monachus

Forms

monachus m (genitive monachī); second declension^[1] Inscriptions also have monacus, monicus and monuchus.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós, “single, solitary”),^[2][3][1] from μόνος (mónos, “alone”).^[1][4][5]

Isidore of Seville explained the name as Greek, from the idea of singleness, since a monk lives alone.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in Christian Latin at the end of the 4th century, in Jerome and in the Peregrinatio Aetheriae.^[4][3] Jerome describes three kinds of monks in Egypt: those who live in a community, the anchorites, and a third kind he calls remnuoth.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Jerome insisted on the original sense: the Greeks rightly gave the name to people living alone, and it was wrongly given by the Latins to those who lived among a crowd.^[2] Orosius explains monks as Christians who give up worldly business for the single work of faith.^[2] The Latin rules sorted monks into kinds: Cassian counts cenobites, anchorites and the reprehensible sarabaites, the Rule of Benedict adds the wandering gyrovagues, and Isidore lists six kinds.^[2]

Medieval Latin used it both for a hermit and for a cenobite living in a monastery.^[6] A spoken form *monicus, also found in inscriptions, is the source of moine, monje and monaco, and was borrowed early into Germanic, giving Old English munuc and English monk.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome describes the kinds of monks in Egypt.^[2][4]
• after 384 AD – The Peregrinatio Aetheriae uses it.^[4]
• c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian distinguishes cenobites, anchorites and sarabaites.^[2][4]
• 417/418 AD – Orosius explains the name.^[2][4]
• 529 AD – The Rule of Benedict counts four kinds of monks.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monk.^[3][7][2]
2. A hermit, a solitary monk.^[6][2]
3. A monk living in a community, a cenobite.^[6]

Word family

• monacha
• monachātus
• monachicus

Related words

• English monk

References

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