The story
- Latin · derived frompāgānismus“heathenism”
- English todaypaganism
From Latin pāgānismus (“heathenism”), from pāgānus (“peasant, rural, rustic”). The term was used pejoratively by local Orthodox Christian Demonyms to belittle what remained of alternative native ideas and ideals. By surface analysis, pagan + -ism.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.