Relic (pronounced rel-ik)
(1) A
surviving memorial of something past; something that has survived from the
past, such as an object or custom.
(2) An
object having interest by reason of its age or its association with the past;
something kept in remembrance; souvenir; memento.
(3) A surviving
trace of something.
(4) Remaining
parts or fragments.
(5) In
ecclesiastical use in Christendom, (especially in the Roman Catholic and Greek
churches) the body, a bone or other body part, or some personal memorial of a
saint, martyr, or other sacred person, preserved as worthy of veneration.
(6) In
linguistics, a once widespread linguistic form that survives in a limited area
but is otherwise obsolete.
(7) In
informal use, an old or old-fashioned person or thing, a survivor from a bygone
era.
(8) The
remains of a dead person; a corpse (largely archaic and usually in the plural).
(9) In
ecology a now less common term for relict.
1175–1225:
From the Middle English relik (a body
part or other object held in reverence or affection due to its connection with
a holy person), from the Old French relique
& relike (the eleventh century
plural was reliques), from the Old
English reliquias, the construct
being reliqu(us) (remaining) + -iae the
plural noun suffix), from the Late Latin reliquiæ
(plural) (the remains of a martyr (although in Classical Latin it had meant
“remains; remnants”)), noun use of the feminine plural of reliquus (remaining, that which remains), from relinquō (I leave behind, abandon, relinquish), the construct being
from re- (back, backwards; again) the prefix added to various words to indicate
an action being done again) + linquō
(I leave, quit, forsake, depart from), and related to relinquere (perfective reliqui)
(to leave behind, relinquish, forsake, abandon, give up), from the primitive
Indo-European linkw-, a nasalized
form of the root leikw- (to
leave). The Old English reliquias was a direct borrowing from Latin. The noun reliquary (receptacle for keeping
relics, often small enough to be carried on the person) dates from the 1650s,
from the fourteenth century French reliquaire.
The noun plural was relics and the obsolete spellings were relick & relique. The third-person
singular simple present was relics, the present participle relicing or
relicking and the simple past and past participle reliced or relicked).
The now familiar general sense of "remains, remnants, that which is left after the loss or ruin of the rest" dates from the early fourteenth century whereas the meaning "something kept as a souvenir, a memento" didn’t emerge until circa 1600. By the 1590s, the word had, in conversational use, developed the weakened sense of "anything made interesting by its association with the distant past and ten years earlier had come also to describe "surviving trace of some practice, idea etc, a use which later (by 1809) influenced the specific use in history & anthropology: “relic of barbarism” the “survival of a (bad) old custom or condition." Other words used in this context includes antique, antiquity, artifact, curio, evidence, fragment, keepsake, memento, monument, remains, remnant, souvenir, archaism, curiosity, heirloom, memorial, remembrance, reminder, residue & ruins.
Relict (pronounced rel-ikt)
(1) In
biology & ecology, a species or community of animals or plants that exists
as a remnant of a formerly widely distributed group in an environment different
from that in which it originated (usually as a modifier (eg a relict fauna)).
(2) In
geology, a mineral that remains unaltered after metamorphism of the rock in
which it occurs.
(3) In
geomorphology, a landform (a mountain, lake, glacier etc) formed by either
erosive or constructive surficial processes that are no longer active as they
were in the past.
(4) A
remnant or survivor (rare).
(5) The
surviving member of a married couple after one or the other has died; a widow
or widower (although in practice the word was only ever applied to widows and
is now archaic).
(6) In
linguistics, a surviving archaic word, language or other form (technically
slightly different from a relic (qv) but in casual use both are often used
interchangeably.
(7) In
the law of real property, the gradual recession of water from its usual
high-water mark so that the newly uncovered land becomes the property of the
adjoining riparian property owner.
1525–1535:
From the Middle English relicte, from
the Medieval Latin relicta (widow),
noun use of feminine of the Latin relictus,
past participle of relinquere (to
relinquish). Relicte in the sense of a widow, etymologically is "one who is
left, one who remains", from the Old French relict (feminine relicte) (person or thing left behind
(especially a widow)) and directly from the Medieval Latin relicta (a widow), noun use of feminine of relictus (abandoned, left behind), past-participle adjective from
the Latin relinquere (leave behind,
forsake, abandon, give up),
Relict
came so often to be confused with relic that by 1926, Henry Fowler (1858-1933)
noted in his Dictionary of Modern English Usage it had become a word seldom
used except in legal documents when referring to a widow (and only lawyers
would find the word “widow” unsuitable) and was thus "more often seen than
heard", its place as an adjective in Middle English and early modern
English (originally "left undisturbed or untouched, allowed to
remain" (although used in various senses) long supplanted by relic. As a technical word in biology, zoology and
geology, it remains useful; the noun plural was relicts.
In the great cities of the Holy Roman Empire, there were publishers
which offered entire relic-books but, parchment and even paper being expensive,
as an alternative, pilgrims could purchase Heiltumsblätter
(woodcut) reproductions of relics associated with a particular church or
shrine. The single-leaf woodcut
illustrating the relics of the relics of the Holy Roman Empire was first
printed circa 1480 with a second run of hand-colored versions offered in 1496
and as well as being used for private devotion, being large-scale they could be
displayed in public places like churches, where they performed a similar
function to indulgence announcements.
The Heiltumsblatt illustrating the relics of the Holy Roman Empire included pieces of the True Cross, thorns from Christ's crown, along with the sword, robe and scepter of Charlemagne (747–814; first Holy Roman Emperor 800-814). The imperial collection also featured the Holy Lance that tradition stated was used by Longinus to pierce Christ's side after his death; this was a highly prized possession, since it was one of the few contact relics associated with Christ who was said to have left behind no bodily relics. In 1423, Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368–1437; Holy Roman Emperor 1433-1437) bequeathed the Lance to Nuremberg for safekeeping, where it became the centerpiece of the Heiltumsweisung (sanctuary). The Holy Lance's size in the woodcut is one indication of its importance, although this was not a mere effect of representation, for its makers claimed that this was a "true copy" of the Lance, which measures 508 x 79 mm (20 x 3.1 inches).
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