182 W'isco7isin Academy of Sciences, Arts, a7id Letters^. 



THE ETYMOLOGY OF "CHURCLI."' 



BY J. B. FEULING, PH. D. 



Professor of Morlern Languages and Comparative Philology in the Tlniversity of 



Wisconsin. 



It is commonly assumed that xufnaxov is the orignal of 

 " Churcli," but not universally admiited. Before considering 

 the etymology of our word, let us first note some of its forms 

 in English and the more important cognate dialects. In O. E. 

 we have chirche, cMreche, churiche, chiric-(lond), etc.; in A. S. 

 (Low Grerman), cyrice, cirice, circe. The a of cyriac, which I 

 remember of seeing, but where I saw it I cannol now recall, 

 crept in to connect it with kjriakon. The 0. H. G. form is 

 chirihha, chilihha. It is probable that chiruhha=chirjihlia, 

 found in Isidor, arose for a similar reason as cyriiic. The 

 Old Danish or Old Northern form is kirkia, which was intro- 

 duced along with the gospel by missionaries, especially from 

 England, from the IX to the beginning of the XI century. The 

 first impulse had been given by the Frieslander Liudger, 

 and the real " Apostle of the North," Anskar, had acted as 

 the head of a school at Corvey, in Westphalia, on the banks of 

 the Weser, and preached among the natives before he set out 

 for the Scandinavian kingdoms. Among the Slavonian races 

 we should expect to find a word directly derived from the 

 Greek, as the first lasting success was gained by Cyril 

 and Methodius, who were monks of the Greek communion 

 and in intercourse with Rome. In the documents referring to 

 their missionary labours '^ ecclesia" alone occurs. But the 

 Slavonian words for church {Cyrkew, Cerkieiv, etc.), are evi- 

 dently connected with the parent of chirihha, which indicates 

 the far reaching influence of the Teutonic spirit. Lipsius was 

 the first who rejected the derivation from xupiaxou : " Credo 



