liturgy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlɪtəd͡ʒi/ (UK); /ˈlɪtɚd͡ʒi/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin liturgia (“public service, public worship”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} partly through Middle French liturgie,^[3][4] from Ancient Greek λειτουργία (leitourgía, “public service”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from leitourgós “public servant”,^[2][3][4] from leito- “public”, from lāós “people”,^[2][3][4][5] and -ourgos “that works”, from érgon “work”.^[2][3][4] It is related to lay and laity.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The service of the Holy Eucharist, properly the rite of the Eastern Church (1560).^[3][7][5][4]

Semantic evolution

From the 1590s the word meant a form of public worship in general, or a collection of set formulas for divine service.^[7][4] With the it was used of the Book of Common Prayer (1629).^[7] In ancient Athens a liturgy was a public duty that wealthy citizens performed at their own cost, such as staging a drama or fitting out a warship,^[4][7] a sense recorded in English from 1836.^[7] Merriam-Webster also gives a figurative sense, a customary repertoire of ideas or phrases.^[5]

Timeline

• 1560 – the Eucharistic rite.^[3][5][7]
• about 1593 – a form of public worship.^[7]
• 1629 – the Book of Common Prayer.^[7]
• 1641 – liturgical.^[3]
• 1836 – a public duty in ancient Athens.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A prescribed form or set of rites for public worship; ritual.
2. (often capitalized) The service of the Eucharist, especially in the Eastern Church.
3. A customary repertoire of ideas, phrases or observances.
4. In ancient Greece, a public service performed by a citizen at his own expense.

Word family

• liturgical
• liturgics
• liturgiologist
• liturgiology
• liturgist
• Divine Liturgy

Related words

• lay
• laity
• -urgy
• work

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press