'Dedicate' traces to PIE *deyk- (to point) — kin to 'digit,' 'indicate,' and 'teach.'
Definition
To devote wholly to a particular purpose, person, or cause; originally, to consecrate solemnly to a deity or sacred use.
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Latin15th centurywell-attested
From Latin 'dēdicāre' (to proclaim solemnly, to devote permanently, to consecrate), compounded from 'dē-' (down, completely — here an intensifier marking the finality of the act) and 'dicāre' (to proclaim publicly, to devote, to offer), a verb related to but distinct from 'dīcere' (to say). The verb 'dicāre' specifically denoted formal, public, and permanent proclamation — the legal and religiousact of committing something irrevocably to a person or deity. The PIE root underlying both 'dicāre' and 'dīcere' is *deyḱ- (to show, to point out, to proclaim, to indicate
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The PIE root *deyḱ- (to point, show) behind 'dedicate' also produced Latin 'digitus' (finger — the thing that points), Greek 'deiknynai' (to show), and even 'teach' via Old English 'tǣċan' — all descending from the simple act of pointing at something.
-finger), 'indicate,' 'judge' (from 'iūdex,' one who shows the law), and Greek 'deiknumi' (to show). In Roman religious and legal practice, to 'dedicare' a temple was a precise formula: a magistrate uttered
commitment was never entirely lost. Key roots: dē- (Latin: "down, completely, from"), dicāre (Latin: "to proclaim, devote, from PIE *deyḱ- (to point, show)").