presbyter

Forms

presbyter m (genitive presbyterī); second declension^[1] Often spelled presbiter.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πρεσβύτερος (presbúteros, “elder”),^[1][4][2] the comparative of πρέσβυς (présbus, “old”).^[5][6] Köbler connects that word with Proto-Indo-European *pres- (“before”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Old Latin Bible and Tertullian on,^[2][5] and in Tertullian it can still mean simply an elder.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

In Christian Latin it became the title of a priest, ranking between the bishop and the deacons;^[4][8] Jerome asks what a bishop does, except ordaining, that a presbyter does not.^[4][8] Eucherius explains it as senior, and a glossary as sacerdos.^[2] Medieval writers used it also for Jewish and pagan elders and priests.^[3] It is the source of French prêtre, Italian prete and Romanian preot,^[2] and through a Vulgar Latin ⟨*prester⟩ of English priest;^[6] English took presbyter itself in the 1590s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of an elder.^[4][7][5]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome distinguishes the presbyter from the bishop.^[4][5]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus calls a Christian priest a presbyter.^[8][5]
• 1590s – English presbyter is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An elder.^[4][7][3]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A presbyter, a priest ranking below a bishop.^[4][8][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) A Jewish or pagan elder or priest.^[3]

Word family

• archipresbyter
• compresbyter
• presbyteratus

Related words

• English priest

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson