In New Testament Greek, the word that’s rendered into English as “church” is “ekklesia.” In non-biblical Greek, “ekklesia,” a term formed from the preposition “ek”/“ex” (“out,” “from”) and the verb “kaleo” (“to call”), referred primarily to an assembly or gathering of residents who’d been called out from their homes into a public place, perhaps for deliberations or to hear a ruler’s proclamation. The word also appears in the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament, describing groups of gathered Israelites.
“Ekklesia” is an apt rendering for the Hebrew word “knesset,” which also referred originally to a “gathering” or an “assembly.” With time, however, the phrase “bayt knesset” (where “bayt” means “house,” as in biblical “bayt El” or “Bethel,” the “house of God” or “house of El”) came to refer specifically to a synagogue, the place where religious Jews meet to read the Torah, pray and worship. “Synagogue” itself comes from the Greek preposition “syn” (“together”) and the verb “ago” (“to lead”).
Today, many non-Jews recognize the word “Knesset” as the title of the parliament or legislature of the modern state of Israel. But the closely related Arabic word “kinisa” (pronounced “kineesa,” but often with a final “t”) is the Arabic equivalent of English “church” and has carried that meaning for centuries. Thus, for instance, the official Arabic name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes the word, and, in Arabic, the Mormon church is “al-kinisa al-murmuniyya.”
The ancient Greek term “ekklesia” has left its mark across many modern Western languages — in the Spanish “iglesia,” for example, and in French “église,” as well as in the English adjective “ecclesiastical” — but our noun “church” comes from an entirely different background:
In Greek, “kurios” or “kyrios” is the equivalent of English “master” or “lord.” That word gave rise to the Christian phrase “kuriakon doma,” or “Lord’s house.” In many Western languages, the term “doma” was eventually dropped, but the memory of that Greek “kuriakon” survived, leading to such words as Scottish “kirk,” Dutch “kerk,” German “Kirche,” Norwegian “kyrkje,” Old English “cir(i)ce” or “cyr(i)ce,” and modern English “church.”
Curiously, other Western languages dropped the “kuriakon” but retained a memory of the “doma.” Thus, one of the Italian equivalents of the English word “cathedral” is “duomo,” which represents earlier Latin phraseology — perhaps “domus Dei” (“house of God”) or even “domus episcopi” (“house of the bishop”). In German, likewise, a cathedral is called a “Dom.” Cologne Cathedral, for example, is known in German as the “Koelner Dom.” And Portuguese uses the word “domo.”
Still other Western languages, though, offer interesting combinations of both originally-Greek terms, such as “domkirke” (Norwegian and Danish), “domkyrka” (Swedish), “toomkirik” (Estonian), and “tuomiokirkko” (Finnish).
So where did the English (and French and Spanish) term “cathedral” come from? It too derives from the Greek, but, once again, via a quite separate path. The association of a cathedral with the “house of a bishop,” mentioned above, is significant here.
English “cathedral” derives from the Greek “kathedra,” which refers to a “seat” or a “bench.” Specifically, in this context, it refers to the seat or throne of a bishop. Thus, strictly speaking, a cathedral isn’t just a large church. In fact, some cathedrals aren’t very big at all, and the largest Christian church in the world, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, isn’t a cathedral. A cathedral is the official church of a bishop. The Catholic bishop of Rome (that is, the pope) actually has his episcopal throne at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano) in Rome. And when he speaks infallibly, as Catholics believe, he speaks “ex cathedra,” “from the throne.”
But what’s a “basilica”? That word comes from a Greek term meaning “royal house.” (In Greek, “basileus” means “king” — compare the name “Basil” — and “basilikos” means “royal.”) The term “basilica” referred anciently to a royal tribunal or audience chamber, which often functioned somewhat like a community center in an ancient capital, and it had certain specific architectural features (for example, a central nave that was flanked by aisles).
Originally, Christian basilicas were built in that form because they needed to hold large numbers of people. In Catholicism nowadays, basilicas are churches that enjoy a special relationship with the papacy in Rome, and they’re designated as such by the pope. St. John Lateran and St. Peter’s in Rome, however, are basilicas in both the architectural and the ecclesiastical senses.
Christianity’s long, rich history becomes visible in such terms.
Daniel Peterson founded BYU's Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, chairs The Interpreter Foundation and blogs on Patheos. William Hamblin is the author of several books on premodern history. They speak only for themselves.