Faith & RitualGreek → English
Synagogue
/ˈsɪnəɡɒɡ/noun
A Jewish house of worship and assembly.
The Greek roots
σύν
sýn
together, with
ἄγειν
ágein
to lead, bring
Literally: “a bringing together”
The story of the word
συναγωγή was ordinary Greek for any gathering, of people or of things, until the translators of the Septuagint used it for the Hebrew congregation. After that it belonged to the institution and then to its building. The word was in English by the twelfth century. The same ἄγειν builds demagogue, the one who leads the people, and pedagogue, the household slave who walked the boy to school.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 12th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
demagoguepedagoguesynodsynergy
In a sentence
The synagogue on that street was rebuilt twice and still keeps its original doors.