> --- redlotustemple@... skrev:
> Myself being a Buddhist priest

<gunnargallmo@...> wrote

> I think "priest" is a wrong word for "bhikkhu", since
> you don't administer any sacraments. "Monk" is better,
> but still not good, as your order is not cloistered.
> "Friar" would be preferable (in the same way as there
> are no Franciscan monks, only Franciscan friars), but
> I more and more prefer just to say "bhikkhu".

Hi,

OED (switch to Unicode)

B. Signification. [Etymologically priest represents Gr. , L. presbyter, ELDER; but by A.D. 375
or earlier, and thus long before the L. or Romanic word was taken into Eng., the L. word
sacerdos, originally, like Gr. , applied to the sacrificing priests of the heathen deities, and
also, in the translations of the Scriptures, to the Jewish priests, had come to be applied to
the Christian ministers also, and thus to be a synonym of presbyter. In OE., L. presbyter
was usually represented by préost; L. sacerdos, applied to a heathen or Jewish priest, was
usually rendered by sacerd (regularly so in Hexateuch, Psalms, and Gospels); sometimes,
when applied to a Jewish or Christian priest, by préost or more particularly mæsse-préost
(MASS-PRIEST). But, with the close of the OE. period, sacerd became disused, and préost,
prst, like OF. prestre, became the current word alike for presbyter and sacerdos, and thus
an ambiguous term.

I. One whose office is to perform public religious functions; an official minister of
religious worship. (See also HIGH PRIEST, PARISH PRIEST.)

1. Used for a PRESBYTER or elder of the early church. Obs. rare. (Chiefly in early
translations of Gr. , L. presbyter, in N. Test.)

2. In hierarchial Christian churches: A clergyman in the second of the holy orders (above a
deacon and below a bishop), having authority to administer the sacraments and pronounce
absolution.

3. a. In more general sense: A clergyman, a member of the clerical profession, a minister
of religion (in OE. often transl. clericus).

4. A sacrificing priest, a minister of the altar. a. In the Jewish church, and other pre-
Christian systems (as used in the Bible, rendering Heb. khn, Gr. , L. sacerdos).
b. In specific Christian use, The officiant at the Eucharist and other sacerdotal offices.
(Denoting the same ecclesiastical order as in 2, but with a specific connotation.)

5. a. An official minister of a pagan or non-Christian religion; originally implying sacrificial
functions, but in later use often applied to the functionaries of any religious system,
whether sacrificial or not.

Monk
1. A man (in early use also, occas.: a woman) who lives apart from the world and is
devoted chiefly to contemplation and the performance of religious duties, living either
alone or, more commonly, as a member of a particular religious community. a. Within
the Christian Church: such a person typically living a celibate life according to the rule of a
particular order (ORDER n. 5) and adhering to vows, esp. of poverty, chastity, and
obedience. b. A member of a similar community in a non-Christian religion.


Friar
1. = BROTHER, in fig. applications; esp. in OFr. phrase beu frere `fair brother'. Obs.

2. a. In the Roman Cath. Ch.: A brother or member of one of certain religious orders
founded in the 13th c. and afterwards, of which the chief were the four mendicant orders:
the Franciscans (Friars minors, Minorites, or Grey Friars); the Augustines (Austin Friars);
the Dominicans (Friars Preachers, Black Friars); and the Carmelites (Frirs carims = F. frères
carmes; White Friars). b. Sometimes loosely applied to members of the monastic or of the
military orders.