"Sin" has had even a more tortuous haul semantically through the history of language than that, Luminom.

It originated as a Proto-Indo-European expression "es-ont" which literally (in English) means "it is true". It is the equivalent therefore of "fair cop guv" or "damn you, Columbo, yes it was indeed I!" and infers not only a transgression but that the perpetrator acknowledges guilt of a crime. It contains no indication of the severity of the crime, nor of the punishment (if any) the crime merits. It is simply a statement of confirmation that a transgression has occurred and that the perp knows it.

Most importantly, it has absolutely nothing to do with religion, unless of course the community agrees that it should. Here in Norway, for example, where christianity came relatively late and long after the basic language still in use had been established, the word "synd" which is now used as the direct translation is used much more frequently simply to indicate any bad thing (such as "aw shit, it's raining today - that's a synd&quot.

Their word for "truth" - sannhet - shares the same etymological root incidentally, and retains much more of the semantic character of the original expression.