Etymologically
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congregatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔŋ.ɡrɛˈɡaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koŋ.ɡreˈɡat.t͡si.o][1]

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]

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