liturgia

Forms

lītūrgia f (genitive lītūrgiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek λειτουργία (leitourgía, “public service, ministry”),^[1][2][3] from λειτουργός (leitourgós, “one who performs a public service”),^[3] a compound of a stem meaning “public”, from λαός (laós, “people”), and ἔργον (érgon, “work”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Augustine uses it once, as a Greek word, in his commentary on Psalm 135: ministerium vel servitium religionis, quae Graece liturgia vel latria dicitur (“the ministry or service of religion, which in Greek is called liturgia or latria”).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it meant worship in general.^[6] Later it was used for the official prayers and rites of the Church and for the Mass: a Polish record of 1587 has a bishop who hears the liturgia.^[5][7] English took liturgy in the 1550s, from French or from Late and Medieval Latin.^[3] In modern Church usage it is the exercise of Christ's priestly office through which the Church sanctifies by visible signs in public worship.^[7]

Timeline

• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it once, glossing it as service of religion.^[4][2]
• 1550s – Borrowed into English as liturgy.^[3]
• 1587 – A Polish record uses it for the rite of the Mass.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Religious service, worship.^[4][6]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The liturgy: the Church's official prayers and rites; the Mass.^[7][5]

Related words

• English liturgy

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson