parish English · revision 7730

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=grc παροικία}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈpæɹɪʃ/ ''(UK)''; /ˈpæɹɪʃ/, /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English paroche, later parosshe and parish,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) [[bor|xno|paroche]], Old French paroisse,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from Late Latin [[m|la-lat|parochia|t=a diocese]], paroecia,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from Late Greek [[m|grc|παροικία|tr=paroikía|t=a diocese or parish; a sojourning]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from pároikos, a sojourner, in classical Greek a neighbour, from pará, near, and oîkos, house,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from PIE [[ine-pro|*weyḱ-|alt=*weik-|t=clan]].^(Etymonline) Barnhart suggests that the English form is partly a back-formation from paroschien, parishioner.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A district with its own church and clergyman, and its members: about 1300.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The development in the early Church is unclear: it may come from the use of sojourner as an epithet of Christians as spiritual sojourners in the world,^(Etymonline) and Hoad doubts whether neighbour or sojourner determined the application.^(Hoad 1986) In early Church writing it had a more general sense than Greek dioíkēsis, diocese, but by the 13th century the two were synonymous.^(Etymonline) It replaced Old English preostscyr, priest-shire.^(Etymonline) In Great Britain from the 1630s, in some southern American colonies and in Louisiana it became the name of a civil division for local government.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – paroche.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1330 – parish.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1601 – a civil district.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1630s – in British local government.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1833 – the verb.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A division of a [[diocese]] with its own church and priest or minister.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The members of such a parish; a congregation.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(British)'' The smallest unit of local [[government]] in rural areas.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(Louisiana)'' A county.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[interparish]]

+ * [[outparish]]

+ * [[parishioner]]

+ * [[parish house]]

+ * [[parish register]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[parochial]]

+ * [[diocese]]

+ * [[economy]]

+ * [[ecology]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}