archiepiscopus
Pronunciation
Forms
archiepiscopus m (genitive archiepiscopī); second declension[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀρχιεπίσκοπος (arkhiepískopos, “archbishop”),[2][3][4] a Greek compound of ἀρχι- (arkhi-, “chief”) and ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “overseer, bishop”).[4][5] Isidore of Seville explains the name as Greek for “the highest of the bishops”.[6][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Lewis & Short and Gaffiot cite it first from the Code of Justinian, for an archbishop, the bishop who ranks above the other bishops.[2][7][4]
Semantic evolution
In the letters of the Collectio Avellana the title is given to the pope (papa et archiepiscopus) and to other leading bishops, and Gregory the Great uses it beside patriarcha for the head of a diocese.[3][8] Isidore of Seville says the archbishop holds the place of the apostles and presides over metropolitans and bishops alike.[6][3]
In Medieval Latin it became the ordinary title of a metropolitan bishop, who presides over an ecclesiastical province.[9][10][11] Bede uses it of Augustine of Canterbury,[12] and the dictionaries of the medieval Latin of Hungary, Bohemia and Poland record it with Hungarian, Czech and Polish equivalents.[13][14][15] Old French archevesque, Catalan arquebisbe and Friulian arcivescul continue it,[1] and Conte gives it as the source of Italian arcivescovo.[16] Old English ærcebiscop was formed from it, and English archbishop continues that word.[5]
Timeline
- 528–534 AD – The Code of Justinian uses it for an archbishop.[2][7][4]
- 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it beside patriarcha.[3][4]
- c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains it as “the highest of the bishops”.[6][3][4]
Meanings
Noun
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) An archbishop, a metropolitan bishop who presides over the bishops of a province.[2][11][10][9]
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) A title of the pope and of other leading bishops.[3]
Word family
- archiepiscopālis
- archiepiscopātus
Related words
- English archbishop
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
- ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
- ^ Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
- ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
- ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
- ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier