sacer

Latin

Etymology 1

From Old Latin sacros, sakros, from Proto-Italic *sakros (“sacred”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“to sanctify, to make a treaty”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.ker/, [ˈs̠äkɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.t͡ʃer/, [ˈsäːt͡ʃer]

Adjective

sacer (feminine sacra, neuter sacrum, superlative sacerrimus); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. sacred, holy, dedicated (to a divinity), consecrated, hallowed (translating Greek ἱερός)
   • c. 200 BCE, Plautus, Menaechmi V.5.38:

     at ego te sacram coronam surrupuisse Iovi scio

     And I know that you stole the sacred crown of Jupiter.

2. devoted (to a divinity for sacrifice), fated (to destruction), forfeited, accursed
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid III.56:

     quid non mortalia pectora cogis / auri sacra fames

     Accursed hunger for gold, what do you not compel the hearts of men to do!

3. divine, celestial
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid VIII.591:

     extulit os sacrum caelo tenebrasque resoluit

     lifts to the skies his countenance divine, and melts the shadows of the night away.

   • early 7th c. CE, Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae sive Origines 9.1:

     Tres sunt autem linguae sacrae: Hebraea, Graeca, Latina, quae toto orbe maxime excellunt.

     Three are the sacred languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin, all of which distinguish themselves in the whole world.

4. (only poetic and in post-Augustan prose) execrable, detestable, horrible, infamous; criminal, impious, wicked, abominable, cursed
   • c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Bacchides 4.6.14:

     ego sum malus ego sum sacer scelestus

     I am a bad one, I am a cursed one—a wicked one.

Usage notes

The comparative form *sacrior and its inflected variants are not attested, even though the superlative sacerrimus is attested.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	sacer	sacra	sacrum		sacrī	sacrae	sacra
Genitive	sacrī	sacrae	sacrī		sacrōrum	sacrārum	sacrōrum
Dative	sacrō		sacrō		sacrīs
Accusative	sacrum	sacram	sacrum		sacrōs	sacrās	sacra
Ablative	sacrō	sacrā	sacrō		sacrīs
Vocative	sacer	sacra	sacrum		sacrī	sacrae	sacra

Synonyms

• (accursed): scelestus
• (consecrated, sacred): augustus, sānctus
• (detestable): exsecrābilis, scelestus

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “holy”): dēfānātus

Derived terms

• sacellum
• sacerarbōs
• sacerdōs
• sacrālis
• sacrārium
• sacrārius
• sacricola
• sacrifer
• sacrificō
• sacrilegus
• sacrima
• sacrō
• sacrōsānctus
• sacrum
• sacer vātēs

Related terms

Related terms

• sacerdōtālis
• sacerdōtium
• sacerdōtula
• sacrāmentālis
• sacrāmentum
• sacrātē
• sacrātiō
• sacrātor
• sacrificālis
• sacrificātiō
• sacrificātor
• sacrificātus
• sacrificiolus
• sacrificium
• sacrificulus
• sacrificus
• sacrilegē
• sacrilegium
• sanciō

Descendants

• Galician: sagro
• Italian: sacro, sagro
  • → Romanian: sacru
• Sicilian: sagru, sacru
  • → Maltese: sagru
• → Asturian: sacru
• → Catalan: sacre
• → Galician: sacro
• → Portuguese: sacro
• → Romanian: sacru
• → Spanish: sacro

Etymology 2

From Proto-Italic *sākris (“sacrificial, sacred”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“to sanctify, to make a treaty”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsaː.ker/, [ˈs̠äːkɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.t͡ʃer/, [ˈsäːt͡ʃer]

Generally cited with a long vowel by etymological sources. Per Nishimura (2014), citing Timpanaro (1965), the only evidence of the long vowel in the first syllable is the scansion in Plautus's Rudens (below). Syllables containing short vowels before a plosive-liquid cluster such as /kr/ are not usually treated as heavy in Plautine poetry.

Adjective

sācer (feminine sācris, neuter sācre); third-declension three-termination adjective

1. sacred, holy, suitable to be sacrificed (found especially as an adjective applying to the noun porcus)
   • c. 200 BCE, Plautus, Menaechmi 290:

     responde mihi / adulescens: quibus hic pretiis porci veneunt / sacres sinceri?

   • c. 211 BCE, Plautus, Rudens 1208:

     sunt domi agni et porci sacres.

Declension

Third-declension three-termination adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	sācer	sācris	sācre		sācrēs		sācria
Genitive	sācris				sācrium
Dative	sācrī				sācribus
Accusative	sācrem		sācre		sācrēs		sācria
Ablative	sācrī				sācribus
Vocative	sācer	sācris	sācre		sācrēs		sācria

Further reading

• “sacer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sacer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sacer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) ritual; ceremonial: sacra, res divinae, religiones, caerimoniae
    
  • (ambiguous) to sacrifice: sacra, sacrificium facere (ἱερὰ ῥέζειν), sacrificare
    
  • (ambiguous) to profane sacred rites: sacra polluere et violare
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 532