Kirk
Encyclopedia
Kirk can mean "church" in general or the Church of Scotland
in particular. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it.
, Scottish English
and historically in some English
dialects
, attested as a noun from the 14th century onwards, but as an element in placenames much earlier. Both words, kirk and church, derive from the Koine Greek
κυριακόν (δωμα) (kyriakon (dōma)) meaning Lord's (house), which was borrowed into the Germanic languages
in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions. (Only a connection with the idiosyncrasies of Gothic
explains how a Greek neuter noun became a Germanic feminine.) Whereas church displays Old English
palatalisation, kirk is likely to be a loanword
from Old Norse
and thus has the original mainland Germanic consonants. Compare cognate
s: Icelandic
& Faroese
kirkja; Swedish
kyrka; Norwegian
(Nynorsk
) kyrkje; Norwegian
(Bokmål
) & Danish
kirke; German
Kirche; Dutch
kerk; West Frisian
tsjerke; and borrowed into non-Germanic languages: Estonian
kirik and Finnish
kirkko.
, The Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland
, the country's national church. The Kirk of Scotland was in official use as the name of the Church of Scotland until the 17th century, and still today the term is frequently used in the press and everyday speech, though seldom in the Church's own literature. However, Kirk Session is still the standard term in church law for the court of elders in the local congregation, both in the Church of Scotland and in any of the other Scottish Presbyterian denominations.
, the remnant of an evangelical presbyterian church formed in 1843 when its founders withdrew from the Church of Scotland. See:
prior to the Reformation
. As the Church of Scotland is not governed by bishops
, it has no cathedrals in the episcopal sense of the word. In more recent times, the traditional names have been revived, so that in many cases both forms can be heard: Glasgow Cathedral
, as well as the High Kirk of Glasgow, and St. Giles' Cathedral
, as well as the High Kirk of Edinburgh.
The term High Kirk should, however, be used with some caution. Several towns have a congregation known as the High Kirk which were never pre-Reformation cathedrals. Examples include Dundee
, where the High Kirk is not the historic Dundee Parish Church
known as St Mary's; Paisley
where there were former congregations and parishes surrounding three churches: the High Kirk (now formally Oakshaw Trinity Church, but still retaining the High Kirk name), the Middle Kirk and the Laigh Kirk
, the Middle Kirk no longer existing as a religious institution and none of the three names referred to Paisley's historic Abbey
; and Stevenston High Kirk in Ayrshire
.
There is no connection between the term 'High Kirk' and the term 'High Church
', which is a tradition within the Anglican Communion
.
has become a fixed ceremony at the beginning of a session..
Historically a newly married couple would attend public worship as man and wife for the first time at their Kirking.
In Nova Scotia, Kirking of the Tartan ceremonies have become an integral part of most Scottish Festivals and Highland Games.
.
Like words meaning "church" in other languages, kirk is found as an element in many place names in Scotland
and northern England
, and in countries with large Scottish expatriate communities. Examples include Falkirk
, Kirkhill
or Kirkwall
in Scotland, Kirkstall
in England and Newkirk, Oklahoma
in the United States.
What may be slightly surprising is that this element is found not only in place names of Anglo-Saxon origin, but also in some Southern Scottish names of Gaelic origin such as Kirkcudbright
(where the second element is the Gaelic form of "Cuthbert"). Here, the Gaelic element cil- (church, monk's cell) might be expected. The reason appears to be that kirk was borrowed into Galwegian Gaelic
, though it was never part of standard Scottish Gaelic.
When the element appears in placenames in the former British empire, a distinction can be made between those where the element is productive (the place is named because of the presence of a church) and those where it is merely transferred (the place is named after a place in Scotland). Kirkland, Washington
is an exception, being named after a person.
The element kirk is also used in anglicisation
s of continental European place names originally formed from one of the continental Germanic cognates. Thus Dunkirk (France
) is a rendering of an original Dutch form, Duinkerke (West Flemish Duunkerke, French Dunkerque).
and Kirk (given name)
. Parallels in other languages are far rarer than with placenames, but English Church
can also be a surname.
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
in particular. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it.
