parish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpæɹɪʃ/ (UK); /ˈpæɹɪʃ/, /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English paroche, later parosshe and parish,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman paroche, Old French paroisse,^[3][2][4] from Late Latin parochia (“a diocese”), paroecia,^[3][2][4] from Late Greek παροικία (paroikía, “a diocese or parish; a sojourning”),^[3][2] from pároikos, a sojourner, in classical Greek a neighbour, from pará, near, and oîkos, house,^[3][4] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *weik- (“clan”).^[3] Barnhart suggests that the English form is partly a back-formation from paroschien, parishioner.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A district with its own church and clergyman, and its members: about 1300.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The development in the early Church is unclear: it may come from the use of sojourner as an epithet of Christians as spiritual sojourners in the world,^[3] and Hoad doubts whether neighbour or sojourner determined the application.^[4] In early Church writing it had a more general sense than Greek dioíkēsis, diocese, but by the 13th century the two were synonymous.^[3] It replaced Old English preostscyr, priest-shire.^[3] In Great Britain from the 1630s, in some southern American colonies and in Louisiana it became the name of a civil division for local government.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – paroche.^[2]
• c. 1330 – parish.^[2]
• 1601 – a civil district.^[5]
• 1630s – in British local government.^[3]
• 1833 – the verb.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A division of a diocese with its own church and priest or minister.
2. The members of such a parish; a congregation.
3. (British) The smallest unit of local government in rural areas.
4. (Louisiana) A county.

Word family

• interparish
• outparish
• parishioner
• parish house
• parish register

Related words

• parochial
• diocese
• economy
• ecology

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press