medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
thanks, John.
i just assumed that "levite" only/always meant "priest" (where did i get that
Nutty Notion, i wonder?).
as opposed to Niermeyer's Real World definition:
levita (mascul.) (gr. <hebr.): 1. *lévite juif — Jewish levite. 2. *diacre
— deacon. 3. gener.: clerc des ordres mineurs — ecclesiastic of the minor
orders.
Live and (if one is very, very Lucky, has plenty of Help and is Paying
Attention) Learn.
c
------ Original Message ------
From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
> 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.
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).
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|