English
sanctuary
Sanctuary comes from Late Latin sanctuarium ‘a sacred place, a shrine, a private cabinet,…’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Italic *sanktos.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sanktos1uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsanctus2‘holy, sacred’uncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsanctuarium2‘a sacred place, a shrine, a private cabinet, in Medieval Latin also temple, church’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400saintuaire2
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seyntuarie2
- Englishearliest quotation 1837sanctuary2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin sanctus
- 2 Wiktionary, English sanctuary
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Last Night with the Dead: “She saw him, even as she had last gazed…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sanktosWiktionary, Latin sanctusuncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsanctusWiktionary, English sanctuary‘holy, sacred’uncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsanctuariumWiktionary, English sanctuary‘a sacred place, a shrine, a private cabinet, in Medieval Latin also temple, church’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400saintuaireWiktionary, English sanctuary
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500seyntuarieWiktionary, English sanctuary
- Englishearliest quotation 1837sanctuaryWiktionary, English sanctuary. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Last Night with the Dead: “She saw him, even as she had last gazed…”
Linked words
through Latin sanctus ‘holy, sacred’
Today it means
noun A place of safety, refuge, or protection.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “sanctuary”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin sanctus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *sanktos / sanctuary