Faith & RitualGreek → English
Deacon
/ˈdiːkən/noun
An ordained minister ranking below a priest, or a lay officer in some churches.
The Greek roots
διάκονος
diákonos
servant, attendant
Literally: “servant”
Follow a root:διάκονος2 words
The story of the word
διάκονος means a servant or messenger, and Paul applies it to Phoebe in Romans 16, which is why that verse is still fought over. The English form arrived in Old English straight from Latin diaconus and has barely shifted in a thousand years. Where the Greek word itself comes from remains unsettled, though the old guess connecting it to κόνις, dust, on the idea of a servant kicking up dust on errands, is now generally abandoned.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old English
- First recorded
- Old English
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
diaconatearchdeacondeaconess
In a sentence
The deacon read the gospel and then took the chalice round.