Christianity

name

Etymology: From Middle English Cristiente, Cristente, borrowed from Old French crestienté, from Medieval Latin stem of Chrīstiānitās, from Latin christianus, Christianus, from Ancient Greek Χριστιανός (Khristianós), from Χριστός (Khristós, “Christ, anointed one”) + Latin -anus (“suffix for of, related to”) + one more suffix borrowed from Latin "ity" makes the final Christian + -ity. The term was respelled in the early modern English period to more closely reflect its Latin etymon.

1. Christendom, the Christian world

noun

1. Obsolete form of Christianity.

   “And we wish heartily, that leaving these weak nots of Trueth, to the Papists, chief acclaimers of them, amongst christians, (that we speak nothing of aliens from christianity) ye would be pleased to adhere, with us into the holy Scriptures […]”

   “I must tell you that christianity hath new christened it”