1526, from L.
anathema "an excommunicated person, the curse of excommunication," from Gk.
anathema "a thing accursed," originally "a thing devoted," lit. "a thing set up (to the gods)," from
ana- "up" +
tithenai "to place," from PIE base
*dhe- "to put, to do" (see
factitious). Originally simply a votive offering, by the time it reached L. the meaning had progressed through "thing devoted to evil," to "thing accursed or damned." Later applied to persons and the Divine Curse.
Anathema maranatha, taken as an intensified form, is a misreading of the Syriac
maran etha "the Lord hath come," which follows
anathema in I Cor. xvi.22, but is not connected with it.