monasterium

Forms

monastērium n (genitive monastēriī or monastērī); second declension^[1] The spelling monastirium also occurs, and Venantius Fortunatus scans the e short.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion, “hermitage, monastery”),^[3][4][1] which comes from μονάζω (monázō, “to live alone”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”).^[1][5] Isidore of Seville explained it as the dwelling of a single monk, from Greek words for “alone” and “station”.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Egeria's account of her pilgrimage (after 384 AD), meaning a hermitage.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant the cell or dwelling of a hermit, as in Sulpicius Severus' life of Saint Martin, and then a monastery where monks lived together, as in Cassian and Augustine.^[4][7][8]

In Medieval Latin it also meant the community of monks, the estates belonging to a monastery, and several kinds of church: a collegiate church, a cathedral, an abbey church, a parish church or a chapel beside a church.^[8] Old English borrowed it early as mynster, and Old French had moustier;^[9] Italian monastero continues it.^[7] English monastery (c. 1400) is from Old French and directly from Late Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• after 384 AD – Egeria uses it for a hermitage.^[7][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it for a monastery.^[4][5]
• c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian uses it for a monastery.^[7][5]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris uses it in his letters.^[3][5]
• 8th century – Old English has mynster, borrowed from it.^[9]
• c. 1400 – English borrows monastery.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A hermitage, the cell of a hermit.^[7][4][8]
2. (Late Latin) A monastery.^[3][4][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) A community of monks.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) The estates belonging to a monastery.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A church: a collegiate church, cathedral, abbey church or parish church.^[8]
6. (Medieval Latin) A chapel attached to a church.^[8]

Word family

• monasterialis
• monastēriolum

Related words

• monacha
• monachatus
• monachicus
• monachus
• monasticus
• English monastery
• English minster

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson