synagogue
(ˈsɪnəgɒg)
Forms: 2–6 sinagoge, 3–6 sinagog, synagog(e, (4 sinnagog), 4–7 sinagogue, (5 synagod), 5–6 synagogge, (6 synagoog, 8 sinegogg, senegog), 3– synagogue, (U.S.) synagog.
[a. OF. sinagoge (11th c.), mod.F. synagogue, or ad. its source late L. synagōga, a. Gr. συναγωγή meeting, assembly, (in LXX.) synagogue, f. συνάγειν to bring together, f. σύν syn-1 + ἄγειν to lead, bring.]
1. a. The regular assembly or congregation of the Jews for religious instruction and worship apart from the service of the temple, constituting, since the destruction of the temple, their sole form of public worship; hence, the religious organization of the Jews as typified by this, the Jewish communion.
Rabbinical Heb. keneseth, f. kānaṣ to collect, assemble.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 9 Godemen wite ȝe hwet wes sinagoge on þam alde laȝe..Alswa hefden þe giwis heore sinagoge efter moises laȝe alswa we habbet nu cherche efter drihtenes laȝe and efere to þam setteres dei heo comen þa iudeisc folc..to þan sinagoge. a 1300 Cursor M. 13615 (Cott.) Þe Iuus..had made..A statut agains Iesum crist, If any wald him leue or lute Þair synagoges suld be put vte. 1382 Wyclif Acts ix. 2 Saul..axide of him epistlis into Damaske, to synagogis. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 298 The synagoge ys called the people of the iewes, whiche had knowledge of the comynge of criste by holy prophetes. 1521 Fisher Serm. agst. Luther i. Wks. (1876) 315 The lawe of Moyses, & the gouernaunce of the synagoge of the Iewes, was but a shadowe of the gouernaunce of the vnyuersall chirche of christ. a 1873 Deutsch Rem. (1874) 191 What was the attitude of the Synagogue towards all these elements? 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 811/2 The synagogue as an institution characteristic of Judaism arose after the work of Ezra. 1909 J. R. Harris in Comtemp. Rev. Apr. 423 The time when the Christian Church had not finally elongated from the synagogue. 1929 Lit. Digest 2 Nov. 24/1 New York now has..the largest synagog in existence—the new Temple Emanu-El on a site overlooking Central Park. 1963 R. I. McDavid Mencken's Amer. Lang. 491 The 1962 Style Book, p. 63 specifies the following:..synagog. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 22 May 16–a/5 Usually he was paid by the synagog and served in various capacities as rabbi, cantor, or schoolteacher. |
b. the Great Synagogue: a Jewish council of 120 members, said to have been founded and presided over by Ezra after the return from the Babylonian captivity.
| 1625 T. Godwin Moses & Aaron (1641) 180 That great assembly of Prophets and holy men, called together by Esra, for the reformation of the Church, after their returne from Babylon, is called Synagoga magna, Their great Synagogue. 1876 B. Martin Messiah's Kingd. ii. iv. 88 The Great Synagogue, which consisted of 120 members, governed the Jews both in political and ecclesiastical matters for about 110 years, from Nehemiah to Simon the Just, when it was merged in the Sanhedrim. 1881 W. R. Smith Old Test. in Jewish Ch. vi. 156 The Great Synagogue plays a considerable part in Jewish tradition;..we now know that the whole idea..is pure fiction. |
2. transf. in hostile controversial use, often in phr. synagogue of Satan (in allusion to Rev. ii. 9).
In quot. 1464 used ignorantly, through a misunderstanding of sunt synagoga Satanæ, ‘they are the synagogue of Satan’, as a personal term of abuse.
| 1464 in Academy 23 Aug. (1890) 151/1 He..affermed that the blessed sacrament of the Auter is a grete devyll of hell, and a Sinagoge. Ibid., He..affermed that oure holy Fadre, the pope of Rome, is a great best, and a devyll of hell, and a Synagoge. 1547 Bk. Marchauntes e iij, To be slayne and murdred of them, or at the least excommunicate in their sinagog. 1565 Harding Confut. Apol. iv. 212 b, They can not be the..shining church of Christ... Wherefore it remaineth that it is the synagog of Antichrist, and Lucifer. Ibid. vi. 341 b, They resisting the holy Ghost..gather to the synagog of Satan. 1583 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. I. 37 To the comforth of them that love Hym and His Spouse the Catholique Church, and to the condemnation of so many that so willingly and wittingly join in the Sinagoge of Satan. 1648 Milton Observ. Art. Peace Wks. 1851 IV. 571 By the incitement..of that unchristian Synagogue [sc. Scots Presbytery] at Belfast. 1674 Hickman Quinquart. Hist. (ed. 2) 133 It were to be wished, that no Arminians had..forsaken the Church of England, and took sanctuary in the Synagogue of Rome. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 11/2 Where God hath his Church, the Devil will have his Synagogue. 1874 W. P. Mackay Grace & Truth (1875) 233 It is because of the name we bear that the blasphemies of hell are poured upon us. There are the ‘synagogues of Satan’, in which the blasphemous doctrines of devils are taught. |
3. a. A building or place of meeting for Jewish worship and religious instruction.
