Chapter 8

The Church

The word church is one of a handful of borrowings into Old English from Greek, in this instance from kuriakon ‘of the lord’, referring originally to one who had authority over a household. The Christians employed this word to refer to their lord Jesus Christ, and coined the term kuriakon doma ‘Lord’s house’, from which we get the English word church. Another term for a church derives from Greek ekklesia (from a root meaning ‘call out’), the root of ecclesiastical; this word was used by the Greeks to refer to an assembly at which adult Athenian males made decisions about the running of the city. Although it is now a noun referring to the building in which a bishop and his staff administer the diocese, cathedral was formerly an adjective used to describe a church containing a bishop’s throne (from Greek kathedra ‘seat’). The bishop who occupies the seat is also from Greek; Old English biscop represents one of the earliest such borrowings (from episkopos ‘overseer’, a title used of one supervising the work of builders or slaves). The district over which a bishop has jurisdiction is termed a diocese, a word drawn from the Greek dioikesis ‘administration’, from dioikein ‘to keep house’—the term employed by the emperor Diocletian when he divided up the empire into twelve districts.

Below the bishop in the ecclesiastical hierarchy is the priest, a title that is ultimately based upon Latin presbyter ‘elder’. Latin also employed sacerdos, from sacer ‘holy’, which gives us the English words sacred, sacrifice, and sacrilege, literally ‘robber of holy things’. The traditional parish church is overseen by a vicar; taking its name from Latin vicarius ‘proxy’ (also the root of vicarious, referring to something done on behalf of another), this word originally referred to the vicar’s position as substitute for the true parson or rector, drawing upon its earlier use for the individual appointed to oversee a diocese in the Roman empire. Below the vicar is the curate; from Latin cura ‘care’, this term was initially employed of any minister of the church with pastoral (from Latin pastor ‘shepherd’) responsibility, but is now specifically accorded to a trainee or assistant member of the clergy (from Latin clericus ‘clergyman’). A role that did not require the administration of pastoral care was known as a sinecure (Latin sine ‘without’ and cura ‘care’)—now used of any job that confers status and financial benefits but involves little actual work. The lowly status of the curate in relation to the lofty bishop is apparent in the origins of the phrase curate’s egg to refer to something of mixed standards. It developed from a cartoon entitled ‘True Humility’ that appeared in Punch magazine in 1895, in which a curate, finding himself served with a bad egg when dining at the bishop’s table, reassures his host that ‘parts of it are excellent’.

Exclusive to the Roman Catholic (Greek katholikos ‘universal’) Church is the role of the cardinal, a member of the pope’s council. The name is a metaphorical use of the Latin cardo ‘hinge’, literally meaning ‘pertaining to a hinge’, and thus ‘chief, principal’. The same image lies behind the use of the word in the cardinal virtues (justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude), the cardinal points (north, south, east, and west), and the cardinal numbers: one, two, three (as opposed to the ordinal numbers: first, second, third). Pontiff, an alternative title for the pope, is from Latin pontifex, literally ‘bridge-builder’. Someone who takes on the role of the pontiff in officiating at a Mass is said to pontificate—from this we get the more common modern usage ‘express views in a dogmatic manner’. The pope himself gets his title from the Greek papas ‘bishop’, a variant form of pappas ‘father’. The Italian word for father, padre, is also used as a title for a priest in various countries and denominations; in the UK it is particularly associated with the armed forces, where it is employed alongside the term chaplain. Chaplain, and the related word chapel, are from Latin cappella ‘little cloak’, which originally referred to the officials (cappellani) who were tasked with taking custody of the cloak of St Martin by the Frankish kings, who had the relic carried before them in battle. From this specific use, the word’s remit was broadened to encompass any sanctuary containing holy relics, and then any place of worship distinct from a church. An earlier name for a sacred building of this kind was Latin oratorium ‘place of prayer’, from which oratory is derived. The church building consists of a nave—the central section in which the congregation is seated—from Latin navis ‘ship’, a reference to the way the ceiling above the nave resembles an inverted ship’s hull. The section of the church near to the altar reserved for the clergy, separated from the main church by steps or a rood screen (from Old English rod ‘cross’), is known as the chancel (from Latin cancelli ‘crossbars’—a reference to a lattice screen that separated the altar from the nave). The word chancel is connected to chancellor, from Latin cancellarius, the term for a court official who was seated behind a grating. There is a further connection with cancel, since this verb describes the process of expunging using a series of crossed lines, or crossing out. The aisle, now used of the passages between rows of seats in theatres, cinemas, and trains, is from Latin ala ‘wing’; the spelling of the English word shows the influence of the French form, aile, as well as confusion with isle.

A Jewish temple is known as a synagogue, from a Greek word meaning ‘meeting’, from sun ‘together’ and agein ‘to bring’. Mosque was introduced into English in the sixteenth century from French, having been borrowed into French from Italian. Its ultimate origin is the Arabic word for the place of worship and prayer, masjid, which is derived from the verb sajada, meaning ‘bow down in prayer’. Islam, the name for the Muslim religion, is derived from an Arabic word meaning ‘submission’—specifically submission to the will of God. This word goes back to the verb salima, ‘to become secure’, which is also the origin of Muslim and of salaam, meaning ‘peace’ (also found in the Hebrew word shalom). The Muslim holy scriptures are known as the Koran or Quran, transliterations of an Arabic word meaning ‘recitation’, related to a verb meaning ‘read’.