synod

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English synod, a respelling after Latin of sinoth,^[2][3] inherited from Old English seonoþ, also sinoþ and synoþ,^[4][5][2] which is borrowed from Late Latin synodus,^[5][6][7][3] from Ancient Greek σύνοδος (súnodos, “assembly, meeting; conjunction of planets”),^[5][2][3][8] formed from σύν (sún, “together”) and ὁδός (hodós, “way, journey”).^[5][8][2] In the 16th century it was reinforced by French synode,^[5][9] and the Latin word also gave Italian sinodo and Spanish sínodo.^[5] Old Frisian and Old High German borrowed it too.^[4] Klein notes that the same Greek word for way is the second element of anode and cathode.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A council of the Church: in Old English seonoþ was used mostly of the councils of the Christian Church, and also of other meetings.^[4] Barnhart's first Middle English record is sinoth in the Peterborough Chronicle, before 1121, and the spelling synod is first found before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible;^[3] the OED's first quotation is from Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon (before 1387).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Greek word meant any coming together, including the conjunction of planets,^[2][3] and English used it for that astrological sense from 1646 to 1686.^[5] From 1593 it was the name of a Presbyterian church court ranking above the presbytery.^[5][2] Etymonline says that the Presbyterians used it until about 1920, when it was replaced by General Council;^[2] Weekley quotes a 1920 report that the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of England had been renamed the General Assembly.^[10] Since 1578 the word has also been used of any assembly or council,^[5] as in Shakespeare's "The glorious gods sit in hourly synod" (Coriolanus), which Johnson quotes.^[11]

Timeline

• Old English – seonoþ, a church council.^[4]
• before 1121 – sinoth, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[3]
• before 1382 – the spelling synod.^[3]
• before 1387 – an assembly of the clergy convened to decide church matters.^[5]
• 1578 – any assembly or council.^[5]
• 1593 – a Presbyterian court above the presbytery.^[5][2]
• 1646 – a conjunction of planets (obsolete by 1686).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ecclesiastical council or assembly convened to discuss and decide church affairs.^[12][13][5]
2. A governing or advisory body of a church, such as a Presbyterian court ranking above the presbytery.^[12][5]
3. Any assembly or council.^[12][5]

Word family

• synodal
• antisynod
• synodic
• holy synod

Related words

• method
• exodus
• anode
• cathode

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins