medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 01/25/12, Christopher Crockett wrote, in response to Elaine Beretz:
> > More often, though, in the Beauvais materials at least, archdeacons are
> designated by the Latin "archilevita."
>
> jez, yet another word i don't recall ever seeing in the Chartres documents
> (clearly, i need to reread them all).
>
> now i need to know what the difference is between an "archipresbiter" and an
> "archilevita" (archpriestess?).
>
> and, just to clear things up, dit moi how on earth either one of those titles
> could be synonymous with "archdeacon."
>
In the case of _archilevita_, just possibly because it's a compound of _archi-_ (prefix signifying 'ruling' or 'chief') and _levita_ (standard ecclesiastical term for 'deacon'). See (e.g.) the _OED_, s.v. "Levite, n.":
1. Israelitish Hist. a. A descendant of Levi; one of the tribe of Levi.
b. One of that portion of the tribe who acted as assistants to the priests in the temple-worship.
a1300
Cursor Mundi 21241
Marc‥efter his kind‥was leuite.
1377
Langland Piers Plowman B. xii. 115
Archa dei in þe olde lawe leuites it kepten.
a1420
T. Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1755
In þe abhomynable oppressioun Of þe leuytes wyfe.
<SNIP>
†2. transf. (from 1b). A deacon. Obs.A frequent rhetorical use of the word in medieval Latin.
For fairly obvious reasons (_presbyter_ not being synonymous with _diaconus_), the other term (_archipresbiter_) is _not_ synonymous with 'archdeacon'. There's a big difference between synonymy and equivalence (in this case, equivalence in different regional forms of church administration).
Best,
John Dillon
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