Dictionary

hagiography en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌhæɡiˈɒɡɹəfi/ (UK)
• /ˌhæɡiˈɒɡɹəfi/ (US)
• /ˌheɪd͡ʒiˈɒɡɹəfi/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English hagio- Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō Ancient Greek γρᾰ́φω (grắphō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-ā́ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ) Ancient Greek -γραφίᾱ (-graphíā)bor. French -graphieder. English -graphy English hagiography From hagio- + -graphy.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The study of saints and the documentation of their lives.
   • Jacques LeGoff remarks, 'Hagiography tells us much about the mental infrastructure [of the middle ages]: the interpenetration between the tangible world and the supernatural world, the common nature of the corporeal and psychic, are the conditions which make miracles and related phenomena possible. 2005, Thomas Head, Hagiography and the Cult of Saints: The Diocese of Orléans, 800-1200, →ISBN:
   • Charters, wills, and monastic rules offer evidence for this transformation, but it is hagiography and its double-scoped discourse that illuminates it best, and we will start with a vita that pursued the question of peroperty and prestige more comprehensively than the rest, the Vita Sadalbergae. 2014, Jamie Kreiner, The Social Life of Hagiography in the Merovingian Kingdom, →ISBN, page 189:
   • The second half of the eleventh century saw a notable surge of interest in hagiography throughout England, which meant that many of the Anglo-Saxon saints of earlier eras were furnished, often for the first time, with a Latin Vita. 2004, Rosalind C. Love, Goscelin of Saint-Bertin: The Hagiography of the Female Saints of Ely, →ISBN:
2. (countable) A biography of a saint.
3. (broadly, countable) A biography which expresses reverence and respect for its subject.
   • Churchill revisionism, of course, is almost as much of a cottage industry as Churchill hagiography. 2021 October 26, Peter Baker, “The Case Against Winston Churchill”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
4. (countable, derogatory, uncountable) A biography which is uncritically supportive of its subject, often including embellishments or propaganda.
   • For an obsequious hagiography of [William] Byrd, see L. Wright 1940. For a more critical assessment, see Lockridge 1987, 1992. 2006, Matt Wray, Not Quite White, page 151:
   • Between 2000 to 2019, 55% of leading actor and actress Oscars went to performances in a biopic. Over the past four years, the genre has been responsible for 63 Oscar nominations. Yet at the same time, hagiography has resurfaced as a pre-requisite for success. 2026 April 26, Catherine Shoard, “Bad movies, good business: how sanitised biopics became a Hollywood staple”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • This 'cultivated characteriology' (ibid., p. 117) is one that she suggests has been reduced to the cult of the theorist's personality in many of the hagiographies written about Foucault, missing how he cultivated his ethos or characteriology in order to persuade, seduce, unsettle, question, and so forth. 2016, Britta Timm Knudsen, Carsten Stage, Affective Methodologies, page 29:

Forms

Deriveds

autohagiography · hagiographic · hagiographer · hagiographical

Relateds

mash note · paean

Translations (57)

ru житие́ (biography which expresses reverence) · fi hagiografia (biography which is uncritically supportive) · it agiografía (study of saints) · hu hagiográfia (biography of a saint) · nl heiligenleven (biography of a saint) · fi pyhimyselämäkerta (biography of a saint) · fr hagiographie (study of saints) · bg животоописание (biography of a saint) · mk жи́тие (biography of a saint) · gl haxiografía (study of saints) · ca hagiografia (study of saints) · nl hagiografie (study of saints) · fr hagiographie (biography of a saint) · fa تذکرهنویسی (study of saints) · cmn 吹捧性的傳記 /吹捧性的传记 (biography which expresses reverence) · es hagiografía (biography of a saint) · hy սրբագրություն (biography of a saint) · cmn 聖徒研究 /圣徒研究 (study of saints) · ru житие́ (study of saints) · ru житие́ святы́х (study of saints) · fi hagiologia (study of saints) · da hagiografi (study of saints) · ru агиогра́фия (biography of a saint) · fa تذکره (biography of a saint) · ka ჰაგიოგრაფია (biography of a saint) · pt hagiografia (biography which expresses reverence) · mk хагиогра́фија (study of saints) · ru жити́йная литерату́ра (biography of a saint) · ka ჰაგიოგრაფია (study of saints) · sh žitije (biography of a saint) · ru житие́ святы́х (biography of a saint) · es hagiografía (study of saints) · ru житие́ (biography of a saint) · sv hagiografi (biography of a saint) · pt hagiografia (study of saints) · bo རྣམ་ཐར (biography of a saint) · cmn 吹捧性的傳記 /吹捧性的传记 (biography which is uncritically supportive) · de Lebensbeschreibung der Heiligen (study of saints) · fi hagiografia (biography which expresses reverence) · el αγιολογία (study of saints) · da hagiografi (biography of a saint) · nl hagiografie (biography which expresses reverence) · hy սրբախոսություն (biography of a saint) · pt hagiografia (biography which is uncritically supportive) · nl hagiografie (biography of a saint) · de Lebensbeschreibung der Heiligen (biography of a saint) · pt hagiografia (biography of a saint) · fa تذکره (biography which expresses reverence) · ru агиогра́фия (study of saints) · ca hagiologia (study of saints) · mk хагиогра́фија (biography of a saint) · it agiografía (biography of a saint) · fi hagiografia (biography of a saint) · ca hagiografia (biography of a saint) · nl vita (biography of a saint) · cmn 聖徒傳 /圣徒传 (biography of a saint) · sh житије (biography of a saint)