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Priest - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
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Origin and history of priest

priest(n.)

Middle English prēst, "cleric ranking below a bishop and above a deacon, a parish priest," from Old English preost, which probably was shortened from the older Germanic form represented by Old Saxon and Old High German prestar, Old Frisian prestere, all from Vulgar Latin *prester "priest," from Late Latin presbyter "presbyter, elder," from Greek presbyteros "elder (of two), old, venerable," comparative of presbys "old" (see presby-).

In Middle English also used generally for any man holding high Church office or anyone duly authorized to be a minister of sacred things; from c. 1200 of pagan and Muslim religious leaders. In the Old Testament sense (Old English), it is a translation of Hebrew kohen, Greek hiereus, Latin sacerdos.

priest

Entries linking to priest

Prester John

c. 1300, Prestre Johan, legendary medieval Christian king and priest, said to have ruled either in the Far East or Ethiopia. Prestre (attested as a surname late 12c.) is from Vulgar Latin *prester, a transition between Latin presbyter and English priest. First mentioned in the West by mid-12c. chronicler Otto of Freising, who told how Johannes Presbyter won a great victory over the Persians and the Medes. Between 1165 and 1177 a forged letter purporting to be from him circulated in Europe. All this recalls the time when the Christian West was militarily threatened on its frontiers by Muslim powers, dreaming of a mythical deliverer. Compare Old French prestre Jehan (13c.), Italian prete Gianni.

priestcraft(n.)

late 15c., "business of being a priest, exercise of priestly functions," from priest + craft (n.). After rise of Protestantism and the Enlightenment, it acquired a pejorative sense of "arts and devices of ambitious priests for attaining and holding temporal power and social control" (1680s).

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Trends of priest

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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flamen
"ancient Roman priest," 1530s, from Latin flamen "a priest of one deity," which is of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE root...surmise, the ending -en points to an archaism, probably a n[euter] noun "sacrificial act" which changed its semantics to 'priest...
sacerdotal
priests or the priesthood," c. 1400, from Old French sacerdotal and directly from Latin sacerdotalis "of or pertaining to a priest...," from sacerdos (genitive sacerdotis) "priest," literally "offerer of sacrifices or sacred gifts," from sacer "holy" (see...
powwow
also pow-wow, 1620s, "priest, conjurer, sorcerer among the North American natives," from a southern New England Algonquian...language (probably Narragansett) powwaw "shaman, medicine man, Indian priest," from a verb meaning "to use divination, to...
pontifical
pertaining to the Pope of Rome," from Old French pontifical and directly from Latin pontificalis "of or pertaining to the high priest...," from pontifex "high priest," also "bridge-builder" (see pontifex)....
Laocoon
also Laocoön name of a Trojan priest of Apollo, from Latin Laocoon, from Greek Laukoun, from laos "people" (see lay (adj....A famous piece of antique sculpture representing a priest of that time and his two sons in the folds of two enormous serpents...
hierarchy
hierarchia "ranked division of angels" (in the system of Dionysius the Areopagite), from Greek hierarkhia "rule of a high priest...," from hierarkhes "high priest, leader of sacred rites," from ta hiera "the sacred rites" (neuter plural of hieros "sacred...
clerk
c. 1200, "man ordained in the ministry, a priest, an ecclesiastic," from Old English cleric and Old French clerc "clergyman..., priest; scholar, student," both from Church Latin clericus "a priest," noun use of adjective meaning "priestly, belonging...
pontifex
member of the supreme college of priests in ancient Rome, 1570s, from Latin pontifex "high priest, chief of the priests," probably from pont-, stem of pons "bridge" (see pons) + -fex "maker," from facere "to do, make" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). If so, the word originall
father
Middle English fader, from Old English fæder "he who begets a child, nearest male ancestor;" also "any lineal male ancestor; the Supreme Being," and by late Old English, "one who exercises parental care over another," from Proto-Germanic *fader (source also of Old Saxon fadar, Ol
order
c. 1200, "body of persons living under a religious discipline," from Old French ordre "position, estate; rule, regulation; religious order" (11c.), from earlier ordene, from Latin ordinem (nominative ordo) "row, line, rank; series, pattern, arrangement, routine," originally "a ro

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