Basic meaning and etymology
As a common noun, kirk (meaning 'church') is found in ScotsScots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
, Scottish English
Scottish English
Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language....
and historically in some English
English language in England
The English language in England refers to the English language as spoken in England. These forms of English are a subsection of British English, as spoken throughout Great Britain. Other terms used to refer to the English language as spoken in England include:...
dialects
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
, attested as a noun from the 14th century onwards, but as an element in placenames much earlier. Both words, kirk and church, derive from the Koine Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
κυριακόν (δωμα) (kyriakon (dōma)) meaning Lord's (house), which was borrowed into the Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions. (Only a connection with the idiosyncrasies of Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
explains how a Greek neuter noun became a Germanic feminine.) Whereas church displays Old English
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
palatalisation, kirk is likely to be a loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
from Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
and thus has the original mainland Germanic consonants. Compare cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
s: Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
& Faroese
Faroese language
Faroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere...
kirkja; Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
kyrka; Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
(Nynorsk
Nynorsk
Nynorsk or New Norwegian is one of two official written standards for the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. The standard language was created by Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language which was commonly written in Norway at the...
) kyrkje; Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
(Bokmål
Bokmål
Bokmål is one of two official Norwegian written standard languages, the other being Nynorsk. Bokmål is used by 85–90% of the population in Norway, and is the standard most commonly taught to foreign students of the Norwegian language....
) & Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
kirke; German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Kirche; Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
kerk; West Frisian
West Frisian language
West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...
tsjerke; and borrowed into non-Germanic languages: Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
kirik and Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
kirkko.
Church of Scotland
As a proper nounProper noun
A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity , as distinguished from a common noun, which represents a class of entities —for example, city, planet, person or corporation)...
, The Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
, the country's national church. The Kirk of Scotland was in official use as the name of the Church of Scotland until the 17th century, and still today the term is frequently used in the press and everyday speech, though seldom in the Church's own literature. However, Kirk Session is still the standard term in church law for the court of elders in the local congregation, both in the Church of Scotland and in any of the other Scottish Presbyterian denominations.
Free Kirk
Even more commonly, The Free Kirk is heard as an informal name for the Free Church of ScotlandFree Church of Scotland (post 1900)
Free Church of Scotland is that part of the original Free Church of Scotland that remained outside of the union with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900...
, the remnant of an evangelical presbyterian church formed in 1843 when its founders withdrew from the Church of Scotland. See:
- Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)The Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish denomination which was formed in 1843 by a large withdrawal from the established Church of Scotland in a schism known as the "Disruption of 1843"...
- Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)Free Church of Scotland is that part of the original Free Church of Scotland that remained outside of the union with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900...
High Kirk
High Kirk is the term sometimes used to describe a congregation of the Church of Scotland which uses a building which was a cathedralCathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
prior to the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. As the Church of Scotland is not governed by bishops
Bishops in the Church of Scotland
There have not been bishops in the Church of Scotland since the 17th century, although there have occasionally been attempts to reintroduce episcopalianism....
, it has no cathedrals in the episcopal sense of the word. In more recent times, the traditional names have been revived, so that in many cases both forms can be heard: Glasgow Cathedral
St. Mungo's Cathedral, Glasgow
Glasgow Cathedral, also called the High Kirk of Glasgow or St Kentigern's or St Mungo's Cathedral, is today a gathering of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow....
, as well as the High Kirk of Glasgow, and St. Giles' Cathedral
St. Giles' Cathedral
St Giles' Cathedral, more properly termed the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is the principal place of worship of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. Its distinctive crown steeple is a prominent feature of the city skyline, at about a third of the way down the Royal Mile which runs from the Castle to...
, as well as the High Kirk of Edinburgh.
The term High Kirk should, however, be used with some caution. Several towns have a congregation known as the High Kirk which were never pre-Reformation cathedrals. Examples include Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, where the High Kirk is not the historic Dundee Parish Church
Dundee Parish Church (St Mary's)
Dundee Parish Church is located in the east section of Dundee's "City Churches", the other being occupied by the Steeple Church. Both are congregations in the Church of Scotland, although with differing styles of worship....
known as St Mary's; Paisley
Paisley
Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...
where there were former congregations and parishes surrounding three churches: the High Kirk (now formally Oakshaw Trinity Church, but still retaining the High Kirk name), the Middle Kirk and the Laigh Kirk
Laigh kirk, Paisley
The Laigh Kirk, Paisley was a congregation of the Church of Scotland and the original Burgh church of Paisley.-History:The Laigh Kirk was founded in August 1738 by the Burgh of Paisley and by the Presbytery of Paisley as the parish church for the whole burgh, in response to the burgeoning...
