ABSTRACT
In English, the term “defile” derives from a medieval word meaning “to trample on, to march over” but also came to be associated with the word “befoul,” meaning “to pollute.” The term, therefore, maintains two senses: physical violation or violence and physical stain or infection. Moreover, defilement has also taken on symbolic significance, including spiritual or religious figurative violations or sins, which themselves come to be represented as stains or impurities. In many apocalyptic texts, sinners in hell are depicted as being physically violated and defiled with excrements. Millennialist movements, likewise, may be concerned paradoxically either with maintaining the “purity” of the elect by avoiding pollution or with ritualizing the elect’s liberty by engaging in ritualized defilement.
