ἐκκλησία

See also: εκκλησία

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἐκκλεισῐ́ᾱ (ekkleisíā) — Thessalian

Etymology

From ἔκκλητος (ékklētos, “summoned”) +‎ -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, abstract noun suffix), from ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō, “to call forth, summon”), from ἐκ (ek) + καλέω (kaléō).^[1] The τ (t) changes to σ (s) by palatalization and assibilation, triggered by the following ι (i).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ek.klɛː.sí.aː/ → /e.kliˈsi.a/ → /e.kliˈsi.a/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ek.klɛː.sí.aː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ek.kle̝ˈsi.a/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /e.kliˈsi.a/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /e.kliˈsi.a/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /e.kliˈsi.a/

Noun

ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ • (ekklēsíā) f (genitive ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς); first declension

1. assembly
2. (New Testament) congregation, church

   Synonyms: βουλή (boulḗ), γερουσῐ́ᾱ (gerousíā), σῠ́γκλητος (súnklētos)

Declension

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ hē ekklēsíā	τὼ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ tṑ ekklēsíā	αἱ ἐκκλησῐ́αι hai ekklēsíai
Genitive	τῆς ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς tês ekklēsíās	τοῖν ἐκκλησῐ́αιν toîn ekklēsíain	τῶν ἐκκλησῐῶν tôn ekklēsiôn
Dative	τῇ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾳ têi ekklēsíāi	τοῖν ἐκκλησῐ́αιν toîn ekklēsíain	ταῖς ἐκκλησῐ́αις taîs ekklēsíais
Accusative	τὴν ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱν tḕn ekklēsíān	τὼ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ tṑ ekklēsíā	τᾱ̀ς ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς tā̀s ekklēsíās
Vocative	ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ ekklēsíā	ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ ekklēsíā	ἐκκλησῐ́αι ekklēsíai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ἡ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ; τῆς ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς (Attic)

Derived terms

• ἐκκλησῐᾰστῐκός (ekklēsiastikós)
• κυρία ἐκκλησία (kuría ekklēsía, “ordinary assembly”)
• σύγκλητος ἐκκλησία (súnklētos ekklēsía, “special assembly”)

Descendants

• Greek: εκκλησία (ekklisía)
• → Arabic: القُلَّيْس (al-qullays)
• → Ateso: ekeresia
• → Azerbaijani: kilsə
• → Coptic: ⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ (ekklēsia)
• → Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌺𐌻𐌴𐍃𐌾𐍉 (aikklēsjō)
• → Hawaiian: ʻekalekia
• → Hindi: कलीसिया (kalīsiyā)
• → Ladino: kilisia
• → Latin: ecclēsia (see there for further descendants)
• → Luganda: ekelezia
• → Niuean: ekalesia
• → Old Armenian: եկեղեցի (ekełecʻi) (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Georgian: ეკლესიაჲ (eḳlesiay), ეკკლესიაჲ (eḳḳlesiay)
  • Georgian: ეკლესია (eḳlesia)
• → Persian: کِلیسا (kelisâ)
• → Samoan: ekalesia
• → Turkish: kilise
• → Urdu: کلیسیا (kalīsiyā)
• → Western Neo-Aramaic: ܟܠܹܣܝܐ (klēsya)
• → Zazaki: kilıse

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “καλέω (> DER > 8. > ἐκκλησία)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 623-4

Further reading

• “ἐκκλησία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἐκκλησία”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἐκκλησία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ἐκκλησία in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• G1577 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • assembly idem, page 45.
  • parliament idem, page 593.
  • white idem, page 977.
• “ἐκκλησία”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, 2011