Heretical “trinitarians” – evolution of a word

Following up on the previous post – the word “trinitarian” may be an adjective or a noun. The Oxford English Dictionary lists four adjective meanings: (here’s my editing of relevant parts of their entry, emphasis added)

2. Theol. Relating to the Trinity; holding the doctrine of the Trinity (opp. to Unitarian). In early use, Trinitarian heretic, one holding heretical views as to the Trinity:

1656 BLOUNT Glossogr., Trinitarian hereticks, otherwise New Arians are those that deny the blessed Trinity, and all distinction of the Divine persons.

3. Forming a trinity; consisting of or involving three in one; triple, threefold.

Part of the usage we’re complaining about is 3, where “trinitarian” just means something or some group of things which is somehow triple or threefold. But it’s worse than that – theologians by “trinitarian” often mean just something that is somehow related to something which is three-fold. And worse yet, self-described “trinitarians” mean several different things by “the Trinity”, many of which we’ve looked into here.

So far, we haven’t found what I was looking for – a usage of “trinitarian” for a heresy or heretical party. In the 1656 example above, “trinitarian” heretics are heretical with respect to the Trinity – they aren’t described as “trinitarian” full stop.

We turn then to the noun meanings:

2. Theol. One who holds the doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead; a believer in the Trinity.

1706 PHILLIPS (ed. Kersey) s.v., The Orthodox that believe the Trinity are also call’d Trinitarians by the Socinians.

In earlier use, ‘applied particularly to certain sectaries whose opinion as to the Trinity was not orthodox’ (Littré) = Trinitarian heretic in A. 2; including Antitrinitarians or Unitarians.

1565 HARDING Confut. Apol. 133 There are many other sectes..to witte, Osiandrines, Adiaphoristes, Antinomians, Newe Maniches,..Trinitarians.
1658 PHILLIPS, Trinitarians, a sort of Hereticks that deny the Mystery of the Trinity [1706 (ed. Kersey) adds] and all distinction of the Divine Persons.

Well, there we have it; apparently as late as the mid 17th century, a “trinitarian” could be someone against “the” doctrine of the Trinity. This is odd… what would they call believers in “the” doctrine (i.e. partisans of the standard creedal formulas)? I guess… “orthodox”. Or maybe: “Christians” or “catholics”.

In any case, when they invented the word “unitarian” in (I’ve been told) 1673, it seems that “trinitarian” evolved to its current use.

One last thing: the OED also mentions this linguistic turd: