# Geréja - Church



## MarX

Indonesian:
*Geréja*, a loanword from Portuguese *igreja*.

German:
*Kirche*
Some people also say *Gemeinde* although it originally meant something different.


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## Orreaga

Languages of the Iberian Peninsula have words derived from the Greek *εκκλησια:
*
Catalan:  *església*
Basque:  *eliza*
Portuguese:  *igreja*
Galician:   *igrexa*
Spanish:  *iglesia*


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## Outsider

Also French: *église*.


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## sound shift

Turkish: *kilise*


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## Tamar

In Hebrew: כנסייה  knesiya


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*: kerk

Groetjes,

Frank


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## suma

Arabic: kaneesah  كنيسة  
I never thought that it could be a loanword from Romance _iglesa _but now I wonder?


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## MarX

suma said:


> Arabic: kaneesah  كنيسة
> I never thought that it could be a loanword from Romance _iglesa _but now I wonder?


Well it's certainly similar to Hebrew "knesiya". Does it have anything to do with "Knesset"?


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## asong_mula_sa_hilaga

Tagalog: simbahan/sambahan/iglesya


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## Tamar

> Well it's certainly similar to Hebrew "knesiya". Does it have anything to do with "Knesset"?


"Kaneesah", "knesiya", "knesset". They all have the same root: כ.נ.ס k.n.s. In Hebrew one of the meaning to that root is "to gather", "gathering". It seems to me that it's the same in Arabic.


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## Mahaodeh

Maybe it's a loanword from Hebrew or another Semitic language because the root in Arabic has the meaning of "sweep", as in "sweep the floor".


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## Montesacro

In Italian: _chiesa_ (derived from Latin _ecclesia_, in turn derived from Greek *εκκλησια*)


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## akak

In Urdu and Hindi, the word for church is "girja"
Urdu: "S/[FONT=PDMS1_NafeesRaqam]D[/FONT]

Hindi: igarjaa


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## OldAvatar

Romanian: *biserică*, from Latin _basilica._


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto* there are three words for church:
 
*preĝejo*:  This is the mostly commonly used word for a church building.  It literally is a “prayer place” (_preĝi_ “to pray” + _ejo_ suffix meaning “place”).  While this same word can generically refer to any type of church building (_kapelo, katedralo, baziliko,_ etc.) or a place of prayer for any religion (_sinagogo, moskeo_, etc.), it is commonly used to refer to a Christian house of worship.
 
*kirko*:  A Christian church building.  This word is related to the words used in Germanic languages (_church, kyrka, Kirche_). [Ultimately from Medieval Greek kūrikon, from Late Greek kūriakon (dōma), the Lord's (house), neuter of Greek kūriakos, of the lord, from kūrios, lord.]
 
*eklezio*:  While the other two words refer to a building, _eklezio_ refers to the people that make up the church (i.e., the body of Christ, fellowship of Christian believers).  For example, _la patroj de la eklezio_ (the church fathers), _persekuti la eklezion_ (to persecute the church), _la ortodoksa eklezio_ (the orthodox church), _la romkatolika eklezio_ (the Roman Catholic church), _Kristo estas kapo de la eklezio_ (Christ is the head of the church).  _Eklezio_ comes from the Greek εκκλησία.


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## MarX

akak said:


> In Urdu and Hindi, the word for church is "girja"
> Urdu: "S/[FONT=PDMS1_NafeesRaqam]D[/FONT]
> 
> Hindi: igarjaa


Thank you!

That's very similar to Indonesian *geréja*. Probably they also took the word from Portuguese.

Is *igarjaa* unknown in Urdu?
Any difference between the meanings of *girja* and *igarjaa*?


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## akak

Actually it's "girja" in both Hindi and Urdu.

 (My Urdu and Hindi fonts disappeared on me.)


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## bb3ca201

in Scottish Gaelic, we say "eaglais" (close to the French "église") pronounced "eklish".


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## valdo

In *Latvian*:

baznīca


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## Setwale_Charm

*Roviana:*

a borrowed word *ekelesia*
however, the building is usually referred to as *vetu lotu*


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## Juri

There is a lot of specialized terms in Italian for church-chiesa.
Abbazia, basilica,Casa del Signore, cattedrale,certosa, collegiata, c.conventuale, diocesana, chiesa madre,duomo, parrocchiale,pieve,sacrario, santuario, tempio.


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## SerinusCanaria3075

OldAvatar said:


> Romanian: *biserică*, from Latin _basilica._


Romanian is probably the only Romance language that adopted two forms from _basilica (_*biserică/bazilică*_)_, which as everyone knows comes from Greek _βασιλική_ _(Royal/Queen) _or _βασιλική οικία (lat. basilica domus)__._ 
In Spanish _basílica _(French _basilique_) is limited to certain buildings of religious worship, such as the _Basílica de Guadalupe_ in Mexico City. 
I'm sure the term differs from one faith to another, or if it's limited to Catholic Christians in the Ecclesiatical sense rather than a Roman construction for public gathering.
I wonder if Orthodox Christians ever use this Greek term at all.


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## Outsider

The famous church of Hagia Sophia is called a basilica in western Europe. I presume it must also be so in Greek.

I tend to think of basilicas as more "Orthodox" or "paleo-Christian" buildings, while cathedrals are more "Catholic"-looking. But there are exceptions, of course, for example Saint Peter's in Rome.

These are not different words for church, mind you, but different architectural styles of Christian churches.


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## Montesacro

Outsider said:


> I tend to think of basilicas as more "Orthodox" or "paleo-Christian" buildings, while cathedrals are more "Catholic"-looking. But there are exceptions, of course, for example Saint Peter's in Rome.


 

But Saint Peter's *is* a paleo-christian church: it was built at the beginning of the fourth century (about 320 a.D.).
More than one thousand years later it underwent a radical change and took its present form...


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## Outsider

Good point!


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