The word "sacred" descends from the Latin sacrum,
which referred to the gods or anything in their power, and to sacerdos, priest;
sanctum, set apart. It was generally conceived spatially, as referring to the
area around a temple. The English word "holy" dates back to at least
the 11th Century with the Old English word hālig, an adjective derived from hāl
meaning "whole" and used to mean "uninjured, sound, healthy,
entire, complete". The Scottish hale ("health, happiness and wholeness")
is the most complete modern form of this Old English root.
The modern word "health" is also derived from the
Old English hal. As "wholeness", holiness may be taken to indicate a
state of religious completeness or perfection. The word "holy" in its
modern form appears in Wyclif's Bible of 1382. In non-specialist contexts, the
term "holy" is used in a more general way, to refer to someone or
something that is associated with a divine power, such as water used for
baptism.
