Literary notes about PROFANE (AI summary)
The word "profane" in literature serves as a multifaceted term that draws clear distinctions between what is sacred and what falls outside its boundaries. In many works, it is used to describe actions or environments that desecrate holy spaces or undermine sacred rituals, as seen in references to the violation of sanctuaries and religious covenants [1, 2, 3]. At the same time, "profane" can denote the mundane or secular aspects of life, highlighting a divide between exalted, holy realms and everyday, worldly affairs [4, 5, 6]. Authors like Shakespeare, Gibbon, and Durkheim employ the term either to chastise disrespect for the divine or to contrast the sanctified with that which is unrefined or vulgar [7, 8, 9]. In this way, "profane" functions both as a moral judgment and as a marker of the boundary between the revered and the common.
- How fleet must Atalanta be if she will not be tempted by gold to profane the Sanctuary!
— from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois - Profane not my holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - But in Australia, on the contrary, apart from the celebrations of the clan and tribe, the time is nearly all filled with lay and profane occupations.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - The act of eating is, of itself, profane; for it takes place every day, it satisfies essentially utilitarian and material needs
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - [1046] Likewise, the religious life and the profane life cannot coexist in the same unit of time.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - I am no traitor's uncle; and that word 'grace' In an ungracious mouth is but profane.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - 101 A slight penance atoned for this profane dissimulation.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Profane, absolute distinction of, from sacred, 38 f. Ratapa, or soul-germs, 251 , 252 .
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim
