The essence of the word “religion”

At the beginning of the sixth Septennium of the Plan, illuminated by its main goal, the “New World Religion”, we feel it is important to deepen together the etymology of “religion”, because the common rediscovery of this word is the solid and shining adamantine base that can encourage the vision of new reflections every year.

It is true that in these pages there is already a concise etymological entry, which introduces the “Religion” Direction, and is articulated from the primary concept of “Community”, but it is equally true that it is nice to take the opportunity of the beginning of the sixth Septennium to expand and deepen the subject.

Furthermore, even if there is no doubt that the word derives from the Latin religio, this noun originates from different verbal themes: it is a question that, born millennia ago, continues to be asked today, so that even in current studies the origin is interpreted differently. We will therefore go directly to the sources, so as to clarify the point in question.

Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC), in his De natura deorum, believed that ‘those who reconsider – retracterent – with care and […] retrace in thought – relegerent – everything related to the worship of the gods, are called religious from the verb “to grasp through thought” – ex relegendo – as elegant to choose – ex eligendo –, diligent in taking care – ex diligendo –, intelligent in understanding – ex intelligendo; in fact, all these words contain the strength of lěgere – vis legendi – the same as in “religious”.’

Cicero therefore identifies in lěgere, of the third conjugation, the fundamental verb from which a series of other verbs derives, that acquire a certain meaning depending on the prefix: lěgere has the meaning, the strength (vis!) of “welcoming”, capturing with our eyes and our thought, and therefore also of “reading”. Since the prefix re- has an iterative or repetitive function (or it means the return to the original state), according to this interpretation, religious – from rělěgo/rělěgěre – would therefore be “those who continuously grasp” the cult of the gods (cultum deorum).

More than three centuries later, Lactantius (250 – 317), a writer of Christian faith, in his Institutiones divinae openly refutes Cicero: “By this bond of piety we are close and tied – religati – to God: religion itself took its name from this (that is: by being tied) – nomen accepit religio – and not as Cicero interpreted, from relegere”. For Lactantius, therefore, “our” word derives from the verb religo/religare, “uniting together”, attaching, composed of the prefix re- with an intensive value and ligare, belonging to the first conjugation, which means “to bind”.

To lighten the list of these quotes, let’s note with a smile of amused tenderness that Lactantius in the Renaissance will be nicknamed the “Christian Cicero”, for the beauty and vigour of his style!

A third interpretation was proposed by Augustine (354 – 430), in his De civitate Dei contra Paganos, with a quote that we report almost entirely because it evocatively emphasizes the concept: “Choosing This (God) – Hunc eligentes – indeed choosing anew – vel potius religentes – (we lost it because we were negligent) – (amiseramus enim neglegentes) – […] from which also religion is said to derive – unde et religio dicta perhibetur”. For Saint Augustine, therefore, religion originates from a supposed verb religo/religere, of the third conjugation, not witnessed in the classical language, which would have arisen from the composition of the prefix re- “again” and from the verb eligere, “to choose”: “choosing again”, with the idea of ​​a renewed choice after a period of neglect.

We could mention other sources, such as the gaunt and fascinating verses of Lucretius and the lively dissertations of Tertullian, since the semantic derivation of a word which indicates a sphere of relations that are considered so fundamental by man has been variously addressed, but we have deliberately chosen to report only the interpretations that specifically look for the birth of the name, and also to leave out all modern criticism, scholars of history and theology, who have sided in favour of one of them.

It seems correct to us to make this selection both for consistency with the field of etymosophy to which we dedicate ourselves, and because we feel the need to simplify, to clear the field of any historically outdated hypothesis and churchly covers of any origin, in order to get out in the open the bare root of this word: in this digging our guide is, as it almost always happens, Franco Rendich, who in this case builds a bridge to overcome any interpretative division.

The scholar suggests that the term re-ligio comes from the Indo-European root *LAG-, which is made up of the following sound elements: “motion that holds [l] in every direction [ag]”, “collect”, “connect”, “tie”. Let us recall that the sound ag, from which the Indo-European name Agni, the god of fire who originally personified the glow of lightning, would have derived, indicates the zigzag motion of the flame. A single mother root would therefore have given life both to the verb rě-lěgěre, “to seize”, identified by Cicero and taken up with a variation by Augustine, and to the verb re-ligare, “to have a bond, to bind”, brought into play by Lactantius.

Rendich summarises: ‘[…] Now, since the “concern” one feels in “welcoming” the divine within oneself, […] corresponds to the desire to “bind” oneself to divinity […] it can be concluded that the two interpretations of religio can both be defended.” [1]

It is interesting to note that from the root *LAG-, the Greek language develops words such as Logos, and the Latin one creates the term lex, law, which, arising from the same semantic field, can be understood both as a “collection of norms” and as a “bond guaranteed by law”.

The recognition of the fiery unitary root *LAG- allows us to intuit in the word “religion” both the sound vibrations of the Logos and the innate call of in-voc-a(c)tion and e-voc-a(c)tion – through the appeal of the Voice [2] – and the link with the supreme Principle.

The word “religion” therefore, in which the flicker of flame sparkles, essentially indicates the cosmic connection between spatial fires, the universal spirit that unifies everything.

Its banners are Brotherhood and Communion: between men, between Heaven and Earth, between Worlds.

“Heaven is sacred. Whether we admit it or not, it is the inspirer of that religious sense that human beings do not know, nor can, give up without drying up and falling into dementia. Sacredness is true and genuine when, while remaining humble, it aims at the very high celestial regions, and even though it is silent it is expressed in the acts. The great religions have all understood Heaven as a symbol of truth and community; some of them, perhaps more philosophical, consider it as a divine reality. Beyond the doctrines, which divide and cause disputes, stands the solemnity of Heaven, which, although not legible for the rational mind, is the great sacred and unitary Book.” [3]

Let us conclude with an excerpt from Agni Yoga [4]:

[…] We bring the message of a new religion of the pure spirit to humanity.

It is coming; and you, united here in search of light, bear the precious stone. […]

 

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Today, as it happens at intervals of about three months, the heliocentric conjunction between Mercury and Neptune occurs, associated with the harmony of language.

[1] Franco Rendich, Comparative etymological dictionary of classical Indo-European languages: Indo-European – Sanskrit – Greek – Latin

[2] First Vertex, The Distant Goals (available only in Italian at the moment) – Goal 6.1

[3] First Vertex, A New Model of Space (available only in Italian at the moment)

[4] Leaves of Morya’s Garden I, § 43