English
archbishop
Archbishop comes from Middle English erchebischop.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500erchebischop
- Englishearliest quotation 1867archbishop
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500erchebischop
- Englishearliest quotation 1867archbishop
Earliest quotation: 1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky: “Thereupon I declared that I was a heretic and…”
A compound of ἐπί ‘over’ + σκοπέω ‘to examine’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep- ‘to grab, snatch, get’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi ‘on’
Proto-Hellenic *epí
Ancient Greek ἐπί ‘over’
Proto-Indo-European *sḱop-
Ancient Greek σκοπός ‘watcher’
Ancient Greek σκοπέω ‘to examine’
Linked words
through Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος ‘overseer’
Today it means
noun A senior bishop who is in charge of an archdiocese, and presides over a group of dioceses called a province (in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, etc.)
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English erchebischop / archbishop