church

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱewh₁-“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromκυριακόν
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*kirikā
4. Old English · inherited fromċiriċe“church”
5. Middle English · inherited fromchirche
6. English todaychurch

From Middle English chirche, from Old English ċiriċe (“church”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā, an early borrowing of Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón), neuter form of κυριακός (kuriakós, “belonging to the lord”), from κύριος (kúrios, “ruler, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”). Doublet of kirk. Additional etymological information For vowel evolution, see bury. Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón) was used of houses of Christian worship since circa 300 CE, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “congregation”) or βασιλική (basilikḗ, “royal thing”). An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, possibly via the Goths; it was probably used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period. Cognate with Scots kirk (“church”), West Frisian tsjerke (“church”), Saterland Frisian Säärke (“church”), Dutch kerk (“church”), German Kirche (“church”), Danish kirke (“church”), Swedish kyrka (“church”), Norwegian Bokmål kirke, Norwegian Nynorsk kyrkje (“church”), and Faroese and Icelandic kirkja (“church”). Also picked up by Slavic, via Old High German chirihha (compare Old Church Slavonic црькꙑ (crĭky), Bulgarian църква (cărkva), Russian це́рковь (cérkovʹ)). Romance and Celtic languages use descendants of Latin ecclēsia.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 9th c. A Christian house of worship; a building where Christian religious services take place.
• from 9th c. Christians collectively seen as a single spiritual community; Christianity; Christendom.
• from 9th c. A local group of people who follow the same Christian religious beliefs, local or general.
• from 9th c. A particular denomination of Christianity.
• from 10th c. Christian worship held at a church; service.
• from 16th c. Any religious group or place of worship; a temple.
• from 15th c. To conduct a religious service for (a woman after childbirth, or a newly married couple).