parish
pronunciation
How to pronounce parish in British English:
UK [ˈpærɪʃ]
How to pronounce parish in American English:
US [ˈpærɪʃ]
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- Noun:
- a local church community
- the local subdivision of a diocese committed to one pastor
Word Origin
- parish
- parish: [13] The etymological notion underlying parish is of ‘living nearby’. It comes via Old French paroisse and late Latin parochia (source of English parochial [14]) from late Greek paroikíā. This was a derivative of pároikos ‘living near’, a compound formed from pará ‘beside’ and oikos ‘house’ (source of English economy).Scholars have not been able to agree on precisely how the idea of ‘living nearby’ became transmuted into that of the ‘parish’: some consider the central concept to be of a ‘community of neighbours’, while others view the ‘near-dweller’ here not as a permanent neighbour but as a temporary ‘sojourner’ or ‘stranger’, an epithet applied to early Christians.=> economy, parochial
- parish (n.)
- c. 1300, "district with its own church; members of such a church," from Anglo-French paroche, parosse (late 11c.), Old French paroisse, from Late Latin parochia "a diocese," alteration of Late Greek paroikia "a diocese or parish," from paroikos "a sojourner" (in Christian writers), in classical Greek, "neighbor," from para- "near" (see para- (1)) + oikos "house" (see villa). Sense development unclear, perhaps from "sojourner" as epithet of early Christians as spiritual sojourners in the material world. In early Church writing the word was used in a more general sense than Greek dioikesis, though by 13c. they were synonymous. Replaced Old English preostscyr, literally "priest-shire."
Example
- 1. A local parish church and a wine wagon in provincial alsace , france .
- 2. The bishop of iceland has urged parish ministers to comply with the law .
- 3. Why should they back a party that treats their parliament as a parish council ?
- 4. In truth , the push to create urban parish councils suggests a trend he might be less keen on .
- 5. Stone 's paper describes his discovery by testing on himself and 50 members of his parish that ground willow bark powder relieves fevers and rheumatic pain .