DASG Blog

Eaglais

Nowadays, although it is often the case that many words are used in Gaelic which came into the language from Latin or from Greek, such as poilitigs (politics), deamocrasaidh (democracy) and bhòt (vote), perhaps it is still in the Christian Church that is used the largest share of words which were given to Gaelic by the classical languages.  Indeed, except for the word Crìosda (Christ), which comes from the Greek word, Christos (“anointed”), perhaps it is the very word eaglais (church) which is used most often when people speak of the beliefs of the people in a large portion of the world. From the Greek word, ekklesia, it is a gathering of people which is an eaglais. 
 
As we all know, the Christian Church was established by Jesus Christ and, after the death of Jesus, the first churches were established by the Abstoil (Apostles) in a variety of places; and, like the word, eaglais, the word abstol (apostle) comes from Greek:  a person “sent from” another person is an abstol.
 
It was on a crois (cross) (from the Latin word, crux) that Jesus was crucified and it is on each Didòmhnaich (Sunday) (from the Latin phrase, Dies dominica, “the Day of the Lord”) that Christians gather in a church in order to worship God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is the Trianaid (Trinity), the word which Christians use in speaking of the three persons of God and, again, it is from the classical languages that come the words Trianaid (Trinity) (from the Latin, Trinitas) and Spiorad (Spirit) (from the Latin, Spiritus).  Is it from the Latin word, Deus (God), that the Gaelic word, Dia, comes?
 
In the eaglais (church), Christians read the words and listen to the words which were written in their holy book, the Bìoball (Bible).  Once again, it is from Greek that this word comes, from the word biblios.  Each Sabbath Day, throughout the world, the followers of Christ listen to at least one salm (psalm) or sing some of the psalms which are to be found within the Bible.  Perhaps as you would expect now, it is from another Greek word, psalmos, that the word salm came into Gaelic.
 
Usually, it is a ministear (minister) or a sagart (priest) who will be in charge of the seirbheis (service) in a Christian church.  However, sometimes, it is an easbaig (bishop) who is in charge of it.  From the Latin words minister, sacerdos and servitium and from the Greek word episkopos (“a person who looks over”), these Gaelic words also show the impact of the classical languages on the vocabulary of the Gaels in relation to matters of belief.  And, it has to be said, many other words are there which confirm this impact, for example:  aifreann (mass) (from the Latin, offerendum); comanachadh (communion) (from the Latin, communio); sàcramaid (sacrament) (from the Latin, sacramentum); baisteadh (baptism) (from the Greek, baptizein); and so on.  To tell you the truth, there is a great corpas of words such as these.  I wonder from which language did the word corpas come originally?