congregatio

Forms

congregātiō f (genitive congregātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin congregō (“to flock together, assemble”) + -tiō.^[2][1] The verb is made from con- and grex (“flock”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, who uses it four times, is its first author.^[4][5] In On the Republic he says that people first came together less out of weakness than from nātūrālis quaedam hominum quasi congregātiō “a kind of natural flocking together of human beings”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the forming of a society, a coming together of people,^[2][6] and in Seneca also the gathering of things.^[2] Quintilian uses it in rhetoric of gathering arguments or charges, and of a recapitulation.^[6][4]

The TLL finds it most often in Church writers, Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine above all.^[4] Christians used it of their assemblies: Tertullian writes coīmus in coetum et congregātiōnem “we come together in a meeting and an assembly”,^[4] and Augustine explains that every gathering is called by the general name synagōga.^[4] It also meant the gathered group itself, as in the Vulgate's congregātiō taurōrum “herd of bulls”.^[4]

Medieval Latin used it of a meeting, a synod, a religious and especially monastic community, a monastery, a chapter of canons, and a meeting of the members of a university.^[7][8] English congregation comes from it, partly through Old French, in the late 14th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the natural coming together of people into societies.^[2][4][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a gathering of things.^[2][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of Christian assemblies.^[4][5]
• 838 – An English charter records a council held in the presence of the archbishop and kings.^[8]
• 1257 – Oxford statutes provide for a congregation of the university.^[8]
• late 14th century – English borrows congregation.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A coming together into a society, association.^[2][6]
2. A grouping or gathering of things.^[2]
3. (rhetoric) A gathering of arguments; a recapitulation.^[6][4]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An assembly or meeting of believers; a congregation.^[4][9]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A religious community bound by a common rule.^[9][7]
6. (Medieval Latin) A synod; a monastery; a chapter of canons.^[7][8]
7. (Medieval Latin) A meeting of a guild or of the masters of a university.^[7][8]

Related words

• grex
• English congregation

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e 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
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson