it. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. Pref. The great sphere of Latin Christianity was Western Europe. |
b. with
pl. A Christian religious system.
| 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. iii. What make ye of your Christianities, and Chivalries, and Reformations? 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Swedenborg Wks. (Bohn) I. 330 The moral sentiment, which carries innumerable christianities, humanities, divinities in its bosom. 1874 Pusey Lent. Serm. 57 There are afloat hundreds of Christianities. |
3. State or fact of being a Christian; Christian condition or quality; Christian spirit or character.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne (MS. c 1375) 232 Men clepyn hym god of cristianite; For ȝyf he wyl hym mercy craue, Redyly mercy shal he haue. 1588 J. Udall Demonstr. Discip. (Arb.) 34 Concerning his state of Christianitie, and abilitie to that place where to he is to be called. c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson 25 The head and spring of them all [his virtues] his Christianity. 1833 Cruse Eusebius viii. xiii. 376 A venerable example of genuine Christianity. 1886 Illust. Lond. News 27 Feb. 202/3 Englishmen whose Christianity consists in going to Chruch once upon a Sunday. |
† b. upon my Christianity! = as I am a Christian: a form of asseveration. (
Cf. Christendom 1 b,
halidom, etc.)
Obs.| 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. viii. (1821) 332 Upon my Christianity, I doe acknowledge him to haue deserved more. |
† 4. Eccl. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as in
Court of Christianity = Court
Christian; hence
spec. applied to ruridecanal chapters, and ruridecanal jurisdictions; whence
Dean of Christianity,
orig. = Rural Dean; now retained in the title of particular rural deaneries, or
Deaneries of Christianity, comprising the parishes of certain cities or towns, as Exeter, Lincoln,
Leicester.| [c 1100 Eadmer Hist. vi. (ed. Selden, 1623, 208) Omnem auctoritatem exercendæ christianitatis illi adimere cupiebat.] 1587 Fleming Cont. Holinshed III. 1009/2 In this citie [Exeter] in the yeare 1222..the parish churches were limited, and increased to the number of nineteene churches within the citie and suburbs, and were called by the name of the christianitie euen to this daie. 1695 Kennett Paroch. Antiq. Gloss. Christianitatis Curia, Courts of Christianity were not only held by the Bishops in Synods, and the Archdeacons and Chancellors in Consistories. But they were also the Rural Chapters, where the Rural Dean or Dean of Christianity presided, and the Clergy were Assessors. 1786 J. Bacon Liber Regis 411 D[eanery] Christianity, in the Archdeaconry of Lincoln. [Includes all the parishes in the City of Lincoln.] 1835 W. Dansey Horæ Decan. Rur. II. 41 Our ruridecanal conventions..were acknowledged..as rural courts of Christianity. Ibid. ii. 54 Extensive duties of arbitration and pacification are charged on the deans of Christianity..of the diocese of Ypres. 1878 Clergy List 413 Diocese of Peterborough, Archdeaconry of Leicester, Deanery of Christianity, or Leicester. |