Religion

From the Latin religio, of controversial etymology: for some linguists it derives from religare, “bind, join,” and for others from a supposed verb *religere – “to grasp, look carefully”, with the same root as lex, the law, and logos, the word. Constant is the Latin prefix re, with the meaning of renewal and frequency, in the former case it would express the concept of “having a relationship with the divine,” in the latter that of “grasping the divine message.”

The linguist F. Rendich offers for both verbs the single Indo-European root *LAG-, in which he recognizes the component [l], to express the idea of “movement that holds” and the component [ag], to express that of “in all directions”: to “tie”, “connect”, “collect”. Religio would be both “binding to the divine” and “greeting the divine.”

Thus ‘Religion’ expresses the concept of recognition and connection to the divine laws.