Baptism

==Etymology==
[[File:Baptism - Saint Calixte.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Catacombs of Rome#Catacombs of San Callisto|Catacombs of San Callisto]]: baptism in a 3rd-century painting]]
The English word ''baptism'' is derived indirectly through [[Latin]] from the neuter [[Greek language|Greek]] concept noun {{transliteration|grc|báptisma}} (Greek {{lang|grc|βάπτισμα}}, {{gloss|washing, dipping}}),<ref group="lower-alpha">{{LSJ|ba/ptisma|βάπτισμα}}, {{LSJ |baptismo/s|βαπτισμός}}, {{LSJ|bapti/zw|βαπτίζω}}, {{LSJ|ba/ptw|βάπτω|ref}}. "The several Greek words from which the English word ''baptism'' has been formed are used by Greek writers (in [[classical antiquity]], in the [[Septuagint]], and in the New Testament) with a great latitude of meaning, including "to make Christian" and "baptisma pyros (baptism of fire)"" — [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/X/P1992.html The University of Texas at Austin, College of Liberal Arts, Linguistics Research Center, ''Indo-European Lexicon'', PIE (Proto-Indo-European) ''Etymon'' and IE (Indo-European) ''Reflexes'': "baptism"] [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/X/P0414.html and "baptize"], [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/X/P0703.html Greek ''baptein, baptizein, baptos''] — [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm#II New Advent, ''Catholic Encyclopedia'': "Baptism": Etymology] — [http://www.spiritrestoration.org/Theological_Terms/A_Prior_%20to_Born_Again.htm Spirit Restoration, Theological Terms: A to B Dictionary: "baptize"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911210747/http://www.spiritrestoration.org/Theological_Terms/A_Prior_%20to_Born_Again.htm |date=September 11, 2010 }} (scroll down to "baptism") — [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=baptize Online Etymological Dictionary: "baptize"] — [http://bibleencyclopedia.com/baptism.htm International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: "baptism"] — two parallel online sources, Search God's Word and Eliyah, for "Strong's numbers": [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=907 Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: Greek Lexicon '''''907''''' ''βαπτίζω'' "baptize"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=907 '''''907''''' ''baptizo'' "baptize"], [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=908 '''''908''''' ''βάπτισμα'' "baptism"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=908 '''''908''''' ''baptisma'' "baptism"], [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=909 '''''909''''' ''βαπτισμός'' "baptisms"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=909 '''''909''''' ''baptismos'' "baptisms"], and [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=910 '''''910''''' ''βαπτστἠς'' "baptist"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=910 '''''910''''' ''baptistes'' "baptist"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629055848/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/X/P1992.html |date=June 29, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=T9zYAAAAMAAJ&q="it+is+used+of+ritual+washing" | first = Charles Hugh Hope | last = Scobie | title = John the Baptist | publisher = SCM Press | year = 1964 | page = 92}}</ref> which is a [[neologism]] in the [[New Testament]] derived from the masculine Greek noun {{transliteration|grc|baptismós}} ({{lang|grc|βαπτισμός}}), a term for ritual washing in Greek language texts of [[Hellenistic Judaism]] during the [[Second Temple period]], such as the [[Septuagint]].<ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lw5uLXiCUpgC&q=baptize+septuagint+ritual+washing&pg=PA34 | first = Merrill F | last = Unger | title = The Baptism & Gifts of the Holy Spirit | publisher = Moody Press | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-8024-0467-1 | page = 34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tSIOFBvsaNUC&q=baptize+septuagint+ritual+washing&pg=RA1-PA149 | first = Lewis Sperry | last = Chafer | title = Systematic Theology | publisher = Kregel | year = 1993 | isbn = 978-0-8254-2340-6 | page = 149}}</ref> Both of these nouns are derived from the verb {{transliteration|grc|baptízō}} ({{lang|grc|βαπτίζω}}, {{gloss|I wash}} [[transitive verb]]), which is used in Jewish texts for ritual washing, and in the [[New Testament]] both for ritual washing and also for the apparently new rite of {{transliteration|grc|báptisma}}.

