cathedral

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈθiː.drəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French cathedral and Late Latin cathedrālis, of the (bishop's) chair,^[2][3][4] from Latin cathedra, chair,^[2][5] from Greek καθέδρα (kathédrā, “seat, bench”),^[2][5][3] from κατά (katá), down, and ἕδρα (hédra), seat, from the root of sit.^[5][3] chair comes from the same Latin word.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, in cathedral church, the church containing a bishop's throne: 1297 in the OED, about 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline,^[7][2][5] partly translating Late Latin ecclesia cathedrālis.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The English word was born an adjective;^[5] the noun, short for cathedral church, is from 1587.^[2][4][5] Authoritative, as from a chair of office, is from 1603 for a professor's chair,^[7] and the Latin phrase ex cathedra, with the full authority of office, refers to the throne of a bishop or pope.^[6]

Timeline

• 1297 – cathedral church.^[7]
• 1587 – a cathedral (noun).^[2][4]
• 1603 – authoritative, professorial.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The principal church of a diocese, containing the bishop's throne.
2. Something like a cathedral in grandeur or authority.

Adjective

1. Of a cathedral or a bishop's throne: a cathedral city.

Word family

• cathedrallike
• procathedral
• Cathedral City
• cathedral ceiling

Related words

• chair
• ex cathedra
• sit
• see

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press