Re: [tied] some terms for George

16-06-03 17:36, m_iacomi wrote:

According to Webster, relative to "church":
"Etymology: Middle English chirche, from Old English cirice,
ultimately from Late Greek kyriakon, from Greek, neuter of
kyriakos of the lord, from kyrios lord, master;"
Probably between OE and "ultimately Late Greek", there should be
indeed some Latinized "kyriaca".

Why neuter? The word is a weak feminine in Germanic, and its *-o:n- stem formant (OE cirice, acc./gen./dat. ciricean) has nothing to do with the nom./acc. sg. -on of Greek neuters. If anything, <kuriake:> [kiriaki] fits the bill better than any other form. No Lat. *cyriaca is attested, so it's easier to assume that the borrowing was directly from Greek, not via Latin.

Piotr