Picture a temple with a doorway. Inside is what a community has set apart as holy; outside is everything else — the market, the kitchen, the ordinary week. Profane always points at the outside of that door. Sometimes it is only pointing, and says nothing more than not religious. Sometimes it is describing what happens when the two sides get mixed: something from inside is handled as if it belonged outside, and then the same word carries a charge. Even the person who stands outside the door has borne this name.
From the word’s history
The packet's source entry traces the word to Latin profanus, from pro- (in front of, instead of) plus fanum (temple) — literally what is outside the temple. The door in the core image is that Latin word, still standing.
封包裡的字源資料寫著這個字來自拉丁文 profānus，由 pro-（在…之外／代替）加上 fānum（神殿）組成，字面就是「神殿之外」。核心畫面裡那道門，其實就是這個拉丁字本身，一直還立在那裡。
Wiktionary etymology supplied in this packet: From Middle French prophane, from Latin profanus (not religious, unclean), from pro- + fanum (temple) (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:875359686:32723).
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