ἐκκλησία

See also: εκκλησία

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ἐκκλεισῐ́ᾱ (ekkleisĭ́ā) — Thessalian

Etymology

From ἔκκλητος (ékklētos, “summoned”) +‎ -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, abstract noun suffix), from ἐκκαλέω (ekkaléō, “to call forth, summon”), from ἐκ (ek) + καλέω (kaléō).^[1] The τ (t) changes to σ (s) by palatalization and assibilation, triggered by the following ι (i).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ek.klɛː.sí.aː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ek.kle̝ˈsi.a/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /e.kliˈsi.a/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /e.kliˈsi.a/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /e.kliˈsi.a/

Noun

ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ • (ekklēsĭ́ā) f (genitive ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς); first declension

assembly
(New Testament) congregation, church
Synonyms: βουλή (boulḗ), γερουσῐ́ᾱ (gerousĭ́ā), σῠ́γκλητος (sŭ́nklētos)

Declension

First declension of ἡ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ; τῆς ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ hē ekklēsĭ́ā	τὼ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ tṑ ekklēsĭ́ā	αἱ ἐκκλησῐ́αι hai ekklēsĭ́ai
Genitive	τῆς ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς tês ekklēsĭ́ās	τοῖν ἐκκλησῐ́αιν toîn ekklēsĭ́ain	τῶν ἐκκλησῐῶν tôn ekklēsĭôn
Dative	τῇ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾳ tēî ekklēsĭ́āi	τοῖν ἐκκλησῐ́αιν toîn ekklēsĭ́ain	ταῖς ἐκκλησῐ́αις taîs ekklēsĭ́ais
Accusative	τὴν ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱν tḕn ekklēsĭ́ān	τὼ ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ tṑ ekklēsĭ́ā	τᾱ̀ς ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱς tā̀s ekklēsĭ́ās
Vocative	ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ ekklēsĭ́ā	ἐκκλησῐ́ᾱ ekklēsĭ́ā	ἐκκλησῐ́αι ekklēsĭ́ai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἐκκλησῐᾰστῐκός (ekklēsĭăstĭkós)
κυρία ἐκκλησία (kuría ekklēsía, “ordinary assembly”)
σύγκλητος ἐκκλησία (súnklētos ekklēsía, “special assembly”)

Descendants

Greek: εκκλησία (ekklisía)
→ Arabic: القُلَّيْس (al-qullays)
→ Ateso: ekeresia
→ Azerbaijani: kilsə
→ Coptic: ⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ (ekklēsia)
→ Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌺𐌻𐌴𐍃𐌾𐍉 (aikklēsjō)
→ Hawaiian: ʻekalekia
→ Hindi: कलीसिया (kalīsiyā)
→ Ladino: kilisia
→ Latin: ecclēsia (see there for further descendants)
→ Luganda: ekelezia
→ Niuean: ekalesia
→ Old Armenian: եկեղեցի (ekełecʻi) (see there for further descendants)
→ Old Georgian: ეკლესიაჲ (eḳlesiay), ეკკლესიაჲ (eḳḳlesiay)
- Georgian: ეკლესია (eḳlesia)
→ Persian: کِلیسا (kelisâ)
→ Samoan: ekalesia
→ Turkish: kilise
→ Urdu: کلیسیا (kalīsiyā)
→ Western Neo-Aramaic: ܟܠܹܣܝܐ (klēsya)
→ Zazaki: kilıse

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “καλέω (> DER > 8. > ἐκκλησία)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 623-4

“ἐκκλησία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ἐκκλησία”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
ἐκκλησία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
ἐκκλησία in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
G1577 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- assembly idem, page 45.
- parliament idem, page 593.
- white idem, page 977.
ἐκκλησία, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “καλέω (> DER > 8. > ἐκκλησία)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 623-4

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