, the Middle Kirk no longer existing as a religious institution and none of the three names referred to Paisley's historic Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey is a former Cluniac monastery, and current Church of Scotland parish kirk, located on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west central Scotland.-History:...
; and Stevenston High Kirk in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
.
There is no connection between the term 'High Kirk' and the term 'High Church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
', which is a tradition within the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
.
Kirking ceremonies
The verb to kirk, meaning 'to present in church', was probably first used for the annual church services of some Scottish town councils, known as the Kirking of the Council. Since the establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Kirking of the ParliamentKirking of the Parliament
The Kirking of the Parliament is a multi-faith service held to coincide with the opening of the Scottish Parliament. To date, it has been held on four occasions, in 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011.-Composition:...
has become a fixed ceremony at the beginning of a session..
Historically a newly married couple would attend public worship as man and wife for the first time at their Kirking.
In Nova Scotia, Kirking of the Tartan ceremonies have become an integral part of most Scottish Festivals and Highland Games.
Place names
Main article: Kirk as a placename elementKirk as a placename element
Kirk is found as an element in many place names in Scotland, North America, and northern England. It is derived from kirk, meaning "church". In Scotland, it is sometimes a translation from a Scots Gaelic form involving cille or eaglais, both words for 'church'...
.
Like words meaning "church" in other languages, kirk is found as an element in many place names in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and northern 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...
, and in countries with large Scottish expatriate communities. Examples include Falkirk
Falkirk
Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....
, Kirkhill
Kirkhill
Kirkhill is a district of the town of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire and was the home of the boxer Scott Harrison when he was young.Kirkhill railway station opened on 1 August 1904....
or Kirkwall
Kirkwall
Kirkwall is the biggest town and capital of Orkney, off the coast of northern mainland Scotland. The town is first mentioned in Orkneyinga saga in the year 1046 when it is recorded as the residence of Rögnvald Brusason the Earl of Orkney, who was killed by his uncle Thorfinn the Mighty...
in Scotland, Kirkstall
Kirkstall
Kirkstall is a suburb of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. To the west is Bramley, to the east is Headingley and to the north is West Park. Kirkstall is around from the city centre and is close to the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan...
in England and Newkirk, Oklahoma
Newkirk, Oklahoma
Newkirk is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,243 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Kay County.-Geography:...
in the United States.
What may be slightly surprising is that this element is found not only in place names of Anglo-Saxon origin, but also in some Southern Scottish names of Gaelic origin such as Kirkcudbright
Kirkcudbright
Kirkcudbright, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.The town lies south of Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie, in the part of Dumfries and Galloway known as the Stewartry, at the mouth of the River Dee, some six miles from the sea...
(where the second element is the Gaelic form of "Cuthbert"). Here, the Gaelic element cil- (church, monk's cell) might be expected. The reason appears to be that kirk was borrowed into Galwegian Gaelic
Galwegian Gaelic
Galwegian Gaelic is an extinct dialect of Scottish Gaelic formerly spoken in southwest Scotland. It was spoken by the independent kings of Galloway in their time, and by the people of Galloway and Carrick until the early modern period. It was once spoken in Annandale and Strathnith...
, though it was never part of standard Scottish Gaelic.
When the element appears in placenames in the former British empire, a distinction can be made between those where the element is productive (the place is named because of the presence of a church) and those where it is merely transferred (the place is named after a place in Scotland). Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
is an exception, being named after a person.
The element kirk is also used in anglicisation
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
s of continental European place names originally formed from one of the continental Germanic cognates. Thus Dunkirk (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) is a rendering of an original Dutch form, Duinkerke (West Flemish Duunkerke, French Dunkerque).
Personal names
Kirk is also in use as both a surname and a male forename. For lists of these, see Kirk (surname)Kirk (surname)
Kirk is a surname. Notable persons with that surname include:*Aidan Kirk, New Zealand rugby player*Alan Goodrich Kirk , American admiral*Alexander Kirk , British actor and writer*Alexander C...
and Kirk (given name)
Kirk (given name)
-Real people:*Kirk Aanes, American writer*Kirk Acevedo , American actor*Kirk Alyn , American actor*Kirk Baily , American actor*Kirk Baltz , American actor*Kirk Baptiste , American Olympics athlete...
. Parallels in other languages are far rarer than with placenames, but English Church
Church (surname)
Church is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include:* Albert T. Church , Vice-Admiral in the United States Navy* Alonzo Church , logician, famous for the Church-Turing thesis and lambda calculus...
can also be a surname.