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[German Version] I. Religious Studies The word sacrifice denotes both the living creature or offering sacrificed and the ritual action (e.g. destruction) through which that creature or object is dedicated to a supernatural being. If a distinction needs to be made, English and the Romance languages can use sacrifice (Eng. and Fr.; sacrificio Ital. and Span.) for the ritual action while using victim (Fr. victime, Span. víctima, Ital. vittima) for the creature sacrificed. Etymologically sacrifice suggests an action in which the sacrificed object is “made holy/sacred” (Lat. sacrum facere). In ancient Rome (see II, 3 below), something that was holy “belonged to the gods” after being removed from the realm of the profane. Although the two phenomena are closely related, the Roman procedure of “sacralization” must not be confused with what we call “sacrifice.” Scholarly reflection on sacrifice began in 1886 with W. Robertson Smith’s article “Sacrifice” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, …

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Judaism I. Old Testament 1. History of scholarship For the biblical tradition of the Torah, Moses, born in Egypt (Exod 2:1–10), was the founder of Israel's …

[English Version] I. ReligionswissenschaftlichDas Wort »O.« bez. im Deutschen sowohl das geopferte Lebewesen bzw. die Opfergabe als auch diejenige rituelle Handlung (z.B. Zerstörung), durch die das Lebewesen oder Objekt den übernatürlichen Wesen zugeeignet wird. Im Engl. sowie in den romanischen Sprachen werden diese beiden Phänomene dagegen begrifflich differenziert. Engl./franz. »sacrifice« (ital./span. sacrificio) bez. die rituelle Opferhandlung, während engl. »victim« (franz. victime, span. vi…