The word for today is…

sin (noun) – 1. A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate.
2.(Theology)
a. Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God.
b. A condition of estrangement from God resulting from such disobedience.
3. Something regarded as being shameful, deplorable, or utterly wrong.

Source : The Free Dictionary

Etymology : Old English synn “moral wrongdoing, injury, mischief, enmity, feud, guilt, crime, offense against God, misdeed,” from Proto-Germanic *sundi? “sin” (source also of Old Saxon sundia, Old Frisian sende, Middle Dutch sonde, Dutch zonde, German SĆ¼nde “sin, transgression, trespass, offense,” extended forms), probably ultimately “it is true,” i.e. “the sin is real” (compare Gothic sonjis, Old Norse sannr “true”), from PIE *snt-ya-, a collective form from *es-ont- “becoming,” present participle of root *es- “to be.”

The semantic development is via notion of “to be truly the one (who is guilty),” as in Old Norse phrase verĆ° sannr at “be found guilty of,” and the use of the phrase “it is being” in Hittite confessional formula. The same process probably yielded the Latin word sons (genitive sontis) “guilty, criminal” from present participle of sum, esse “to be, that which is.” Some etymologists believe the Germanic word was an early borrowing directly from the Latin genitive. Also see sooth.

Sin-eater is attested from 1680s. To live in sin “cohabit without marriage” is from 1838; used earlier in a more general sense. Ice hockey slang sin bin “penalty box” is attested from 1950.

Peter is a fourth-generationĀ NewĀ Zealander, with his mother's and father's folks having arrived in New Zealand in the 1870s. He lives in Lower Hutt with his wife, some cats and assorted computers. His...