Rabbinical Heb. bēth hakkeneṣeth house of assembly.
| [c 1175: see 1.] c 1290 Sancta Crux 551 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 17 Þo þe rode was þare i-founde, alle þe giwes as nome And ladden as forth to heore Synagogue. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2535 To þe Synagoge wan sche cam þe dore heo haueþ oundo. c 1400 Mandeville viii. (1839) 93 There besyde was the synagoge where the bysshoppes of Jewes and the sarrazins camen to gidere and helden here conseill. 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 776/1 They tooke & sacked the Citie of Lincolne, spoyled the Iewes, and slew many of them, entred their sinagoge, and brent the boke of their lawe. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 135 Goe Tuball, and meete me at our Sinagogue. 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory 224 All of their Religion are enjoyned in solemne Prayer made in their Sinagogues thrice every day. 1721 N. Blundell Diary (1895) 197, I was at the Jews Sinegogg by Leadon-Hall Market. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 327/1 The New Synagogue in Great St. Helen's..has just been completed. 1876 B. Martin Messiah's Kingd. ii. iv. 82 The synagogue was modelled on the temple. Its windows looked towards the holy city. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 812/1 Synagogues were built by preference beside water for the convenience of the ceremonial ablutions. |
† b. transf. A place of worship; a temple. In post-Reformation use applied disparagingly to abbeys or the like. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 4467 Thies kynges..turnyt into tempull... Be counsell of the kepers..Þat serued þat Synagod. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xiii. 46 Bothe togidre..wente the two sustres..to the synagoges and temples, where bifore the aulters thei offred sacrifices. 1587 Harrison England ii. iii. (1877) i. 74 They..began that synagog [Osney Abbey] 1120, which afterward prooued to be a notable den. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. 326 The Noble Family of the Berkeleys may well give an Abbots Mitre for the Crest of their Armes, because so loving their Nation, and building them so many Synagogues [cf. Luke vii. 5]. |
c. (See quots.)
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 31 Dec. 3/2 A large quantity of this fruit..is bought up by Jews occupying stands in Russell⁓street. Their quarter is known as the ‘Synagogue’. 1909 Ware Passing Eng., Synagogue,..shed in the north-east corner of the Garden [= Covent Garden]. So called from this place (erected 1890) being wholly ‘run’ by Jews. |
† 4. gen. An assembly: chiefly as a literalism of biblical translation. Obs.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxxxi[i]. 1 God stode in sinagoge of goddes ma. a 1325 Prose Psalter vii. 7, & synagoge of folke shal encumpas þe. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxiii. 650 Whos deore sone stod In þe Synagoge of goddes. 1592 Marlowe Mass. Paris ii. ii, There are an hundred Hugonets, and more, Which in the woods doe holde their synagogue. 1881 N.T. (R.V.) Jas. ii. 2 If there come into your synagogue [1611 assembly] a man with a gold ring. |
5. attrib. and Comb.
| 1652 Pinchion (title) The Jewes Synagogue; or, a Treatise concerning The ancient Orders and manner of Worship used by the Jewes in their synagogve-Assemblies. Ibid., To Rdr., I thought it necessary to search out, as well as I could, their Synagogue-worship, together with some of their ancient Discipline-practices. Ibid. ii. 38 Whiles the Jews lived in their own land, their synagogue discipline did depend upon their Sanhedrin Courts. 1716 Prideaux Connect. O. & N. Test. vi. (1718) I. 300 The second part of their synagogue-service is the reading of the scriptures. Ibid. 301 Their ordinary synagogue days in every week were Monday, Thursday and Saturday. 1781 Cowper Truth 57 A praying, synagogue-frequenting, beau. 1886 Conder Syrian Stone-Lore vii. (1896) 264 The style of the synagogue architecture is very like that of the Roman temples of the same age. The lion, the ram, the hare are carved on the lintels of the synagogue doors—a curious deviation from the law of Moses. 1889 Cohen & Davis (title) Voice of Prayer and Praise, a Handbook of Synagogue Music. 1910 Daily Chron. 1 Feb. 4/7 The proposal that synagogue services should be limited to an hour and a half. |
Hence ˈsynagoguing vbl. n., attendance at the synagogue; ˈsynagoguish a., showing excessive zeal for the synagogue, fanatical.
| 1690 D'Urfey Collin's Walk i. 37 Your party Synagoguish, Not half so Politique, as Roguish. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. xliv, The synagogin', the tabernaclin', the psalmin' that goes on in this hoose. |