XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.language.latin   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Sat, 5 Oct 2024 18:40:08 +0100, Ed Cryer    
   wrote:   
      
   >Belladonna   
   >It acquired its alter name in the middle ages, when women used it   
   >because of how it dilates the pupils, making them more sexy.   
   >Beautiful Lady.   
   >   
   >Pagan.   
   >In Latin "paganus" meant "villager" or "peasant". That's what Cicero   
   >would have understood. But early Christians used it as a depreciatory   
   >term for those who stuck to polytheistic or pre-Christian beliefs; the   
   >gods of Old Rome.   
      
   Pagan - origin of the term.   
            Source: Fox, "Christian & Pagans" 1987:30.   
       "In antiquity, pagans already owed a debt to Christians.   
     Christians first gave them their name, pagani... In everyday   
     use, it meant either a civilian or a rustic. Since the   
     sixteenth century the origin of the early Christians' usage   
     has been disputed, but of the two meanings, the former is the   
     likelier. Pagani were civilians who had not enlisted through   
     baptism as soldiers of Christ against the powers of Satan. By   
     its word for non-believers, Christian slang bore witness to   
     the heavenly battle which coloured Christians' view of life."   
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa   
   Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm   
   Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com   
   E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)