Editing Anathema (section)

== Etymology ==
[[File:Villa di agnano, lapide gregorio XI.JPG|thumb|Anathema (in the sense of a curse) attributed to [[Pope Gregory XI]]]]
Anathema derives from [[Ancient Greek]]: {{lang|grc|ἀνάθεμα}},<ref name=Tufts>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da%29na%2Fqema|website=A Greek-English Lexicon|title=ἀνάθεμα|author1= Liddell, Henry George|author2=Robert, Scott|access-date=January 9, 2017}}</ref> {{Transliteration|grc|anáthema}}, meaning "an offering" or "anything dedicated",<ref name=Webster/> itself derived from the verb {{lang|grc|ἀνατίθημι}}, {{transliteration|grc|anatíthēmi}}, meaning "to offer up". In the Old Testament, חֵרֶם (''[[Herem (censure)|chērem]]'') referred to both objects consecrated to divine use and those dedicated to destruction in the Lord's name, such as enemies and their weapons during religious wars. Since weapons of the enemy were considered unholy, the meaning became "anything dedicated to evil" or "a curse".

In New Testament usage a different meaning developed. [[St. Paul]] used the word anathema to signify a curse and the forced expulsion of one from the community of Christians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/anathema|title = Anathema &#124; religion &#124; Britannica}}</ref> By the 6th century, the liturgical meaning evolved again to mean a formal ecclesiastical curse of excommunication and the condemnation of heretical doctrines, the severest form of separation from the Christian church issued against a heretic or group of heretics by a Pope or other church official.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name=Webster/> The phrase {{langx|la|anathema sit}} ("let him be anathema"), echoing Galatians 1:8–9,<ref>{{bibleverse|Galatians|1:8–9}}</ref> was thus used in decrees of councils defining Christian faith.<ref>[https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=31797 John A. Hardon, ''Modern Catholic Dictionary'']</ref>

Examples include:
*"It's no wonder then, that Paul calls down God's curse, God's anathema, His ban on those behind their potential defection from Christ."<ref name=Oxford/>
*"He shrank from the venerable saint as if to avoid an anathema."<ref name=Oxford/>
*"In 1054, an anathema was issued by Rome against the Eastern Patriarch who then issued another one against the cardinal who delivered it."<ref name=Britannica/>

[[File:Soliloquies OE - Anathema (British Library Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, folio 5r).jpg|thumb|A mention of anathema in the ''Southwick Codex'', a medieval text in [[Old English]]]]
In 1526, the word ''anathema'' appeared in modern English for the first time and was used in the sense of "something accursed". The "consecrated object" meaning was also adopted a short time later, but is no longer widely used.<ref name=Webster/> Its most common modern usage is in secular contexts<ref name=Grammarist/> where it is used to mean something or someone that is detested or shunned.<ref name=Oxford/>

Examples include:
*"Racial hatred was anathema to her."<ref name=Oxford/>
*"The idea that one would voluntarily inject poison into one's body was anathema to me."<ref name=Oxford/>
*"This notion was anathema to most of his countrymen."<ref name=Webster/>