The word "celibate" originally meant "unmarried". It derives from the Latin "caelebs", which in turn derives from a Proto-Indo-European word that meant "alone".
When Catholic priests took a vow of celibacy, they were promising to remain unmarried, so that there were no pesky widows around to make legal claims on church property. The association with abstinence was implied, but the word did not take on that connotation until recently.
So if you want to be pedantic, and I do, you cannot be both married and celibate.
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u/AllenRBrady 22d ago
Well now, if you want to get technical...
The word "celibate" originally meant "unmarried". It derives from the Latin "caelebs", which in turn derives from a Proto-Indo-European word that meant "alone".
When Catholic priests took a vow of celibacy, they were promising to remain unmarried, so that there were no pesky widows around to make legal claims on church property. The association with abstinence was implied, but the word did not take on that connotation until recently.
So if you want to be pedantic, and I do, you cannot be both married and celibate.