Santa
Sankt (abbreviation St .; in English Saint ), from Middle High German sancte or sant (e) (holy), is a designation that precedes the name and denotes a person as saint . It is the Germanized (unchangeable in German) form of the Latin sanctus , sancta , sanctum , heilig, Heiliger). The Latin word sanctus (from sancire to fix, ban, holy) originally meant “delimited (if punished)” and referred to temples and holy areas (cf. sanction ).
In church Latin it was translated from ancient Greek ἅγιος hagios , whose original meaning was " ritually pure ", but which had taken on personal meaning in Christianity : All who became children of God through baptism were designated as holy (as in Paul ). Already the Old Church emphasized this meaning to outstanding witnesses of the faith, especially martyrs .
In the course of the Christianization of the Teutons , Sanctus Lucas became Sankt Lukas, Sancta Barbara became Sankt Barbara, etc. The Latin form Sankt was retained, especially in patronage , geographical and place names , while it was otherwise Germanized. In Austria, the official spelling as epithets for community names depends on the respective state government and differs from state to state. It is similar with local and cadastral parishes , which mostly write differently for historical reasons.
