religio

Meaning

Concepts

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Extra tools

(declension-3) scrupulousness, conscientious exactness
(declension-3) piety, religious scruple, religious awe, superstition, strict religious observance
(declension-3) scruples, conscientiousness
(declension-3) religious obligation, sacred obligation
(declension-3) sanctity
(declension-3) an object of worship, holy thing, holy place

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

[rɛˈlɪ.ɡi.oː]

Attested in classical Latin (1st century BCE); perhaps from the unattested verb *religō (“to observe, to venerate”) + -io, which could go back (via Proto-Italic *legō (“to care”)) to Proto-Indo-European *h₂leg-. Frequently used by Cicero, who alternatively linked the word with relegō. Afterwards, the word was linked (mainly by Christian authors) to religō and obligātiō. De Vaan (2008:341), too, tentatively suggests a connection to ligō (“to bind”).