Baptisms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A religious ceremony marking the initiation into a faith, often involving water as a symbol of purification
2. A ritual act performed to welcome individuals into a religious community, commonly seen in Christianity
3. The process of applying water to someone, symbolizing spiritual cleansing and rebirth within various religious traditions

Etymology: Baptisms is simply the plural of "baptism," so the story belongs to the singular. Its deepest root is the Greek verb "baptizein," meaning "to dip in liquid," a plain physical act of immersing something in water. The noun "baptisma," "dipping," came from that verb, and early Christian writers adopted it for the rite in which a person is immersed in or sprinkled with water as a sign of spiritual cleansing. The word reached English by a winding route. It passed through Late Latin and Old French, where forms like "batesme" and "bapteme" were common, and entered Middle English in that shape. English already had a native word for the rite, "fulwiht," which literally meant something like "full holy" or "full consecration," but the borrowed term displaced it, so the old Anglo-Saxon word eventually disappeared from religious use.

Synonyms: ceremonies