sacrifice (Middle English)

Where does "sacrifice" come from?

The English word 'sacrifice' entered the language via Old French 'sacrifise' or 'sacrifice'[1], which was borrowed from the Latin noun 'sacrificium'[2]. This Latin term was formed by combining 'sacrum', meaning 'religious act' or 'sacred'[3][4], with the verb 'faciō', meaning 'to do' or 'to make'[3]. Ultimately, these roots trace back to deeper ancestral origins: 'sacrum' stems from the Proto-Italic 'sakros' and the Proto-Indo-European root 'seh₂k-', meaning 'to sanctify'[7], while 'faciō' derives from the Proto-Indo-European root 'dʰeh₁-', meaning 'to put' or 'to place'[5][6].

Open questions

The derivation of 'sacer' from the Proto-Italic 'sakros' remains a reconstructed linguistic link. [7]
The connection of 'faciō' to the Proto-Indo-European root 'dʰeh₁-' involves multiple reconstructed intermediate forms in Proto-Italic. [5] [6]

Full etymology tree

sacrifice (Middle English), 'a sacrifice:'
- borrowed sacrifise (Old French), 'sacrifice (act of sacrificing)'
  - borrowed sacrificium (Latin), 'Something made sacred or given to a deity, sacrifice.'
    - compound sacrum (Latin), 'A holy or sacred object, e.g. statue, image, emblem, vessel, utensil.'
      - inherited sacros (Latin), 'accusative masculine plural of sacer'
        inherited *sakros (Proto-Italic), 'sacred'
        inherited *seh₂k- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to make a pact, treaty'
    - compound facio (Latin), 'to do (particularly as a specific instance or occasion of doing)'
      - inherited *fakjō (Proto-Italic), 'to make'
        derived *dʰh₁k-yé-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
        derived *dʰeh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to do'

Ancestors

sacrifise (Old French)

Descendants and derived words

sacrifice (English)
sacrifice (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris