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Origin and history of deacon

deacon(n.)

Middle English deken, "one who reads the Gospel in divine worship, one of a body of assistants to a priest or other clergyman," from Old English deacon, diacon, from Late Latin diaconus, from Greek diakonos "servant of the church, religious official," literally "servant," from dia- here perhaps "thoroughly, from all sides," + PIE *kon-o-, from root *ken- "to hasten, set oneself in motion." Related: Deaconess; deaconship.

Entries linking to deacon

archdeacon(n.)

"ecclesiastic who has charge of a part of a diocese," Middle English arche-deken, from Old English arcediacon, from Church Latin archidiaconus, from Ecclesiastical Greek arkhidiakonon "chief deacon;" see arch- + deacon. Related: Archdeaconship.

conation(n.)

in the philosophical sense of "voluntary agency" (embracing desire and volition), 1836, from Latin conationem (nominative conatio) "an endeavoring, effort," noun of action from past participle stem of conari "to endeavor, to try," from PIE *kona-, from root *ken- "to hasten, set oneself in motion" (see deacon).

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Trends of deacon

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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ratiocination
"process of reasoning, mental process of passing from the cognition of premises to the cognition of the conclusion," 1520s, from Latin ratiocinationem (nominative ratiocinatio) "a reasoning, calm reasoning," noun of action from past-participle stem of ratiocinari "to reckon, comp
priest
Middle English prēst, "cleric ranking below a bishop and above a deacon, a parish priest," from Old English preost, which...
reverend
early 15c., also reverent, "worthy of deep respect, worthy to be revered" due to age, character, etc., from Old French reverent, reverend and directly from Latin reverendus "(he who is) to be respected," gerundive of revereri "to stand in awe of, respect, honor, fear, be afraid o
order
c. 1200, "body of persons living under a religious discipline," from Old French ordre "position, estate; rule, regulation; religious order" (11c.), from earlier ordene, from Latin ordinem (nominative ordo) "row, line, rank; series, pattern, arrangement, routine," originally "a ro
acolyte
early 14c., "inferior officer in the church," from Old French acolite or directly from Medieval Latin acolytus (Late Latin acoluthus), from Greek akolouthos "following, attending on," as a noun, "a follower, attendant," literally "having one way," from a- "together with," copulat
Israel
Old English Israel, "the Jewish people, the Hebrew nation," from Latin Israel, from Greek, from Hebrew yisra'el "he that striveth with God" (Genesis xxxii.28), symbolic proper name conferred on Jacob and extended to his descendants, from sara "he fought, contended" + El "God." As
protest
c. 1400, "avowal, pledge, solemn declaration," from Old French protest, from protester, from Latin protestari "declare publicly, testify, protest," from pro- "forth, before" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before") + testari "testify," from testis "witness
fashion
c. 1300, fasoun, "physical make-up or composition; form, shape; appearance," from Old French façon, fachon, fazon "face, appearance; construction, pattern, design; thing done; beauty; manner, characteristic feature" (12c.), from Latin factionem (nominative factio) "a making or do
harlot
c. 1200 (late 12c. in surnames), "vagabond, man of no fixed occupation, idle rogue," from Old French herlot, arlot "vagabond, tramp, vagrant; rascal, scoundrel," with cognates in Old Provençal (arlot), Old Spanish (arlote), and Italian (arlotto), but of unknown origin. Usually ma
connoisseur
1714, "a critical judge of any art, one well-acquainted with any of the fine arts and thus competent to pass judgment on its products," from French connoisseur (Modern French connaiseur), from Old French conoisseor "an expert, a judge, one well-versed," from conoistre "to know,"

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