Sabellian
proper noun, adjective, noun
Forms Sabellians
- proper noun A certain language once spoken in Umbria, Italy.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the Sabellian language.
- noun A member of a group of early Italian peoples comprising the Sabines, Samnites, and others.
- noun (Christianity) A follower of the Roman Christian prelate and theologian Sabellius.
- noun (Christianity) A Modalistic Monarchian; someone who believes that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the same person.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Latin Sabellus + -ian, pertaining to the Sabellī, an Italic tribe, from Proto-Italic *saβn- (whence also Samnium, Samnones, Sabus, Sabīnus), perhaps from an uncertain Proto-Indo-European root, sometimes identified with the reflexive pronoun *swé (“self”) for the assumed meaning “one's own” (compare Proto-Germanic *swēbaz for a similar etymology), but this is highly suspect on phonetic grounds.
From Sabellius + -an.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Pertaining to the doctrines or tenets of Sabellius. See Sabellian, n.
- noun A follower of Sabellius, a presbyter of Ptolemais in the third century, who maintained that there is but one person in the Godhead, and that the Son and Holy Spirit are only different powers, operations, or offices of the one God the Father.
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “Sabellian”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details