Where do we get the word "Church?"

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on September 21, 2011 at 7:24pm

What's your source for this, Aleksondr? (Let me guess--Is it Barbara Walker?)

 

The fact that "Circe" and looks like "church" and is pronounced similarly to "kirk" does not necessitate an etymological connection.

 

I can tell you flat out that the English word "church" is not a descendant of the Scottish word "kirk," which was adapted into Scots English from Danish due to the Scandinavian influence in the northern part of Britain. Many Scandinavian words that have a hard K sound have an equivalent CH sound in the English cognate, such as "scatter" and "shatter." That's because the words are cousins of one another, not because one is a descendant of the other. An analogous situation occurs with the English word "fish" and the Danish word "fisk."

 

(Two other words that had a similar relationship are skirt and shirt--both of which originally meant 'garment.' It was only in relatively modern times that the two words came to refer to different garments.)

 

I'm also curious about the evidence regarding the supposed worship of Circe. Nothing I've encountered in the actual historical record suggests that Circe was worshiped, much less that her worship was brought to medieval Scotland. Keep in mind that if ancient figure Circe had been worshiped, her cult would have been obliterated long before the medieval period.

 

While it's true that a largely Greek religion did have an influence on our language, that religion was Christianity, not Greco-Roman Paganism.

 

James

Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on September 21, 2011 at 7:31pm

church 

O.E. cirice "church, public place of worship, Christians collectively," from W.Gmc. *kirika (cf. O.S. kirika, O.N. kirkja, O.Fris. zerke, M.Du. kerke, O.H.G. kirihha, Ger. Kirche), from Gk. kyriake (oikia), kyriakon doma "Lord's (house)," from kyrios "ruler, lord," from PIE base *keue- "to swell" ("swollen," hence "strong, powerful"). Phonetic spelling from c.1200, established by 16c. For vowel evolution, see bury. 

Gk. kyriakon (adj.) "of the Lord" was used of houses of Christian worship since c.300, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ekklesia or basilike. An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, via the Goths.

--from Etymonline.com

Permalink Reply by Hugh Cole on September 21, 2011 at 7:51pm

I thought "Kirk" was Captain of the Enterprise.   (Later of course moving on to be Admiral Kirk of the Federation of Planets.)

Beam me up Scotty....

 

    Hugh Cole

       Starfleet Historian and Pretty Goodest Hypnotist on the Planet,

Permalink Reply by docregal.com on September 22, 2011 at 3:27am

Thanks for your research, James. My link was provided above. Look again.

James Hazlerig said:

church 

O.E. cirice "church, public place of worship, Christians collectively," from W.Gmc. *kirika (cf. O.S. kirika, O.N. kirkja, O.Fris. zerke, M.Du. kerke, O.H.G. kirihha, Ger. Kirche), from Gk. kyriake (oikia), kyriakon doma "Lord's (house)," from kyrios "ruler, lord," from PIE base *keue- "to swell" ("swollen," hence "strong, powerful"). Phonetic spelling from c.1200, established by 16c. For vowel evolution, see bury. 

Gk. kyriakon (adj.) "of the Lord" was used of houses of Christian worship since c.300, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ekklesia or basilike. An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, via the Goths.

--from Etymonline.com

Permalink Reply by docregal.com on September 22, 2011 at 3:28am

Correct, Hugh. Look at the source for that footnote.

Hugh Cole said:

I thought "Kirk" was Captain of the Enterprise.   (Later of course moving on to be Admiral Kirk of the Federation of Planets.)

Beam me up Scotty....

 

    Hugh Cole

       Starfleet Historian and Pretty Goodest Hypnotist on the Planet,