Kilo Lingo

#719 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

oath, solemn pledge; sacrament

Examples

.

The soldiers swore the oath.

.

They were bound by their oath.

.

The sacraments of the church are seven.

.

The sacrament of faith is a great thing.

datur.

Grace is given in the sacraments.

Sacramentum, sacramenti is second declension neuter, from sacro, "to consecrate": literally a thing made sacred. It has had two entirely separate careers.

In Republican Latin it was first the money each party staked in a lawsuit, deposited in a temple and forfeited by the loser, and then the military oath of allegiance. Sacramentum dicere is to be sworn in, sacramento tenebantur is "they were bound by their oath", and neither has anything to do with religion in the modern sense. Then the early Church used it to translate Greek mysterion, and the theological meaning grew until it swallowed the old one. So in Caesar or Livy sacramentum is an oath and reading it as a sacrament is a plain anachronism; in this corpus, which is largely ecclesiastical, the reverse mistake is the likelier one.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Latin · Free printables

sacramentum: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "sacramentum" (oath, solemn pledge; sacrament): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 15.