Kirche German · revision 35038

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=grc κύριος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈkɪʁçə/, [ˈkʰɪʁçɘ], [ˈkʰɪɐ̯çɘ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Kirche''' ''f'' (genitive Kirche, plural Kirchen, diminutive Kirchelchen n or Kirchlein n)^(Wiktionary)

+ Alemannic has ''kilche'' (Swiss ''Chilche''), with /r/ changed to /l/, already in Old High German ''kilihha''.^(EWA|5, 534)^(DWB|11, 790)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|kirche]], [[inh|goh|kirihha]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*kirikā]], [[bor|grc|κυρικόν|tr=kūrikón|t=house of God]], a late (4th-century) popular form of [[m|grc|κυριακόν|tr=kūriakón]], the neuter of [[m|grc|κυριακός|tr=kūriakós|t=belonging to the Lord]], from [[m|grc|κύριος|tr=kúrios|t=lord]].^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|5, 534)^(Duden GWDS 1999) Kluge starts instead from a popular feminine form, known only in the New Testament word [[m|grc|κυριακή|tr=kūriakḗ|t=Sunday]].^(Kluge 2011|492) The same loanword is [[osx|kirika]], [[ofs|kerke]] and [[ang|cirice]], and today [[nl|kerk]], [[en|church]] and [[sv|kyrka]].^(Kluge 2011|492)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(AWB|5, 195)

+

+ The feminine gender is probably due to [[la|basilica]], which it explained or replaced.^(Kluge 2011|492)^(Pfeifer 1993) Kluge thinks the word came first into Frankish and spread with the Frankish church language.^(Kluge 2011|492)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) Pfeifer and Wiktionary doubt that the Goths passed it on (their word was [[got|𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌺𐌻𐌴𐍃𐌾𐍉|tr=aikklēsjō]]) and think of the Roman towns on the Rhine and Moselle, such as Trier, Metz and Cologne, where churches were built in the age of Constantine.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) Jacob Grimm had proposed [[la|circus]], an explanation the Grimms' dictionary later gave up.^(DWB|11, 790)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''kirihha'' is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses (765), then in the Isidor, the Tatian, the Frankish baptismal vow, the Benedictine Rule and several confessions.^(Köbler AHD)^(EWA|5, 534)^(Schützeichel 2012|176) It meant the church building, a temple or oratory, and also the congregation and the Church as a community, like Latin ''ecclesia''.^(EWA|5, 534)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Paul notes that the word first named the building and was early transferred to the community, which in Greek and Latin was ''ecclesia''; in the Romance languages the transfer went the other way, and ''ecclesia'' also came to mean the building (French ''église'').^(Paul 2002) Early New High German used it also for the sanctuaries of other religions, a temple or a synagogue, a use Adelung, around 1800, found unusual and not to be imitated.^(FWB)^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ Compounds tell their own history: ''Kirchenlied'' is recorded in Herder in 1767, and ''Kirchturmpolitik'' “parish-pump politics” was a catchword of Bismarck's in 1889.^(Paul 2002) [[Kirchweih]], first the consecration of a church, came to mean its anniversary feast and the fair that went with it, in dialect ''Kirbe'' and Swiss ''Kilbi''.^(Paul 2002)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) The word was borrowed into Russian as [[m|ru|кирха|tr=kirxa]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 765 – Old High German ''kirihha'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)

+ * 1172–1190 – Middle High German ''kirche'' is recorded in Köbler's earliest dated source.^(Köbler MHD)

+ * 1767 – Herder uses ''Kirchenlied''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1889 – Bismarck uses ''Kirchturmpolitik''.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|church]], a consecrated building, usually with a tower, for Christian [[m|en|worship]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(without plural)'' A church [[m|en|service]]: ''nach der Kirche gehen wir essen''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A Christian [[m|en|denomination]], an organised community of one confession: ''die evangelische Kirche''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The Church as an institution, represented by its [[m|en|clergy]]: ''Kirche und Staat''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[kirchlich]]

+ * [[Kirmes]]

+ * [[Kirchweih]]

+ * [[Kirchspiel]]

+ * [[Kirchhof]]

+ * [[Kirchturmpolitik]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|church]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Die Kirche im Dorf lassen'' “to leave the church in the village” is to keep things in proportion, and ''die Kirche ums Dorf tragen'' is to go about something in a needlessly complicated way.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden 7 2020) In these phrases ''Kirche'' stands for the parish, and the image is the longer route that country processions took around the village.^(Duden GWDS 1999) ''Kinder, Küche, Kirche'' “children, kitchen, church” sums up the traditional sphere of women.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}