iglesia

Forms

iglesia f (plural iglesias)^[1] Old Spanish had many forms: eglesia (the usual one, in charters from 921 and in Berceo), eclegia in the Cid, iglisia in Berceo, elguesia in a document of 1244, and the widespread 13th-century egrija and igleja.^[2][3] Igreja long survived in popular and dialect speech and appears in the classical writers in that role;^[1] ilesia is still common in Salamanca, Cáceres and Teruel, and the Fuero Juzgo has eyglesia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin eclesia, the Vulgar Latin form of Latin ecclēsia (“assembly of the people; assembly of the first Christians”), with a semi-learned development;^[1] Old Spanish had eglesia.^[2][4][5][1] The Latin word was taken from Ancient Greek ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “assembly duly summoned”),^[2][6] a derivative of ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō, “to call forth, summon”), formed of ἐκ (ek, “out”) and καλέω (kaléō, “to call”).^[2][1]

The simplified spelling with a single ⟨c⟩ is common in inscriptions and texts of the late Empire, and it is the starting point of the Ibero-Romance forms.^[2] The REW explains the Romance forms, which all point to a single ⟨c⟩ and an open /e/, by the early medieval school pronunciation of Latin.^[7] Corominas explains the Castilian change of initial /e/ to /i/ by the frequent position of the word after the article: in ⟨la eglesia⟩ the /e/ was said as a glide, which became /i/.^[2] The same process gave Old Spanish eyglesia and Galician eirexa.^[2][8]

As the popular name of the church building, the Latin word spread over almost all the Romance area;^[7] Romania, Dalmatia and the Grisons kept basilica instead.^[2][7] The same word is Portuguese igreja, Galician igrexa, Asturian ilesia, Aragonese ilesia, Catalan església, Occitan glèisa, French église and Italian chiesa, and it passed into Basque eliza.^[9][7][1] Coromines regards the Catalan variant iglésia as genuinely Catalan, not a Castilianism.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears as eglesia in a charter of 921.^[2][4][11] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) uses it for the church building: mio Cid e su mugier a la eglesia van “my Cid and his wife go to the church”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Latin ecclēsia meant the assembly of the people in a Greek city.^[13] Christian Latin used it for the assembly of the first Christians and then for the place where they met.^[2][14] The Old Spanish word already had both senses.^[2] Alfonso X's prose uses it for the community of the faithful, for the clergy and people of a country (las eglesias de grecia), and for the clergy as an estate.^[15]

From the second half of the 14th century iglesia became the usual literary form, and it is the only one Nebrija records.^[2] Covarrubias in 1611 derived it from the Greek verb “to call out” and explained it as the congregation of the faithful called together by Christ.^[16] Autoridades gives the senses “the Church governed by Christ and the Pope”, “the clergy and government of a kingdom” (Iglesia latina, Iglesia griega), and “the ecclesiastical estate”, as in hombre de Iglesia “a man of the Church”, which it illustrates with Cervantes.^[17] By 1843 the Academy also listed the temple, the right of sanctuary, and, “improperly”, the separate congregations of heretics, such as la Iglesia reformada.^[18] The current dictionary defines it neutrally as each Christian community that calls itself a church.^[5]

In Peru an iglesia de techo is a small model church set on the roof of a house to keep out evil spirits.^[19] Spanish passed the word to Tagalog iglesya and to Classical Nahuatl iglesia.^[1]

Timeline

• 921 – first record, as eglesia, in a charter.^[2][4]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has eglesia for the church building.^[12]
• 1244 – the form elguesia in a document.^[2]
• 1254 – the Fuero Juzgo uses eglesias for the clergy as an estate.^[15]
• Second half of the 14th century – iglesia becomes the usual literary form.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary renders Iglesia as templum, aedes sacra.^[20][2]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico: a church built of canes and thatch.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the word from Greek.^[16]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the senses “temple” and “right of sanctuary”.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology for the first time.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. The congregation of the Christian faithful, united by baptism.^[5][23]
2. The clergy and people of a country where Christianity has followers: la Iglesia latina, la Iglesia griega.^[5]
3. The ecclesiastical estate: all those in holy orders; the clergy: Su tío era hombre de Iglesia.^[5][17]
4. The general government of the Church by the Pope, councils and prelates: la separación entre la Iglesia y el Estado.^[5][23]
5. The chapter of a cathedral or collegiate church.^[5]
6. A diocese, the territory under a prelate's jurisdiction, and the faithful who belong to it.^[5]
7. Each of the Christian communities that call themselves a church: la Iglesia anglicana, la Iglesia luterana.^[5][24]
8. A Christian church building: Nos casamos en una iglesia románica.^[5][1]
9. The immunity of one who takes refuge in a church.^[5]

Word family

• anteiglesia

Related words

• eclesiástico
• Latin ecclēsia
• Portuguese igreja
• Catalan església

Usage notes

The word is usually written with a capital when it means the institution, especially the Catholic Church: la Iglesia católica.^[23][24] Fixed phrases include iglesia catedral “cathedral” and casarse por detrás de la iglesia, a popular phrase for living together unmarried.^[5][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 437
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. iglesia
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. iglesia
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. iglesia
6. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. eclesia
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. igreja
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2394
10. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 10, 19
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 211
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. iglesia
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
15. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. iglesia
16. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1035
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 205
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 399
19. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. iglesia
20. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. iglesia
21. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. eglesia
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 583
23. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. iglesia
24. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. iglesia