From 'continency' to 'abstinence': the English vocabulary of sexual restraint

What does chastity mean?

Chastity means sexual purity as understood in a given tradition, and in Christian usage it covers married and unmarried people alike. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, for example, describes chastity as the successful integration of sexuality within the person (paragraph 2337), and says that all the baptised are called to a chaste life in keeping with their state of life (2348) ^[3]. It adds that married people are called to conjugal chastity, that others practise chastity in continence, and that some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy (2349) ^[3].

This is wider than the everyday meaning many people now give the word. In casual speech 'chaste' tends to mean 'not having sex at all', which is closer to celibacy or virginity. The older meaning is about the right ordering of sexual conduct rather than its absence. A married couple could be chaste in the traditional sense, and an unmarried person who abstained could be as well.

The adjective and the noun are old, and they carried the Church's definition from the start. Etymonline records 'chaste' from about 1200 in the sense of "virtuous, pure from unlawful sexual intercourse", with the standard set by the Church, and notes that by the fifteenth century the sense "sexually pure" had become common, possibly under the influence of chastity ^[5]. The noun chastity, recorded from about 1200, covered more than virginity or celibacy ^[1]. The moral content of the word was therefore built in by the religious culture that introduced it.

The word shares a moral register with fornication. Where fornication names the act, chastity names the virtue that is opposed to it. A reader who understands both words can follow a large part of the religious debate about sex before marriage, a debate set out in the articles on Catholic teaching on fornication and on what the Church of England teaches about sex before marriage.

Dated stages in the English vocabulary of sexual restraint

1. c. 1200'Chaste' and 'chastity' (chastete) are recorded, from Old French and Latin castus, 'pure' [1][5].
2. Mid-14th century'Abstinence' is recorded for forbearance in indulging the appetites, especially sexual ones [7].
3. Late 14th century'Continence' enters English for self-restraint, especially of sexual desire [4].
4. 1662The Book of Common Prayer marriage service speaks of those who 'have not the gift of continency' [2].
5. 1894The phrase 'chastity belt' is first recorded [1].
6. 1915'Continence' is first used for control of the body's excretory functions [4].
7. August 1998Lambeth Resolution I.10 says that abstinence is right for those not called to marriage [8].
8. Current teachingThe Catechism of the Catholic Church presents chastity as a virtue for every state of life, with continence for those not married (2348-2350) [3].

What does continence mean?

Continence means self-restraint, especially control over sexual desire, and in older religious writing it names the capacity to live without sexual relations. Etymonline defines the word as it came into English in the late fourteenth century: self-restraint or moderation, especially of sexual desire ^[4]. The Catholic Catechism uses the related word 'continence' for the form chastity takes in people who are not married: it says that married people live conjugal chastity while others practise chastity in continence ^[3].

The difference from chastity is one of emphasis. Chastity is the goal, a way of living sexuality well in any state of life. Continence is the discipline of holding back, and so it applies most clearly to the person who is not married. The Catechism's paragraph on engaged couples says they are called to live chastity in continence, a period it presents as a time of testing, and asks them to keep the expressions of affection proper to married love for marriage ^[3].

In the Prayer Book, continence has an even more specific sense: a capacity that some people have and others do not. That is the idea that gave rise to the phrase "the gift of continency", discussed below. The assumption behind it is that sexual self-restraint over a whole life is not equally possible for everyone, and that marriage is the provision for those who cannot manage it.

The modern meaning of the word has largely drifted away from this. Etymonline records that the use of 'continence' for control of the body's excretory functions dates from 1915 ^[4], and that is now the sense most English speakers would think of first. Anyone reading the older religious texts today has to switch back to the original meaning deliberately.

Where do the two words come from?

Both words come from Latin through Old French. 'Chastity' goes back to Latin castitas, from castus, which Etymonline glosses as "cut off, separated; pure", and which belongs to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cut" ^[1]. The same root gave 'caste' and 'chaste' ^[1]. The sense of purity is thus built on the image of being set apart.

The medieval schools had their own gloss on the word. In the Summa Theologiae (II-II, question 151, article 1), Thomas Aquinas says that chastity takes its name from the fact that reason "chastises" concupiscence, and he cites Aristotle's Ethics ^[6]. That is a learned etymology rather than a historical one, but it shows how the word was understood in the schools: chastity was reason keeping desire in order.

'Continence' comes from Latin continentia, "a holding back, repression", an abstract noun from continere, "to hold back, check", which also meant "to hold together, enclose" ^[4]. Continere combines com- ("with, together") and tenere ("to hold"), and tenere goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to stretch" ^[4]. The image is of holding oneself together.

