basileiolatry

English

WOTD – 20 August 2011

Alternative forms

basileolatry, basilolatry

Etymology

Ancient Greek βασίλειος (basíleios, “of the king”) (from βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”)) +‎ -latry (from the Ancient Greek λατρεία (latreía, “worship”)).

Pronunciation

(UK) enPR: băsĭlāŏʹlətri, IPA^(key): /basɪleɪˈɒlətɹi/

Noun

basileiolatry (uncountable)

(chiefly in figurative use) Worship of the king.
- 1872, Sacristy II, page 10, footnote
  At Westminster the established religion is Basileiolatry.
- 1897, John Wickham Legg, Missale Ad Usum Ecclesie Westmonasteriensis III, page 1,407
  The “basileiolatry” which we are told is now the prevailing worship at Westminster seems to have begun in the middle ages.
- 1960, Johannes Quasten and Stephan Kuttner [eds.], Traditio XVI, page 122
  When…the Second Recension was revised, the revisers…took pains to give greater significance to the queen’s coronation.…Different as it was, the same spirit of basileiolatry inspired the alternative version.
- 1963, Henry Gerald Richardson and George Osborne Sayles, The Governance of Mediaeval England, page 142
  Already in the tenth century basileiolatry…was established in England. The king was God’s thegn, His vicar upon earth.
- 2000 April 23rd, François R. Velde, alt.talk.royalty, “Re: Male Swedish Crown Prince?”, message 25
  Maybe you have some half-baked mixture of feudal and absolutist theories in mind…and the basileiolatry you display suggests so.
- 2008, Julian Goodare and Alasdair A. MacDonald [eds.], Sixteenth-Century Scotland, page 414
  Boyd’s ensuing burst of proud Scots patriotism quickly gives place to a flood of boundless basileiolatry and optimism.

Related terms

Some English terms derived from the Ancient Greek βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”)

basilean
basilic
basilica
basilical

basilicon
basilics
basilisk

Translations

worship of the king

Finnish: kuninkaan palvonta
Russian: царепокло́нство n (carepoklónstvo)

Welsh: teyrnaddoliant m

References

“Basileio·latry” listed on page 690 of volume I (A–B) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [1st ed., 1885]
Basileio·latry. nonce-wd. [f. Gr. βασίλειο-ς of the king + λατρεία worship.] King-worship. [¶] 1872 Sacristy II. 10 note, At Westminster the established religion is Basileiolatry.
“basileiˈolatry” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd ed., 1989]