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Origin and history of monastery

monastery(n.)

"place of residence occupied in common by persons seeking religious seclusion from the world," c. 1400, monasterie, from Old French monastere "monastery" (14c.) and directly from Late Latin monasterium, from Ecclesiastical Greek monastērion "a monastery," from monazein "to live alone," from monos "alone" (from PIE root *men- (4) "small, isolated"). With suffix -terion "place for (doing something)." Originally applied to houses of any religious order, male or female, but commonly especially one used by monks. Related: Monasterial (mid-15c.).

also from c. 1400

Entries linking to monastery

minster(n.)

Old English mynster "the church of a monastery" (8c.), from Late Latin monasterium (see monastery). Compare Old French moustier, French mo��tier, Old Irish manister. Probably originally "a monastery," then "the church of a monastery." As many such churches in England came to be cathedrals, the word sometimes is used for "cathedral."

monastic(adj.)

"pertaining to or characteristic of a religious recluse," mid-15c., monastik, from Old French monastique "monkish, monastic" and directly from Medieval Latin monasticus, from Ecclesiastical Greek monastikos "solitary, pertaining to a monk," from Greek monazein "to live alone" (see monastery). Related: Monastical (c. 1400).

*men-(4)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "small, isolated."

It might form all or part of: malmsey; manometer; monad; monarchy; monastery; monism; monist; monk; mono; mono-; monoceros; monochrome; monocle; monocular; monogamy; monogram; monolith; monologue; monomania; Monophysite; monopoly; monosyllable; monotony.

It might also be the source of: Greek monos "single, alone," manos "rare, sparse;" Armenian manr "thin, slender, small."

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    chartreuse
    esteemed type of liqueur, 1866, from la Grande-Chartreuse, chief monastery of the Carthusian order, which was founded 11c...named for the massif de la Chartreuse (Medieval Latin Carthusianus) mountain group in the French Alps, where its first monastery...
    cloister
    early 13c., cloystre, "a monastery or convent, a place of religious retirement or seclusion," from Old French cloistre "monastery..., convent; enclosure" (12c., Modern French cloître), from Medieval Latin claustrum "portion of monastery closed off to laity...
    convent
    association or community of persons devoted to religious life," from Anglo-French covent, from Old French convent, covent "monastery...London's Covent Garden district (notorious late 18c. for brothels), so called because it had been the garden of a defunct monastery...
    scriptorium
    "writing room," especially a room set apart in a monastery or abbey for writing or copying manuscripts, 1774, an antiquarian's...
    cell
    early 12c., "small monastery, subordinate monastery" (from Medieval Latin in this sense), later "small room for a monk or...
    chandler
    see chandelier), from Old French chandelier (n.2) "candle-maker, candle-seller; person in charge of lighting a household, monastery...
    abbot
    Originally a title given to any monk, later limited to the head of a monastery....
    cubicle
    mid-15c., "bedroom, bedchamber," from Latin cubiculum "bedroom," from cubare "to lie down," which is perhaps from a PIE *kub-, with cognates in Middle Welsh kyscu, Middle Cornish koska, Middle Breton cousquet "to sleep," but de Vaan regards the PIE origin of the Latin word as "un
    abbey
    mid-13c., "monastery or convent devoted to religion and celibacy, headed by an abbot or abbess," from Anglo-French abbeie, Old French abaïe (Modern French abbaye), from Late Latin abbatia, from abbas (genitive abbatis); see abbot. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the name o
    slang
    1756, "special vocabulary of tramps or thieves" or any set of persons of low character, later "jargon of a particular profession" (1801). The sense of "very informal language characterized by vividness and novelty" is by 1818. Anatoly Liberman writes here an extensive account of

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