Faith & RitualGreek → English
Presbyterian
/ˌprɛzbɪˈtɪriən/noun
A member of a Protestant church governed by elected elders rather than by bishops.
The Greek roots
πρεσβύτερος
presbýteros
elder, older man
Literally: “of the elders”
Follow a root:πρεσβύτερος3 words
The story of the word
The New Testament's πρεσβύτεροι are the elders of a congregation, and a whole denomination rests on the claim that this word and ἐπίσκοπος, overseer, name one office and not two. The same πρεσβύτερος, ground down through Latin and Old English, also produced priest — the office Presbyterians defined themselves against. Presbyopia, the long sight of middle age, is literally old-man eye.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1640s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
priestpresbyterypresbyopia
In a sentence
The Presbyterian session meets on Thursdays and runs the congregation between Sundays.