paganus

Tertullian De Corona Militis xi, ‘Apud hunc [Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles infidelis’.

The Latin word paganus did change meaning (the original sense was 'rural'), but this occurred centuries before the emergence of English.

Third, unlike words such as rusticitas, paganus had not yet fully acquired the meanings (of uncultured backwardness) used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans.[9] > Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon (see above).

Paganus roughly meant "yokel", in the pejorative sense.

Similarly, "paganus" once referred to a rural, bucolic person in the Roman Empire, and through pejorative use by Christians simply began to denote those who practiced the religion common among the rural Romans.

Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as "Milites Christi" ("soldiers of Christ").[8][9] A good example of Christians still using paganus in a military context rather than religious is in Tertullian's De Corona Militis XI.

Paganus roughly meant "yokel", in the pejorative sense.

Similarly, "paganus" once referred to a rural, bucolic person in the Roman Empire, and through pejorative use by Christians simply began to denote those who practiced the religion common among the rural Romans.

Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as "Milites Christi" ("soldiers of Christ").[8][9] A good example of Christians still using paganus in a military context rather than religious is in Tertullian's De Corona Militis XI.