Faith & RitualGreek → English
Parish
/ˈpærɪʃ/noun
The district in the care of one church and its priest, and in England a unit of local government.
The Greek roots
παρά
pará
beside
οἶκος
oîkos
house, dwelling
Literally: “a dwelling alongside”
The story of the word
A πάροικος was someone who lived beside, a resident alien with no citizen rights. Early Christians used the word of themselves, strangers lodging temporarily in the world, and παροικία named the community of them in one place. Church Latin turned it into parochia, source of both parish and parochial. The word travelled from a theology of exile to the smallest tier of English local government, parish council and all.
- 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
parochialeconomyecologydiocese
In a sentence
The parish records go back to 1538 and list every baptism since.