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Origin and history of edification


edification(n.)

mid-14c., edificacioun, in religious use, "a building up of the soul, act of instructing, doctrine," from Old French edificacion "a building, construction; edification, good example," and directly from Latin aedificationem (nominative aedificatio) "construction, the process of building; a building, an edifice," in Late Latin "spiritual improvement," from past participle stem of aedificare "to build" (see edifice).

The religious sense is from its use as translation of Greek oikodomē in I Corinthians xiv. The meaning "mental improvement" is attested by 1650s. The literal sense of "construction, building, action of constructing" (c. 1400) is rare in English. Middle English bilding sometimes was used in religious writing to translate Latin aedificatio.

edification

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to edification


edifice(n.)

"a building, structure," late 14c., from Old French edifice "building" (12c.), from Latin aedificium "building," from aedificare "to erect a building," from aedis, variant of aedes "temple, sanctuary," usually a single edifice without partitions, also, in the plural, "dwelling house, building," originally "a place with a hearth." The second element is combining form of facere "to make, to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").

Aedis/aedes is reconstructed to be from PIE *eidh- "to burn, burning" (source also of Sanskrit inddhe "burst into flames;" Avestan aesma- "firewood;" Greek aithein "to burn," aithos "fire;" Latin aestas "summer," aestus "heat;" Lithuanian iesmė "firewood;" Old Irish aed "fire," Welsh aidd "heat, zeal;" Old English ād, Old High German eit "funeral pile," Old Norse eisa "burning coals"), which is perhaps related to the root *as- "to burn, glow."

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    sophistication
    early 15c., sophisticacioun, "use of sophistry; fallacious argument intended to mislead; disingenuous alteration; an adulterated or adulterating substance," from Medieval Latin sophisticationem (nominative sophisticatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of sophisticare "
    debunk
    Wets and Drys, Fundamentalists and Modernists, are busily engaged in debunking one another to the delight and edification...
    mascot
    For the edification of readers not versed in baseball lore it should be stated that the mascot has become quite an important...
    enlightenment
    1660s, "action of enlightening," from enlighten + -ment. Used only in figurative sense, of spiritual enlightenment, etc. Attested from 1865 as a translation of German Aufklärung, a name for the spirit of independent thought and rationalistic system of 18c. Continental philosopher
    cool
    Old English col "not warm" (but usually not as severe as cold), "moderately cold, neither warm nor very cold," also, figuratively, of persons, "unperturbed, undemonstrative, not excited or heated by passions," from Proto-Germanic *koluz (source also of Middle Dutch coel, Dutch ko
    quantum
    1610s, "sum, amount," from Latin quantum (plural quanta) "as much as, so much as; how much? how far? how great an extent?" neuter singular of correlative pronominal adjective quantus "as much" (see quantity). The word was introduced in physics directly from Latin by Max Planck, 1
    pragmatic
    1610s, "meddlesome, impertinently busy," short for earlier pragmatical, or else from French pragmatique (15c.), from Latin pragmaticus "skilled in business or law," from Greek pragmatikos "fit for business, active, business-like; systematic," from pragma (genitive pragmatos) "a d
    Islam
    "religious system revealed by Muhammad," 1816, from Arabic islam, literally "submission" (to the will of God), from root of aslama "he resigned, he surrendered, he submitted," causative conjunction of salima "he was safe," and related to salam "peace." ... Islam is the only majo
    weird
    c. 1400, "having power to control fate," from wierd (n.), from Old English wyrd "fate, chance, fortune; destiny; the Fates," literally "that which comes," from Proto-Germanic *wurthiz (source also of Old Saxon wurd, Old High German wurt "fate," Old Norse urðr "fate, one of the th
    Messiah
    c. 1300, Messias, a designation of Jesus as the savior of the world, from Late Latin Messias, from Greek Messias, from Aramaic (Semitic) meshiha and Hebrew mashiah "the anointed" (of the Lord), from mashah "anoint." It is thus the Hebrew equivalent of Christ, and it is the word r

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    Dictionary entries near edification

    • edging
    • edgy
    • edibility
    • edible
    • edict
    • edification
    • edifice
    • edify
    • Edinburgh
    • edit
    • Edith
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