Etymologically
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monachus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔ.na.kʰʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.na.kus][1]

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

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