ἐκκλησία

See also: εκκλησία

Ancient Greek

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).

Compare typologically Latin convocātio.

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

assembly
Synonyms: βουλή (boulḗ), γερουσῐ́ᾱ (gerousĭ́ā), σῠ́γκλητος (sŭ́nklētos)
(Christianity) congregation, church
- 70 CE – 90 CE, The Gospel of Matthew 16:18:
  σὺ εἶ Πέτρος καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν
  sù eî Pétros kaì epì taútēi tēî pétrāi oikodomḗsō mou tḕn ekklēsían
  you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (ESV)

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.

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), کلیسیا (kalīsiyā / kelisiyâ), کلسیا (kalisiyā / kalesiyâ), کلیسه (kilīsa / kelise)
- Tajik: калисо (kaliso)
- → Bakhtiari: کلسیا (kalesiyâ)
- → Hindustani:
  Hindi: कलीसिया (kalīsiyā), कलीसा (kalīsā)
  Urdu: کلیسیا (kalīsiyā), کلیسا (kalīsā)
→ Samoan: ekalesia
→ Turkish: kilise
→ Urdu: کلیسیا (kalīsiyā)
→ Western Neo-Aramaic: ܟܠܹܣܝܐ (klēsya)
→ Zazaki: kilıse

^ 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 (2006–2026)
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