Kirk
From Free net 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.
Contents |
Basic meaning and etymology
As a common noun, kirk is the Scots and Scottish English word for 'church', 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 κυριακον (δωμα) '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 ideocyncracies 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 cognates: Icelandic & Faroese kirkja; Swedish kyrka; Norwegian & Danish kirke; German Kirche; Dutch kerk.
The Church of Scotland
As a proper noun, 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 the standard term in church law for the court of elders in the local parish, 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 Scotland, an evangelical presbyterian church formed in 1843 when its founders withdrew from the Church of Scotland. See:
High Kirk
High kirk is the term used to describe a congregation of the Church of Scotland which uses a building which was a cathedral prior to the Reformation. As the Church of Scotland is not governed by bishops, it also 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 High Kirk of Glasgow, and St. Giles' Cathedral, as well as the High Kirk of Edinburgh.
Place names
Kirk is found as an element in many place names in Scotland and northern England, and in countries with large Scottish expatriate communities, for example:
Scotland
- Falkirk
- Halkirk, Caithness, Highland
- Kirkcaldy, Fife
- Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway
- Kirkliston, Edinburgh
- Selkirk
- Kirkton of Skene, Aberdeenshire, and many other Kirktons, all tiny, and mostly matched with a Castleton or a Milton.
- Kirk, Highland
- Kirkwall, Orkney
- Prestonkirk, East Lothian
England
North America
Also Dunkirk, France, though this is an anglicisation of an original Dutch form, Duinkerke.
See: David Dorward, Scotland's Place-names, 1995, p.82f. ISBN 1873644507
Personal names
Kirk is in common use as a surname:
- Andy Kirk, a jazz musician.
- James T. Kirk, a fictional starship captain in Star Trek.
- Jennifer Kirk, a figure skater
- Norman Kirk, a Prime Minister of New Zealand.
- Peter Kirk, English mill owner, founder of Kirkland, WA ,USA
- Russell Kirk, the "father of modern conservatism".
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a jazz musician.
Kirk is also occasionally found as a forename:
- Kirk Douglas, actor.
- Kirk Cameron, actor; hence the name of Cameron's 1995 TV Series: Kirk
- Kirk Hammett, guitarist.
- Kirk Van Houten a secondary character from The Simpsons
- Kirk Hinrich, a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls
- Kirk Darling, Famous Realtor from Chicago.