Etymologically
Log in

église

Etymology and origin of the French word église

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis
Inherited from
Latin eclesia via Old French
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (καλέω)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.ɡliz/[1]

Forms

église f (plural églises)[1] Old French eglise, iglise, glise, egleise.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French eglise, inherited from Vulgar Latin eclesia,[2][4][5][6][1][7] a frequent popular form of Christian Latin ecclēsia,[4][2] borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “assembly of citizens”), used in the New Testament for the assembly of Christians.[8][2][4] The Greek word comes from ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō, “to call out, summon”), from καλέω (kaléō, “to call”).[3][6] Ecclesia meant the building as well as the community from the 2nd century.[4][2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word's sound changes show the influence of the written language.[4]

Cognate with Italian chiesa, Spanish iglesia, Portuguese igreja and Catalan església;[4][1] Romanian and Rhaeto-Romance used basilica instead.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) uses it for the building devoted to Christian worship.[8][2]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th century sainte eglise (1135) and la sainte mère eglise (about 1175) meant the whole body of Christians and the authority that governs it.[8][2] From the 16th century it is used of particular Christian communions, eclise romaine (Rabelais, 1546), the église gallicane, and after the Reformation the Reformed, Anglican and Baptist churches.[8][2] Gens d'église (1549) are the clergy,[8] and in the 19th century église came to mean, figuratively, any group bound by one doctrine (Goncourt, 1862).[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – A church building (Alexis).[8][5]
  • 1135 – Sainte eglise, the body of believers.[8][2]
  • 1546 – Eclise romaine (Rabelais).[8][2]
  • 1549 – Gens d'eglise “clergy”.[8]
  • 1862 – A group sharing a doctrine (Goncourt).[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A church, a building for Christian worship.[6][1]
  2. L'Église: the Christian Church, the community of believers.[6][1]
  3. A particular Christian denomination: l'Église orthodoxe.[6][1]
  4. The clergy, the ecclesiastical state: homme d'Église.[6][8]
  • ecclésiastique
  • Latin ecclēsia

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 203a
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Église.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/%C3%A9glise. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·