The two words arrived at different times. Etymonline dates chastity and chaste to about 1200 ^[1][5]. It dates continence to the late fourteenth century ^[4], and a related word, 'abstinence', to the middle of the fourteenth century, when it meant forbearance in indulging the appetites, "especially of sexual appetites", though it was also applied to food, fighting and luxury ^[7]. The entries do not give a date for the shift in which 'abstinence' became the usual word in modern English for refraining from sex, so none is claimed here.

What did the Prayer Book mean by 'the gift of continency'?

The Prayer Book meant a God-given ability to live without sexual relations, which only some people were thought to have. The marriage service of 1662 lists three causes for which matrimony was ordained: the procreation of children, a remedy against sin and to avoid fornication so that "such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry", and the mutual society, help and comfort of the couple ^[2]. The second cause is the one in which continence appears.

The logic is clear. If a person has the gift, they can remain unmarried and sexually abstinent. If they do not, marriage provides the lawful setting for sexual life, and in that setting the avoidance of fornication is achieved. The phrase therefore treats marriage as the normal provision and continence as the exceptional gift. The background in the New Testament, especially the seventh chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, and the history of the formula back to Thomas Cranmer's first Prayer Book of 1549 are set out in the article on the Prayer Book and fornication.

It is worth being precise about how the words fit together. In this one clause, three ideas meet: fornication is the thing to be avoided, continence is the capacity that would avoid it without marriage, and marriage is the remedy for those who lack it. Chastity does not appear in the clause, though the whole structure is about how to live chastely in a world where not everyone can live continently.

Modern liturgy has dropped this language. The introduction to the Church of England's modern Common Worship marriage service uses neither the word fornication nor the word continency; it speaks instead of the joy of bodily union strengthening the union of hearts and lives ^[9]. The phrase about continency belongs only to the 1662 form, which remains available ^[2].

How do churches use the words today?

Churches use 'chastity' as a living moral term, 'continence' much less, and 'abstinence' as the usual everyday word for refraining from sex. In the Catholic Catechism the vocabulary is still active. Paragraph 2349 quotes the distinction between the chastity of spouses, widows and virgins and says that no form is to be praised at the expense of the others, while paragraph 2350 asks engaged people to live chastity in continence ^[3].

In the Anglican Communion the working word is 'abstinence'. Resolution I.10 of the Lambeth Conference of August 1998 upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union and says that the bishops believe abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage ^[8]. The resolution does not use the older words as its main terms, which is itself a small sign of the vocabulary shift. The fuller story of that resolution is told in the article on the Lambeth resolution of 1998.

Other denominations have developed their own wording, and some have revised their guidance on couples who live together. The varied picture across British churches is the subject of a separate article on what the UK churches say about sex before marriage.

Outside the churches, the vocabulary has largely been replaced by neutral terms. A British writer today is more likely to say 'abstinence', 'celibacy' or 'waiting until marriage' than 'continence', and 'chaste' now belongs mostly to literary or religious writing. The older words remain essential for anyone reading Prayer Book, Bible or Catechism texts, where they carry a meaning that the modern words do not fully capture.

Frequently asked questions

Does chastity mean celibacy?

No, although the two overlap. In Christian usage, chastity applies to everyone: the Catechism speaks of conjugal chastity for the married, chastity in continence for others and consecrated celibacy for some ^[3]. Celibacy is therefore one way of living chastity rather than a synonym for it.

Is continence still used in a moral sense?

Rarely. The word survives in Catholic teaching, where those who are not married are described as practising chastity in continence ^[3], and in the Prayer Book's 'gift of continency' ^[2]. In modern English its first meaning is medical, a sense Etymonline dates from 1915 ^[4].

When did 'abstinence' replace 'continence' in everyday speech?

There is no reliable date. Etymonline records 'abstinence' from the mid-fourteenth century and 'continence' from the late fourteenth, but neither entry dates the shift in everyday speech ^[4][7]. By 1998 the Lambeth Conference was using 'abstinence' as its working term ^[8].

Does chastity apply to married people?

Yes. In the Catechism, married people are called to live conjugal chastity ^[3]. The traditional idea is that chastity is a virtue suited to a person's state of life, so the married and the unmarried are both called to it in different ways ^[3].

Why is 'continence' now mostly a medical word?

Because the word was applied in 1915 to control of the body's excretory functions, and that use became dominant ^[4]. The older sense of sexual self-restraint remained in religious writing, so the word now has two unrelated meanings. Readers of older texts have to choose the right one from the context.

Is chastity only a Catholic idea?

No. The Catholic Catechism gives the most detailed modern statement ^[3], but chastity is a general Christian virtue and the Book of Common Prayer, an Anglican text, builds its marriage service around the avoidance of fornication ^[2]. Anglican bishops at Lambeth in 1998 also said that abstinence is right for those not called to marriage ^[8].