chiesa

Forms

chiesa f (plural chiese)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian chiesia, Old Italian chesa, Old Italian clesia, Old Italian chiexa and Old Italian cexa.^[2] Old Venetian had Old Italian glixa (1321) and the Chioggia form Old Italian glixia (1387).^[3] The original double /kk/ survives in many regional varieties of Italian, and Old Pisan had Old Italian ecchiesia.^[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ecclēsia (“assembly; church”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “assembly”), from ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō, “to call out, summon”).^[5][6][7][1] The Greek word was the usual name of the assembly of citizens; in the Septuagint it renders the Hebrew name of the community of worship, the New Testament writers use it for the gathering of believers, and by metonymy it came to mean the building where they met.^[3][8]

The Romance forms point to a form Late Latin *eclēsia with a single /k/ and a close /e/, which Meyer-Lübke explains by the early medieval school pronunciation of Latin.^[4][6] The Italian development is not wholly regular.^[6][9] Nocentini derives Old Italian chièsia from it, with the final ⟨-sia⟩ kept under the influence of the written Church Latin form, and then the modern form by dissimilation.^[6] Sabatini–Coletti adds that the loss of the first vowel may be due to the northern dialects.^[9] Devoto suggests a crossing with chiesto, which would explain the open /ɛ/ and the absence of the palatal sound that a regular Tuscan outcome would have.^[10]

The word is found across Romance: French église, Occitan glieisa, Catalan església, Spanish iglesia, Portuguese igreja, Sardinian cheja and Friulian glesie.^[6][4] Meyer-Lübke and the LEI date its victory over Latin basilica to the 5th century in the main areas; the older word survives in Romanian and in the Ladin and central Alpine dialects.^[4][3] It also passed into Albanian, Welsh eglwys and Basque.^[4][11] The Germanic names, such as German Kirche and English church, come instead from a Greek phrase meaning “(house) of the Lord”.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a document from Fabriano of 1186.^[2] DELI's first dates are in Brunetto Latini, before 1294, both for the community of those who share the Christian faith and for the building consecrated to worship.^[5] The Latin form clesia is already found in a Paduan charter of 1026.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already has most of the modern uses: the whole body of Christians, the Church of Rome led by the pope, the Church as a power in the struggle with the emperors, and phrases such as chiesa militante and chiesa trionfante for the faithful on earth and the blessed in heaven.^[2] The sense “clergy, Church hierarchy” is in the 14th-century Bible translations.^[5]

Diminutives grew senses of their own: chiesuola is a small church from the late 14th century, and a ship's compass housing, compared to a little chapel with its dome, from the 15th century (chiginola, 1435–1445, chiesola 1540, chiesuola 1612).^[5] In 1866 the Crusca records it for a clique.^[5] The modern dictionaries give chiesa itself the figurative sense of a closed group sure that it alone holds the truth.^[9][13][7]

The phrase essere tutto casa e chiesa describes a quiet, devout, family-centred life.^[14][15] The odd idiom chiamarsi chiesa, “to keep out of it”, has been connected with the old right of asylum in churches, like Spanish llamarse iglesia.^[5]

Timeline

• 1026 – Medieval Latin clesia appears in a Paduan charter.^[12]
• 1186 – First Italian record, in a Fabriano document.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses chiesa for the Christian community and for the building.^[5]
• 14th century – The Bible translations use it for the clergy.^[5]
• 1321 – Glixa is recorded in Venice.^[3]
• 1435–1445 – Chiginola, the compass housing, appears in portolans.^[5]
• 1866 – The Crusca records chiesuola for a clique.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (often capitalised) A Christian denomination, the community of the faithful of one confession: la Chiesa valdese.^[7][14][9]
2. (capitalised) The Catholic Church, as a community and as an organized institution.^[7][15][16]
3. The clergy, the Church hierarchy.^[7][16]
4. A territorial division governed by a bishop or parish priest.^[7]
5. A church, a building consecrated to Christian worship: Si sono sposati in una piccola chiesa di montagna.^[7][14][13]
6. (figurative) A closed group of people with a dogmatic faith in a doctrine or school: Gli economisti si dividono in diverse chiese.^[7][9][13]

Word family

• chiesastico
• chiesuola
• chiesetta
• chiesina

Related words

• ecclesiastico
• ecclesiale
• Latin ecclesia
• French église
• Spanish iglesia

Usage notes

The word is written with a capital for the institution and for a confession (la Chiesa cattolica), and with a small letter for the building.^[7][15] The ⟨s⟩ is voiced in the traditional pronunciation (/ˈkjɛza/), and Wiktionary also gives a variant with a close /e/.^[1][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 80
4. ^ a b c d e Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 91
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 898
12. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 277
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli