The classical explanation of the word, traced to Cicero himself, derives it from re- + lego in the sense of "choose", "go over again" or "consider carefully". Modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell favor the derivation from ligo "bind, connect", probably from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re- + ligare or "to reconnect," which was made prominent by St. Augustine, following the interpretation of Lactantius. Newer research shows that in the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin rootreligio was understood as an individual virtue of worship in mundane contexts; never as doctrine, practice, or actual source of knowledge. In general, religio referred to broad social obligations towards anything including family, neighbors, rulers, and even towards God. Religio was most often used by the ancient Romans not in the context of a relation towards gods, but as a range of general emotions such as hesitation, caution, anxiety, fear; feelings of being bound, restricted, inhibited; which arose from heightened attention in any mundane context. The term was also closely related to other terms like scrupulus which meant "very precisely" and some Roman authors related the term superstitio, which meant too much fear or anxiety or shame, to religio at times. When religio came into English around the 1200s as religion, it took the meaning of "life bound by monastic vows" or monastic orders.
Examples of usage
connected lego read, i.e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The definition of religio by Cicero is cultum deorum, "the proper performance of rites in veneration of the gods." Julius Caesar used religio to mean "obligation of an oath" when discussing captured soldiers making an oath to their captors The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, used the term religio to describe elephants' supposed veneration of the sun and the moon. St. Augustine, following the interpretation given by Lactantius in Divinae institutiones, IV, 28 derived religio from re and ligare bind, connect, probably from a prefix. The medieval usage alternates with order'' in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders: "we hear of the 'religion' of the Golden Fleece, of a knight 'of the religion of Avys'".
Within the system of what we would now call "Roman religion, the term religio originally meant an obligation to the gods, something expected by them from human beings or a matter of particular care or concern as related to the gods, "reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety". In this sense, religio might be translated better as "religious scruple" than with the English word "religion". One definition of religio offered by Cicero is cultus deorum, "the proper performance of rites in veneration of the gods." Religio among the Romans was not based on "faith", but on knowledge, including and especially correct practice. Religio was the pious practice of Rome's traditional cults, and was a cornerstone of the mos maiorum, the traditional social norms that regulated public, private, and military life. To the Romans, their success was self-evidently due to their practice of proper, respectful religio, which gave the gods what was owed them and which was rewarded with social harmony, peace and prosperity. Religious law maintained the proprieties of divine honours, sacrifice, and ritual. Impure sacrifice and incorrect ritual were vitia ; excessive devotion, fearful grovelling to deities, and the improper use or seeking of divine knowledge were superstitio; neglecting the religiones owed to the traditional gods was atheism, a charge leveled during the Empire at Jews, Christians, and Epicureans. Any of these moral deviations could cause divine anger and, therefore, harm the State. See Religion in ancient Rome. Religiosus was something pertaining to the gods or marked out by them as theirs, as distinct from sacer, which was something or someone given to them by humans. Hence, a graveyard was not primarily defined as sacer but a locus religiosus, because those who lay within its boundaries were considered belonging to the di Manes. Places struck by lightning were taboo because they had been marked as religiosus by Jupiter himself.
