clergy English · revision 39856

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1225|origins=la-lat clēricus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈklɜːdʒi/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈklɝd͡ʒi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|clergie]],^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|clergié|t=the clergy as a body]], from [[m|la-med|clericatus|t=the office of a priest]],^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986) and also from [[m|fro|clergie|t=learning; the status of a cleric]],^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) formed on [[m|fro|clerc|t=a cleric]] with the suffix [[m|fro|-ie]], its ''g'' taken from ''clergié''.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Dictionary.com 2016) Both go back to [[m|la-lat|clēricus|t=a clergyman]], the source of [[clerk]] and [[cleric]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) The OED notes that the French forms were not kept apart clearly in Anglo-Norman or Old French, and that English never used one form for one meaning;^(OED 2026) Barnhart likewise finds that the sense of learning cannot be traced to ''clergie'' alone, since both forms meant "clerics" in Old French.^(Barnhart 1988) Trench, on the other hand, traced ''clergy'' "learning" to ''clergie'' alone and ''clergy'' "ministers" to ''clergié''.^(Trench 1859)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A branch of learning, a science: the OED's first quotation is from the ''Life of St Katherine'', c1225,^(OED 2026) and Barnhart dates the sense of learning to about 1200.^(Barnhart 1995) Etymonline gives c. 1200 for the sense "office or dignity of a clergyman".^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The body of people ordained for religious service, as opposed to the laity, is recorded from a1300,^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) and the word could also mean a single minister by a1400.^(OED 2026) Another early sense was the privilege of exemption from trial by a secular court that a member of the clergy accused of a felony could claim (c1300);^(OED 2026) the phrase ''benefit of clergy'' dates from 1511.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes that in England the privilege was first recognized in 1274 and abolished in 1827, and that since the ability to read was the test of a cleric, it came to work as a "benefit of scholarship".^(Etymonline) From 1829 ''without benefit of clergy'' also meant without a church's blessing, as of living together unmarried.^(OED 2026) The sense of learning faded, surviving mainly in the proverb that an ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)^(Trench 1859) Since c1450 the word has also been used of the priests of religions other than Christianity.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1225 – a branch of learning.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1300 – learning, scholarship; the clergy as a body.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1300 – exemption from secular courts for clerics.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1450 – the priests of a non-Christian religion.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1511 – ''benefit of clergy''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1653 – used with plural agreement and meaning.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1829 – ''without benefit of clergy'', without a church's sanction.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The body of people [[ordain]]ed for religious duties, especially in the Christian [[church]], as distinct from the [[laity]]: ''The local clergy met to plan the festival.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # The religious officials of a faith other than Christianity.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (archaic) [[learning|alt=Learning]], scholarship; now chiefly in the proverb ''an ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy''.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[clergyman]]

+ * [[clergyperson]]

+ * [[clergywoman]]

+ * [[benefit of clergy]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cleric]]

+ * [[clerical]]

+ * [[clerisy]]

+ * [[clerk]]

+ * [[laity]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The American Heritage Dictionary refers ''clergy'' to its note on collective nouns: it can take a singular or a plural verb.^(AHD 2024) The OED records singular agreement from about 1450 and plural agreement and meaning, as in "several clergy", from 1653.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}