not religious; immoral; irreverent

1790, from Arabic qafir "unbeliever, infidel, impious wretch," with a lit. sense of "one who does not admit the blessings of God," from kafara "to cover up, conceal, deny." Technically, "non-Muslim," but in Ottoman times it came to be used almost exclusively for "Christian." Early Eng. missionaries used it as an equivalent of "heathen" to refer to Bantus in South Africa (1792), from which use it came generally to mean "South African black" regardless of ethnicity, and to be a term of abuse since at least 1934. 

envious; obnoxious; offensive; likely to promote ill-will; insulting; resentful

1606, from L. invidiosus "envious," from invidia "ill will" (see envy). 

sound of a funeral bell; omen of death or failure

O.E. cnyll "sound made by a bell when struck or rung slowly," of imitative origin. Cf. M.H.G. erknellen "to resound," O.E. cnyllan. The Welsh cnull "death-bell" appears to be a borrowing from Eng. For vowel evolution, see bury. 

lacking energy; slow; indifferent

1597, from L. languidus "faint, listless," from languere "be weak or faint," from PIE base *(s)leg- "to be slack" (see lax). 

to conciliate; to appease

1388, from L.L. propitiationem (nom. propitiatio) "an atonement," from L. propitiare "render favorable," from propitius "favorable, gracious, kind," from pro- "forward" + petere "go to" (see petition). Earliest recorded form of the word is propitiatorium, "the mercy seat, place of atonement" (c.1200), transl. Gk. hilasterion. The verb propitiate is attested from 1645, from L. propitiatus, pp. of propitiare. Propitious "favorable" is from 1447. 

extremely sacred; beyond criticism

1601, from L. sacrosanctus "protected by religious sanction," from sacro, abl. of sacrum "religious sanction" (from neut. sing. of sacer "sacred") + sanctus, pp. of sancire "make sacred" (see sacred). 

a self-serving flatterer; yes-man; bootlicker

1537 (in L. form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from L. sycophanta, from Gk. sykophantes, originally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" + phanein "to show." "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, itself symbolic of a cunt (sykon also meant "vulva"). The story goes that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in Eng. 1575. 

a change or variation

1570, from M.Fr. vicissitude (14c.), from L. vicissitudinem (nom. vicissitudo) "change," from vicissim "changeably, in turn," from vicis "a turn, change" (see vicarious).