Equus, Son of Nequus.

Origin and history of worship

worship (n.)

Middle English worshippe, worship, "high respect, honor, fame," from Old English worðscip, wurðscip (Anglian), weorðscipe (West Saxon) "condition of being worthy, dignity, glory, distinction, honor, renown," from weorð "worthy" (see worth) + -scipe (see -ship).

The sense of "reverence paid or due to a supernatural or divine being" is attested by late Old English. The original sense is preserved in worshipful.

This day alyeve, to-morow on thy grave; 

This day a wyse man, to-morow but a foole; 

This day in worship, To-morow but a knave. 

— "Peter Idley's Instructions to His Son," c. 1450

worship

worship (v.)

c. 1200, worshipen, "pay divine honors to, conduct religious rites, participate in religious services," from worship (n.). By c. 1300 as "hold in honor, treat (a parent, spouse, etc.) with due esteem and affection." Related: Worshipped; worshipping.

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to worship

worshipful(adj.)

"claiming respect; worthy of honor by virtue of character or dignity, deserving veneration," mid-14c., from worship (n.) in its original sense + -ful. Preserved as a respectful epithet of address to magistrates, certain Freemasons, etc. Related: Worshipfully (c. 1300 as "with reverence, devoutly"); worshipfulness.

worth(adj.)

Middle English, from Old English weorþ "having worth, significant, of value;" also "valued, appreciated, deserving; honorable, noble, of high rank;" from Proto-Germanic *wertha-, which is of uncertain origin. Boutkan finds no IE etymology for it.

Also in Old English as "suitable for, proper, fit," and "entitled to by excellence or importance." It is attested from c. 1200 as as a "quasi-preposition" [Middle English Compendium], "equivalent to, of the value of, valued at; having importance equal to; equal in power to."

Colloquial dismissive phrase for what it's worth is by 1872; for all it's worth "to the fullest extent" is by 1874 in California newspapers, perhaps a gambler's term.

Germanic cognates include Old Frisian werth, Old Norse verðr, Dutch waard, Old High German werd, German wert, Gothic wairþs "worth, worthy." Old Church Slavonic vredu, Lithuanian vertas "worth," and similar Celtic words are considered to be borrowings from Germanic.

Advertisement

Trends of worship

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

cult

1610s, "worship, homage" (a sense now obsolete); 1670s, "a particular form or system of worship;" from French culte (17c....), from Latin cultus "care, labor; cultivation, culture; worship, reverence," originally "tended, cultivated," past participle...(sometimes in French form culte) with reference to ancient or primitive systems of religious belief and worship, especially...the rites and ceremonies employed in such worship....

adore

late 14c., aouren, "to worship, pay divine honors to, bow down before," from Old French aorer "to adore, worship, praise"...(10c., later adorer), from Latin adorare "speak to formally, beseech, entreat, ask in prayer," in Late Latin "to worship...

jejune

De Vaan finds it to be from a PIE root meaning "to worship, reverence," hence "to sacrifice" (with cognates including Sanskrit...yajati "to honor, worship, sacrifice," Avestan yaza- "to worship," Greek agios, agnos "holy;" see hagio-), and writes that...

mosque

"Islamic place of worship and the ecclesiastical organization connected with it," 1717, earlier moseak (c. 1400), also mosquee..., from Italian moschea, earlier moscheta, from Spanish mesquita (modern mezquita), from Arabic masjid "temple, place of worship...

meeting

In 17c., in England and Ireland it was applied generally to worship assemblies of nonconformists, but this now is retained...In the early U.S., especially in rural districts, it was applied to any assemblage for religious worship....

conventicle

Conventiculum in Church Latin was used of Christian meetings for worship, but in Medieval Latin and later in Middle English...disparagingly of a church or religious house; in Protestant England the meaning "a meeting of dissenters for religious worship...

temple

"building for worship, edifice dedicated to the service of a deity or deities," Old English tempel, from Latin templum "piece...of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, building for worship of a god," of uncertain signification....

Atlas

1580s, in Greek mythology a member of the older family of Gods, later regarded as a Titan, son of Iapetus and Clymene; in either case supposed to uphold the pillars of heaven (or earth), which according to one version was his punishment for being war-leader of the Titans in their

aspire

"strive for, seek eagerly to attain, long to reach," c. 1400, aspiren, from Old French aspirer "aspire to; inspire; breathe, breathe on" (12c.), from Latin aspirare "to breathe upon, blow upon, to breathe," also, in transferred senses, "to be favorable to, assist; to climb up to,

praise

c. 1300, preisen, "to express admiration of, commend, adulate, flatter" (someone or something), from Old French preisier, variant of prisier "to praise, value," from Late Latin preciare, earlier pretiare "to price, value, prize," from Latin pretium "reward, prize, value, worth,"

Share worship