Making amends or repairing a relationship after doing something wrong, or in religious contexts, the act of reconciling with God.
From 'atone' (at + one), literally meaning 'to make one' or 'reconcile.' The word emerged in the 1500s, combining Middle English with the concept of reunifying what was broken, and became especially important in Christian theology.
The word 'atonement' is actually a coined English term—when William Tyndale was translating the Bible, he invented this word by literally putting 'at' and 'one' together to capture the Latin 'reconciliatio,' showing how individual translators can shape an entire language.
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