Faith & RitualGreek → English
Synod
/ˈsɪnəd/noun
An assembly of clergy convened to decide church matters.
The Greek roots
σύν
sýn
together, with
ὁδός
hodós
way, road
Literally: “a coming together on the road”
The story of the word
Before the church claimed it, synodos meant any meeting, and in astronomy the conjunction of two bodies, still visible in the synodic month. The literal image is people whose roads converge. Nicaea in 325 set the pattern for what a synod does, and the same road word gives exodus, method, period and odometer.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
exodusmethodperiododometer
In a sentence
The synod voted on the wording for three days and settled nothing.