Faith & RitualGreek → English
Episcopal
/ɪˈpɪskəpəl/adjective
Belonging to bishops, or governed by them.
The Greek roots
ἐπί
epí
over, upon
σκοπός
skopós
watcher, lookout
Literally: “of the overseer”
The story of the word
ἐπίσκοπος was a plain administrative word before it was a church office: an inspector, a supervisor, someone sent to keep an eye on a colony's accounts. English holds the same Greek word twice over. Latin episcopus entered Old English as biscop and wore down to bishop, while the adjective was borrowed fresh from the books in the fifteenth century. American Anglicans took the name Episcopal after independence, needing a church title with no king in it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 15th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
bishoptelescopemicroscopehoroscope
In a sentence
They were married in a small Episcopal church outside Charleston.
The dispute was over episcopal authority, not doctrine.