synode

Forms

synode m (plural synodes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin synodus (“college of priests, synod”),^[2][3][4] which is from Ancient Greek σύνοδος (súnodos, “meeting, general assembly”),^[2][1] from σύν (sún, “with, together”) and ὁδός (hodós, “way, road”).^[2][1][5][6] In Christian Greek the word had already been narrowed to a religious assembly.^[2][4]

The Latin word had earlier passed into Old French by word of mouth as sene (about 1175), later senne (13th century),^[2] the regular outcome of the Latin word stressed on its first syllable;^[5] this inherited form held out until the late 16th century, when the learned borrowing replaced it.^[2][4] Cognate with Spanish sínodo, Italian sinodo and Old Occitan cenede.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An isolated record of about 1310, in Aimé du Mont-Cassin's Histoire des Normands, uses it of an assembly of bishops called by the pope at Salerno, glossed in the text as la congregation.^[7] The word then reappears in 1511, as a feminine noun.^[7][4][8]

Semantic evolution

Feminine at first (1511), it became masculine by 1541, in Calvin.^[2][8] From an assembly of bishops or of the clergy of a diocese, called together by the bishop, it was extended to the gatherings of Protestant ministers: the first national synod of the Reformed Church met in 1559, and the word is recorded in that sense in 1571.^[7][2]

In the 19th century it was also applied to a council of rabbis and laymen deciding points of Jewish doctrine (1872), and to the governing council of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Saint-Synode set up by Peter the Great in 1721, a French phrase first recorded in 1876.^[2] Dictionaries of the period also used it for the assemblies of ancient Greece, such as the federal council of the Hellenistic leagues (1765 in the Encyclopédie).^[7][3]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – The inherited Old French form sene is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1310 – Isolated first record of synode, in Aimé du Mont-Cassin.^[7]
• 1511 – Recorded again, as a feminine noun, in Lemaire de Belges.^[7][4]
• 1541 – Calvin uses it as a masculine noun.^[8][3][2]
• 1571 – Used of an assembly of Protestant ministers.^[7]
• Late 16th century – The old form senne goes out of use.^[2]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses it of assemblies in ancient Greece.^[3]
• 1876 – Saint-synode is recorded for the council of the Russian Church.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An assembly of clergy called by a bishop or archbishop to deliberate on the affairs of a diocese or province, or on general questions of the Church;^[9][10] synode diocésain.^[9][10]
2. (Protestantism) An assembly of pastors and elders.^[9][5]
3. Le saint-synode: the supreme council of the Russian Orthodox Church; in the Eastern Churches generally, their synod.^[9][10]
4. (obsolete) A council of the Church.^[9]
5. (history) In the Hellenistic period, the federal assembly of the Achaean and Aetolian leagues.^[10][3]
6. (Judaism) The Great Synagogue, a council of sages.^[7]

Related words

• synodal
• synodique
• exode
• méthode
• période
• Latin synodus
• English synod

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 497b
7. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)