Faith & RitualGreek → English
Diocese
/ˈdaɪəsɪs/noun
The district under the authority of a bishop.
The Greek roots
διά
diá
through, thoroughly
οἶκος
oîkos
house, household
Literally: “thorough housekeeping”
The story of the word
διοίκησις meant housekeeping and then administration, built on οἶκος, house, the same word behind economy and ecology. Diocletian's reforms in the 290s made the dioecesis a large civil district grouping several provinces under one vicarius. The church organised itself along the empire's lines and took over the term along with many of the boundaries, which is why a bishop's territory still carries the vocabulary of Roman provincial bureaucracy.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
parisheconomyecologyecumenical
In a sentence
The diocese covers four counties and sixty-eight parishes.