hierophant (n.)

"expounder of sacred mysteries," 1670s, from Late Latin hierophantes, from Greek hierophantes "one who teaches the rites of sacrifice and worship," literally "one who shows sacred things," from hieros "sacred," from PIE root *eis-, forming words denoting passion (see ire) + phainein "to reveal, bring to light" (from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine"). In modern use, "expounder of esoteric doctrines," from 1822.

also from 1670s

Entries linking to hierophant

ire (n.)

c. 1300, from Old French ire "anger, wrath, violence" (11c.), from Latin ira "anger, wrath, rage, passion," from PIE root *eis- (1), forming various words denoting passion (source also of Greek hieros "filled with the divine, holy," oistros "gadfly," originally "thing causing madness;" Sanskrit esati "drives on," yasati "boils;" Avestan aesma "anger;" Lithuanian aistra "violent passion").

Old English irre in a similar sense is unrelated; it is from an adjective irre "wandering, straying, angry," which is cognate with Old Saxon irri "angry," Old High German irri "wandering, deranged," also "angry;" Gothic airzeis "astray," and Latin errare "wander, go astray, angry" (see err (v.)).

hierophantic (adj.)

1775, from Latinized form of Greek hierophantikos "pertaining to a hierophant," from hierophantes "expounder of sacred mysteries" (see hierophant).

*bha- (1)

*bhā-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to shine."

It forms all or part of: aphotic; bandolier; banner; banneret; beacon; beckon; buoy; diaphanous; emphasis; epiphany; fantasia; fantasy; hierophant; pant (v.); -phane; phanero-; phantasm; phantasmagoria; phantom; phase; phene; phenetic; pheno-; phenology; phenomenon; phenyl; photic; photo-; photocopy; photogenic; photograph; photon; photosynthesis; phosphorus; phaeton; sycophant; theophany; tiffany; tryptophan.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit bhati "shines, glitters;" Greek phainein "bring to light, make appear," phantazein "make visible, display;" Old Irish ban "white, light, ray of light."

Trends of hierophant

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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updated on October 18, 2017

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