pagan

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pagan XIV. — L. pāgānus rustic, peasant, citizen, civilian, (in ChrL.) non-Christian, non-Jewish, f. pāgus (rural) district, the country, orig. land-mark fixed in the earth, f. IE. *paĝ- as in L. pangere fix; see -AN. The sense ‘heathen’ of L. pāgānus is of uncert. orig.
Hence paganism XV.

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