The Greek verb {{transliteration|grc|báptō}} ({{lang|grc|βάπτω}}), {{gloss|dip}}, from which the verb {{transliteration|grc|baptízō}} is derived, is in turn hypothetically traced to a reconstructed [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] root *''gʷabh-'', {{gloss|dip}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordintroducti00mall|url-access=limited|first1=JP | last1 =Mallory|first2=Douglas Q.|last2=Adams|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordintroducti00mall/page/n427 403], 532}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |entry-url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=baptize |dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary |entry=Baptize}}</ref><ref name="AHD">{{Cite book |last=Watkins |first=Calvert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4IHbQgz1nZYC&pg=PA33 |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots |date=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-618-08250-6 |language=en}}</ref>

The Greek words are used in a great variety of meanings.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |entry-url=http://bibleencyclopedia.com/baptism.htm |encyclopedia=International Standard Bible Encyclopedia |entry=Baptism}}</ref> {{lang|grc|βάπτω}} and {{lang|grc|βαπτίζω}} in Hellenism had the general usage of "immersion", "going under" (as a material in a liquid dye) or "perishing" (as in a ship sinking or a person drowning), with the same double meanings as in English "to sink into" or "to be overwhelmed by", with bathing or washing only occasionally used and usually in sacral contexts.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Theological Dictionary of the New Testament|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|year=1964|editor-last=Kittel|editor-first=Gerhard|volume=1|location=Grand Rapids, MI, USA|pages=529–530|translator-last=Bromiley|translator-first=Geoffrey}}</ref>
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Baptism ((from the [[Greek language|Greek]] 1. noun masculine: baptismos βαπτισμός(bap-tis-mos') a ceremonial washing, purification effected by means of washing in water.
2. verb: baptizo βαπτίζω (bap-tid'-zo) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk), to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe, to overwhelm.
3. original word – verb bapto: βάπτω (bap'-to)  a. to dip, dip in, immerse  b. to dip into dye, to dye, color.<ref name="LSJ+">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=baptizw&la=greek#lexicon Liddell & Scott: entry βαπτίζω]. ''The several Greek words from which our English word "baptism" has been formed are used by Greek writers (in [[classical antiquity]], in the [[Septuagint]], and in the New Testament) with a great '''''latitude of meaning''''', including "to make Christian" and "baptisma pyros (baptism of fire)"'' — [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/X/P1992.html The University of Texas at Austin, College of Liberal Arts, Linguistics Research Center, ''Indo-European Lexicon'', PIE (Proto-Indo-European) ''Etymon'' and IE (Indo-European) ''Reflexes'': "baptism"] [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/X/P0414.html and "baptize"], [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/X/P0703.html Greek ''baptein, baptizein, baptos''] — [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm#II New Advent, ''Catholic Encyclopedia'': "Baptism": Etymology] — [http://www.spiritrestoration.org/Theological_Terms/A_Prior_%20to_Born_Again.htm SpiritRestoration.org, Theological Terms: A to B Dictionary: "baptize"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911210747/http://www.spiritrestoration.org/Theological_Terms/A_Prior_%20to_Born_Again.htm |date=September 11, 2010 }} (''scroll down to "baptism"'') — [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=baptize Online Etymological Dictionary: "baptize"] — [http://bibleencyclopedia.com/baptism.htm International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: "baptism"] — two parallel online sources, SearchGodsWord.org and Eliyah.com, for "''Strong's numbers''":  [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=907 Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible:  Greek Lexicon '''''907''''' ''βαπτίζω'' "baptize"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=907 '''''907''''' ''baptizo'' "baptize"], [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=908 '''''908''''' ''βάπτισμα'' "baptism"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=908 '''''908''''' ''baptisma'' "baptism"], [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=909 '''''909''''' ''βαπτισμός'' "baptisms"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=909 '''''909''''' ''baptismos'' "baptisms"], and [http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=910 '''''910''''' ''βαπτστἠς'' "baptist"]/[http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=greeklexicon&isindex=910 '''''910''''' ''baptistes'' "baptist"]</ref>)) is a [[Christian]] [[rite]] of [[initiation]] (or [[adoption]]<ref>St. Paul: Romans 8:15 "the spirit of adoption" ("of sonship" RSV), Galatians 4:5 "adoption of sons", Ephesians 1:15 "the adoption of children by Jesus Christ" ("to be his sons through Jesus Christ" RSV).</ref>), almost invariably with the use of water, into the [[Christianity|Christian Church]] generally<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52311/Baptism Encyclopaedia Britannica: baptism]</ref> and also a particular church rite. Baptism has been called a [[sacrament]] and an [[ordinance (Christian)|ordinance]] of Jesus Christ.
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