Illustrations of English words derived from the Greek in the New Testament.
By Gaylon West.
History of English word "church":
Old English cirice, circe "church, public place of worship; Christians collectively," from Proto-Germanic *kirika (cognates: Old Saxon kirika, Old Norse kirkja, Old Frisian zerke, Middle Dutch kerke, Dutch kerk, etc., probably from Greek kyriake (oikia), kyriakon doma "Lord's (house)," from kyrios "ruler, lord," from PIE root "to swell" ("swollen," hence "strong, powerful"). Phonetic spelling from c. 1200, established by 16c.
Greek kyriakon (adj.) "of the Lord" was used of houses of worship since c.300, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ekklesia. An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, via the Goths; it probably was used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period.
Book of Ecclesiastes:
The book takes its name from the Greek ekklesiastes, a translation of the title by which the central figure refers to himself: Koheleth, meaning something like "one who convenes or addresses an assembly".
Late Latin ecclesia, from Greek ekklesia assembly of citizens, church, from ekkalein to call forth, summon, from ex- + kalein to call —
-reference: etymonline.com
ekkle¯sia --
Thayer Definition:
1) a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly
1a) an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating
1b) the assembly of the Israelites
1c) any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously
1d) in a Christian sense
1d1) an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting
1d2) a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order’s sake
1d3) those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body
1d4) the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth
1d5) the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from a compound of G1537 ex and a derivative of G2564 kaleo¯
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