Blaˊsphemy

Blaˊsphemy [blaspheme (French) blasfemia (Spanish), blasphemia (Latin), of βλαγζημιἀ (Greek)]

an Uttering of reproachful Words tending to the Dishonour of God, &c. vile, base Language.

This Crime was represented by the Ancients in Painting by a Woman with a dismay’d Countenance, holding in her left Hand a flaming Torch, and with her right dragging by the Hair a naked Child, which at the same time lifted up it’s Hands to Heaven. At her Feet a Basilisk.

Definition taken from The Universal Etymological English Dictionary, edited by Nathan Bailey (1736)

Bistort [with Botanists] * Blood