Antidisestablishmentarianism
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in opposition to proposals for the disestablishment of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, that is, to remove the Anglican Church's status as the state church
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
The establishment was maintained in England, but in Ireland the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
(Anglican) was disestablished in 1871. In Wales, four Church of England dioceses were disestablished in 1920, subsequently becoming the Church in Wales
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
.
The question of disestablishment of the Church of England is still current, often tied with the position of the English monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
as "Supreme Governor" of the Church (see Act of Settlement 1701
Act of Settlement 1701
The Act of Settlement is an act of the Parliament of England that was passed in 1701 to settle the succession to the English throne on the Electress Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs. The act was later extended to Scotland, as a result of the Treaty of Union , enacted in the Acts of Union...
). Those who wish to continue the establishment of the Church of England are referred to as Antidisestablishmentarians.
Word length
The word is often referenced in English-speaking popular culture on account of its unusual length of 28 letters and 12 syllables. It is one of the longest wordsLongest words
The longest word in any given language depends on the word formation rules of each specific language, and on the types of words allowed for consideration. Agglutinative languages allow for the creation of long words via compounding. Even non-agglutinative languages may allow word formation of...
in the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
. It is commonly believed to be one of the longest words in English found in major dictionaries (www.oxforddictionary.com), excluding coined and technical terms. A slightly longer but less commonly accepted variant of the word can be found in the Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
song "You're Just an Old Antidisestablishmentarianismist" although the correct construction of that word would be "antidisestablishmentarianist" (without the "ism") or "antidisestablishmentarian". Another artist that uses the word Antidisestablishmentarianism is rapper Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
, in his song "Almost Famous" The word is also used by Lemon Demon in his song "Word Dissociation".
J.E. Littlewood pointed out that the word is all "form" apart from the Latin stem st.
See also
- AntiestablishmentarianismAntiestablishmentarianismAntiestablishmentarianism is a policy or attitude that views a nation's power structure as corrupt, repressive, or exploitive....
- Longest word in EnglishLongest word in EnglishThe identity of the longest word in English depends upon the definition of what constitutes a word in the English language, as well as how length should be compared...